MINNEAPOLIS — The former boyfriend of accused killer Julissa Thaler took the stand Tuesday in her high-profile murder trial, recounting a fateful night in May of 2022 that turned out to be her son's last.
Robert Pikkarainen told jurors that he and Thaler knew each other in high school, and reconnected in 2022 by getting together to do drugs. He was arrested along with Thaler for Eli's death but quickly released without being charged.
Pikkarainen testified that he went with Thaler to pick up 6-year-old Eli Hart from school on May 19, the day before prosecutors say the boy was killed by multiple shots from a shotgun. He recalled feeding Eli pizza, playing with kittens in Thaler's apartment and getting ready to play Xbox when things took a turn.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse reports that Pikkarainen was emotional, struggling to hold back tears while describing the events that unfolded with a 6-year-old wide awake at 11 p.m. on a school night.
"We started playing with the kitties and Eli was getting rowdy and Mom didn't like it. She was hitting him. Then Eli was hitting her – they were fighting," Pikkarainen told the panel. "So she put the shotgun in the car and she came back up. I was lying in her bed. She grabbed Eli and went downstairs."
Pikkarainen testified he fell asleep and woke the next morning at 8 or 8:30. "Where did you go?" he reportedly asked her. "She was kind of like, 'I had to go do something,'" Pikkarainen said.
Pikkarainen told the courtroom he assumed Eli was at school. He said Thaler mentioned something about the police, and he asked what she was talking about. They eventually left the apartment, Pikkarainen said. "She stopped right there by the lake, and she wouldn't tell me what's going on, why cops were there."
Police on the scene arrested both Thaler and Pikkarainen, and he told prosecutor Dan Allard he had no idea why they were taken into custody.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Rebecca Noothed brought up the purchase of the shotgun Thaler allegedly took to her car. Pikkarainen earlier testified he was with the defendant when she bought it and then went to a Delano gun range with her to practice shooting.
Noothed: "She told you she wanted the gun for protection, right?"
Pikkarainen: "Yes, she did."
Noothed: "She mentioned that multiple times?"
Pikkarainen: "Yes."
Noothed: "She said she wanted protection from her ex?"
At that point prosecutor Allard objected, and Judge Jay Quam sustained, telling jurors to ignore the question regarding Thaler's ex-boyfriend (and Eli's father) Tory Hart.
Defense attorney Noothed then addressed Pikkarainen's statements to police. "You told police you didn't think she could hurt Eli?" she asked Pikkarainen.
"I didn't think so, no. She was a sweet person," he responded.
KARE 11's Raguse said Pikkarainen's testimony hurt the defense badly. "An overwhelming amount of evidence against her, and nothing to help her," he said. He shared that while the defense hasn't filed an intent to introduce an alternative suspect in Eli's murder, Thaler's team attempted to implicate Pikkarainen, and perhaps lead to doubt in the minds of jurors.
A DNA expert also took the stand Tuesday and testified that blood found in Julissa Thaler's hair on May 20 was a match with Eli's blood.
The trial has proceeded quickly and could go to jurors as early as Wednesday.
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