Specialist ties victim's body to Cook's hotel

The evidence is important in potentially linking the circumstances behind Benuelos's death to the prosecution's story of Cook's involvement in the murder. The prosecution says that Benuelos's body stayed in Cook's apartment at the Hollywood Motel for nine days before being dumped in an industrial area of San Francisco. During this period of time, Cook was not in his room, and motel staff, who will testify later, noticed a strong smell of decay coming from Cook's room, according to the prosecution. Haskell said a body going through decomposition in a confined room would have an "unbelievable" smell. He also said a warm confined space would speed up the life cycle of the insects, and that insects collected on the body in later stages of growth indicate the body would not have remained outside the entire time since death.

The relatively small number of insects found on Benuelos's body could be a further indication that the body was in a confined space for some time before he was found.

Upon prompting by the defense, Haskell also said that an enclosed vehicle in the sunlight might also have the same affect on the body. During opening statements last week, the defense pointed to a driver of a red Porsche who Benuelos allegedly owed money.

Haskell also said that the average temperature during the time of decay would have to have been at 60 degrees or higher. But Haskell also said he did not have information about the temperatures in Cook's apartment on the date of the police search, or from subsequent years in October. The Hollywood Motel, which was on Bayshore Blvd. has since been demolished. No evidence exists that confirm that Cook's apartment was at the right temperature for the insects' stages of growth at the time the body was found.

According to the prosecution, the phone call Benuelos received at his family home on October 19 was from Cook - they agreed to meet each other with at a nearby liquor store to deal heroine. Benuelos then went with Cook to his apartment at the Hollywood Motel, where Benuelos had been a number of times before. Cook murdered Benuelos with a series of hard blows to the head with a tool, and left Benuelos's body in his room for nine days before retrieving it and then dumping it in a gutter in an industrial area of San Francisco. The body was found by a homeless woman the next day. The defense is claiming that Cook was staying in San Francisco at the time of the murder and through the week afterward.

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