Police: Widmer home not secured after Sarah died

LEBANON, Ohio - The lieutenant who investigated the death of Sarah Widmer spent Tuesday morning testifying in the retrial of her husband, Ryan Widmer.

Lieutenant Jeff Braley told the jury everything around the area where Ryan says he found his wife had drowned was dry.

"We went into the bathroom where I looked at the tub, I looked at the floor, looked at the items in the bathroom itself once again matching everything they previously told me everything appeared to be dry," said Braley.

"I recovered the magazines I looked at them a little bit closer than some of the other things. I specifically looked at one of the magazine to see if I could see some of the water marks. I saw no moisture. I saw no water marks," added Braley.

Under defense questioning Braley testified that when police left the Widmer house the night Sarah died, they did not secure it as a crime scene.

Even Ryan's mother was able to go inside the home to get the couple's dog before the search warrant was obtained a few days later.

In cross examination Defense Attorney Jay Clark asked, "You didn't find Ryan had any kind of anger issues?"

"That's correct," replied Braley.

"No short fuse," said Clark. "I didn't find that," added Braley.

Braley also told the jury his investigation found Ryan had no history of marital problems.

Sarah's friend, Katherine Cook, also testified Tuesday.

"Did you ever know of her to fall asleep while bathing?" Prosecutor Travis Vieux asked Cook.

"Yes," said Cook.

Cook testified that Sarah once told her, "Oh, I was really tired. I fell asleep last night in the bathtub. I was really relaxed."

She said she never saw Sarah fall asleep at inappropriate times as other friends testified in the first trial.

Cook said Sarah never expressed concerns about her marriage and that Sarah was the kind of person who would talk about a problem if she had one.

Ryan was convicted in April 2009 but Judge Neal Bronson threw out the verdict when jurors in the initial trial admitted they had staged home experiments related to the case and discussed what they found during jury deliberations.