MANISTIQUE — Ron Boling said he stood in the backyard at Kelli Brophy’s house in the summer of 2006, waiting for her to come outside to tell him who she’d been talking to on the telephone.
Boling, a boyfriend of Brophy’s who said she’d been close with Thomas David Richardson, was told minutes earlier Brophy was expecting an important call.
Boling testified Friday he could feel what had occurred.
When Brophy came outside, he said, “It’s Tom, isn’t it? His wife is dead.”
Brophy, who a witness Wednesday said Thomas Richardson referred to as his “Bible buddy,” agreed, saying Juanita Richardson had fallen off a cliff.
Boling, who said he and Brophy are in love and have recently discussed marriage, wanted to protect Brophy and tried to get her to talk to an attorney that July.
Richardson, 46, of downstate McBain is standing trial for murder in the death of his wife Juanita, who fell from a 140-foot cliff at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in June 2006.
“I did not want her to be a scapegoat if criminal things had gone on,” Boling said.
Boling contradicted Brophy’s Thursday testimony. She said her relationship with Richardson was as “prayer partners” and good friends.
Boling said he had urged Brophy before Juanita Richardson’s death to break off her contact with Thomas Richardson because they were discussing issues he felt were inappropriate because Richardson was married.
“He was very persistent,” Boling said. “He was not taking no for an answer. There was continual phone calls.”
Brophy’s daughter Autumn, 17, testified Friday she also didn’t approve of her mother’s interaction with Richardson because he was married.
She said she heard Richardson call her mother “sweetheart” and in return, she heard her call him “hon.”
“It was flirtatious,” Autumn Brophy testified, saying she knew this by “Body language, the way they communicated.”
Autumn Brophy said Richardson told her personally his wife was “terminally ill” after she had found a tumor on her breast.
Autumn Brophy said she disapproved of her mom’s suggestion of a life with Richardson.
“She said that he could take care of us financially,” she testified. “I said that he’s married and it shouldn’t be an option.”
Boling said before Juanita Richardson’s death, Kelli Brophy described the Richardson marriage as rough, having problems with sex and mistreatment of Richardson by his wife.
Boling said all of this changed after Juanita Richardson died, Brophy then talked only of how good their marriage had been.
Boling said he talked with Brophy in her kitchen after Juanita Richardson’s death. He said she was weighing whether she wanted to be with him or Richardson and had decided on him.
Boling said Brophy previously told Richardson she wanted a mate who had no ex-wives alive, someone who was a churchgoer and financially stable, and that she would be there for him.
Boling said as he and Brophy talked in the kitchen, her chin quivered.
“She said, “You know Ron, I led him on,’” Boling said. “She felt responsible for what happened.”
Boling said Brophy was mad at him when he contacted a Kalamazoo attorney against her wishes. She refused to talk to the lawyer.
Boling wanted Brophy to be able to tell what she knew about Richardson, but with the protection of an attorney in place.
Days later, Brophy was contacted by Richardson’s attorney Jason Elmore, according to Boling.
On Thursday, Brophy testified Elmore said she shouldn’t talk to the police or Richardson.
She got off the phone worried about going to prison or losing her daughter, according to Boling.
“She was visibly upset,” Boling said. “She was quite upset, disturbed.”
Boling testified that after one conversation with investigators in Houghton Lake, Brophy was upset and said, “She wasn’t going to tell them everything.”
Boling said he thinks Brophy still has feelings for Richardson. He testified she became teary-eyed after seeing Richardson in a newspaper photograph, dressed in his orange jail jumpsuit. She had also commented that she missed Richardson, Boling said.
Boling said during Richardson’s preliminary examination in Alger County District Court last February, where Brophy testified, she wanted to talk to Richardson.
“She said she wanted to know why he called her the night before Juanita’s death,” Boling said.
In January, Boling called the FBI after Brophy received her subpoena to testify in Richardson’s murder trial in Manistique.
“She said she was going to flee the state,” Boling said. “She said she wasn’t going to testify.”
She was planning on going into hiding, Boling said.
“She told me she didn’t want me to know where she was going,” Boling said.
Police arrested Brophy. She was released after posting a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. She was required to check in daily at the Eaton County Sheriff’s Department before the trial.
Brophy is still sequestered as a witness and may be recalled to the stand to testify. Court resumes at 9 a.m. Monday.
