A preliminary hearing has been set for Nov. 16 to determine if there is sufficient evidence to finally try Martin Christian Ehrke for the brutal murders of two Colusa women at the Ehrke family farm in Arbuckle in 2018.
After multiple starts and stops in the judicial process, the trajectory of the murder case against Ehrke has gotten back on track.
Ehrke, now 53, has pleaded not guilty to killing Kimberly Lynn Taylor, 39, and Jessica Lynn Mazak, 25, both of Colusa, on January 25, 2018.
He has been incarcerated since the day Taylor’s body was discovered inside a freezer at Ehrke’s home and Mazak’s body was found in a pond located elsewhere on the Ehrke property, although he spent some of that time at a State Mental Hospital.
Colusa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson last week ruled that only a portion of the statements Ehrke made to law enforcement investigators about the incident prior to his arrest would be admissible at trial after his Public Defender Brandon Williams questioned whether Ehrke had been properly given a Miranda warning that anything he said could be used against him in court.
Ehrke was located several hours before his arrest at the Colusa home of friends after he was named a person of interest in the case, according to hearing testimony.
According to law enforcement officials, Ehrke had gone to the emergency room at Colusa Medical Center for an undisclosed reason sometime immediately after the women are believed to have been killed from blunt force trauma.
He voluntarily accompanied a Colusa County Sheriff’s Deputy to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning around 1 PM on Jan. 25, officials said. ■