SACRAMENTO — Sabrina Gonsalves suffered six gashes to her throat on the night she died, including two that pierced her larynx and jugular vein, according to the pathologist who conducted the UC Davis freshman’s autopsy nearly 32 years ago.
Dr. Anthony Cunha was participating in a fellowship program at the Sacramento County coroner’s office when the bodies of Gonsalves and her boyfriend John Riggins were recovered from a Folsom-area ravine on Dec. 22, 1980, two days after their abductions from Davis.
On Wednesday, Cunha recalled performing Gonsalves’ autopsy alongside Dr. Pierce Rooney, the county’s lead pathologist at the time, who administered Riggins’ postmortem exam. His testimony capped off a grim afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court, where Richard Joseph Hirschfield is on trial for the UCD couple’s slayings.
Hirschfield, 63, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges filed against him in 2004, following a cold-hit DNA match allegedly linking him to a semen-stained blanket found in Riggins’ van. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Gonsalves’ body arrived at the coroner’s office clad in the gray plaid skirt, white blouse and black velvet jacket she had worn to usher a children’s “Nutcracker” performance in Davis two days before.
The 18-year-old’s face was obscured by silver duct tape “that was wrapped around the head in a mummy-like fashion,” Cunha said on the stand. It tightly covered Gonsalves’ eyes, nose and mouth, with a small portion folded back from her nostrils to allow the passage of air.
Still, “her breathing would have been restricted,” said Cunha, who made note of petechial hemorrhaging around Gonsalves’ eyes and ears consistent with asphyxiation. A faint ligature mark appeared on one side of Gonsalves’ neck, though Cunha couldn’t say for certain whether the mark was made before or after she died.
It was the wounds to Gonsalves’ neck, though, that proved fatal — including one just over four inches wide and two inches deep that sliced into the young woman’s jugular vein, Cunha testified. A second major cut perforated her larynx, while four others were “relatively superficial,” he said.
The larger gashes featured squared-off edges that Cunha said were consistent with a “single-edged cutting instrument, such as a knife.” Riggins, meanwhile, suffered a similar neck wound that could have been made with the same weapon.
Deputy District Attorney Dawn Bladet displayed a series of Gonsalves’ autopsy photos on a courtroom projection screen, triggering quiet weeping among several relatives who were in the audience.
Prosecutors allege that Gonsalves was the victim of a sexual assault, a conclusion that Cunha didn’t reach as a result of his exam. However, his report did note a “superficial abrasion” and “roughening” to her vaginal area.
Cunha conceded Wednesday the injuries could be consistent with an attempted assault, but also could be attributed to “postmortem activity.” He added that swabs he took of Gonsalves’ bodily fluids yielded no signs of sperm, though further examinations conducted 12 years later by the state Department of Justice would show otherwise.
If only a small number of sperm appeared on the microscopic slides, “a few could be missed,” Cunha acknowledged.
Cunha’s testimony continues today, followed by a video of pathologist Rooney’s testimony at Hirschfield’s 2007 preliminary hearing. Rooney died of cancer in 2009.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene