Santa Rita Murder: Evidence Suggests Hairstylist Girlfriend was Bludgeoned with a Hammer

SAN ANGELO, TX – Several witnesses for the prosecution took the stand Thursday in the Tom Green County Courthouse in the murder trial of Chris Wise who is accused of killing Santa Rita hairstylist Christie Feland in November of 2022. The day included surprising DNA evidence and witness testimony indicating Wise was high, paranoid, and may have been on drugs the night of the murder and afterward.

Wise is charged with murder in the Nov. 8, 2022 death of Feland at a home they briefly shared on Ave. M.  by "striking her with his hand, kicking and stomping her with his foot, striking her with unknown objects and allowing her to drown in a bathtub."

First on the witness stand Thursday morning was Sadie Manley, who was the last client Feland had the night she died. Manley testified that Feland had no visible injuries but was shaking while cutting her hair.

Next up was Randy Allen, who owned Southside Cuts & Barber Shop where Feland worked. Allen told jurors that Feland, Allen, and his wife became good friends and that Feland had her children at the shop often. On questioning from District Attorney Allison Palmer, Allen testified that he had met Wise, but didn’t trust him. He said Christie changed after they started dating; she would show up late for work and sleep in her chair. That wasn’t like her at all. Allen said the day she died, he saw her trying to hack a phone at work that wasn’t hers. He said she was visibly upset about something on the phone.  Allen told the jury, “I never had a good feeling about him (Wise), never!”

Libby Welker was next to take the witness stand. Welker rented the other half of the duplex where Christie and Wise lived. She testified that the night Christie died, she heard loud banging noises coming from their side of the duplex, saying the sounds were “aggressive, almost like someone was punching or stomping something.” And that she, had “Never heard sounds like that previously.”  Under cross-examination from defense attorney Gonzalo Rios, Welker admitted that even though she heard the sounds, she didn’t call the police.

Palmer then called Allynda Trollinger to the stand. Trollinger said she knew Wise because she worked with him at Outback Steakhouse. Trollinger testified that Wise told her that Christi Feland died after they had an argument. He said they had a fight and he went to sleep on the couch.  He woke up to the sound of running water from the bathroom. He went to the bedroom and found Feland unconscious in the bathtub with her head underwater and the water still running.

Trollinger said she told police Wise was acting "disturbed," he was crying acting "paranoid and crazy."  He said he thought the cops were following him.

Next on the stand was Raul Ruiz.  Ruiz worked with Wise at Outback Steakhouse and was living with Trollinger. Ruiz testified that Wise stayed at his apartment for four days after Feland’s death. Ruiz said Wise told him that he was blackout drunk the night Christie died and he didn’t really remember anything after the fight. Ruiz said Wise was so paranoid he couldn’t sleep. He was “nervous as hell,” “paranoid” and not himself. “He was not the Chris I knew before,”  Ruiz told the jury.

Under cross-examination by Rios, Ruiz said Wise was “…so paranoid he thought his coworkers were going to turn him in.”

Palmer then called Robin Hooper to the witness stand. Hooper is the Crime Scene Supervisor for the San Angelo Police Department. The night of the murder, Hooper said she collected parts of the bathtub, a necklace, Feland’s clothing, a hammer, swabs from blood on the toilet, stoppers from the tub, items burned from the trash, and took photos of shirts, a pair of jeans and a towel with blood stains. Jurors watched intently as Hooper carefully described the process of tagging and bagging evidence while she opened one of the bags at the request of the prosecution.

Palmer then showed photos of that evidence to the jurors. The images included standard photos and photos taken with an SDFI camera to enhance bruises and other injuries under the skin. One of the photos showed Feland’s left temple area with the hammer beside the circular injury. The detailed photos showed multiple bruises all over Feland’s body.

The photos also showed bruising on Wise’s neck, eyebrow, chest and back.  Under cross-examination, Rios asked Hooper if the bruise on Wise’s neck could be a hickey.

Ann Zischkau was called to the witness stand next. She is a Forensic Scientist with the DPS lab in Lubbock. Her job is to intake evidence from crime scenes and determine if they can be tested for DNA.  Zischkau testified that there was no blood on the hammer or the spout from the tub. She also tested the toilet seat, fingernail swabs from Wise, the tub drain plug, a white shirt, the red towel, the jeans, and the burned shirts from the trash.

Next up was DNA Forensic Analyst Jason White. White said there was DNA on the handle of the hammer.  He said the DNA was from Wise and Feland. There was also DNA on the jeans and the towel.

White was excused and Palmer then called Robin Matschek to the stand. Matschek is Christie Feland’s older sister. She testified that she didn’t know Christie was living with Wise and had never met him before.

Matschek said the first time she saw Chris Wise was the night she went to her sister’s house after she found out she had died. She testified that Wise was acting strange and that he was using bleach to clean a pair of white tennis shoes. She also said some of Christie’s belongings were missing. She also said there was a hole in the wall by the stairs that wasn’t there two weeks earlier.

After Matschek was finished testifying, Palmer called Raci Patrick to the stand. Patrick was one of Christie’s best friends growing up in Andrews. Raci testified that she knew Christie was dating Wise.  Patrick and her husband drove from Andrews to San Angelo to help Christie’s sister gather her belongings from the house. She testified that the house smelled like bleach while they were there. She also said the bedroom smelled like marijuana. She said Wise was acting weird.  He asked her how long it takes to get autopsy results and what it would show. She said he asked, “If she drowned, there would be water in her lungs right?”

Patrick said she took photos of the shoes Wise was cleaning with bleach and sent those to the police.  Palmer showed the three pictures to the jury.

Patrick was then excused from the witness stand and testimony ended for the day Thursday.

The trial will continue Friday morning.