BY SUSAN THACKER
sthacker@gbtribune.com

Jeffrey Wade Chapman told a Barton County jury that he didn’t seek Damon Galyardt out with the intent to kill him. As he took the witness stand Tuesday, Chapman said he only wanted to talk to the 25-year-old Great Bend man; but Galyardt came at him with a knife, and he shot in self defense.
Chapman began his story nine months before the night he shot Galyardt, then dumped the body in the county. That was Nov. 11, 2011. But on Feb. 2, 2011, Chapman and his friends were in a car wreck. His girlfriend, 26-year-old Casey Ann Goodwin, died, and Chapman was seriously injured.
“I was in love,” Chapman said.
Goodwin’s sister, Summer Hoss, became part of Chapman’s extended family after that.
“Summer lost her family, so I feel like I’m her family now,” Chapman said. “She’s like a sister in my eyes. When I look at her I see my little sister.”
Chapman said he didn’t like Galyardt much, but Galyardt was Summer’s boyfriend. “He made her happy.”
So, Chapman said, several times when Hoss came to him crying that Galyardt was getting high on meth or staying away from home, Chapman would go find him. Somehow, Galyardt always listened.
The week of Nov. 10, 2011, Galyardt was making Hoss unhappy again.
“He’s back into drugs again; he’s staying away from home,” Chapman said. On the 11th, Galyardt nearly got caught passing fake money in Lyons. Michelle Detrich, who was with him, did get caught.
Detrich’s sister called and asked him to get her things. Hoss called and said she and Galyardt had been fighting.
“I’m sad that she’s sad and I’m pissed off that he’s treating her that way,” Chapman said.
Does that mean he was mad enough to kill Galyardt? defense attorney Kurt Kerns asked.
No, Chapman said. “Hurting him would be hurting her in my eyes.”
Kerns asked Chapman to stand and reenact his final confrontation with Galyardt.
“I come in — I shut the door,” he said.
As Chapman spoke, Kerns moved toward him, gradually  coming within arm’s length.
“Damon’s coming toward me ... he’s accusing me of (having sex with) Summer. He’s red in the face, coming toward me ... he’s got a knife. I’m scared. I’ve never seen him like this. Walking toward me, he said, ‘Now I’m going to kill you.’”
Galyardt raised his knife, and Chapman pulled a gun from his back pocket and fired its only bullet, he said.
Kerns, standing in front of Chapman, asked, “How much time does it take to go from here — TO THERE?” as he made a jabbing motion at Chapman with the “knife” hand. What was going through Chapman’s mind?
“I just shot a man. I’m just freaking out. He says, ‘ah,’ and dropped the knife — turns and walks away. He says, ‘For real?’”
Chapman said he thought Galyardt might go for the sawed off shotgun in the house. He went outside to the car where his friend was waiting in the ally, and they went to Chapman’s mother’s house in Pawnee Rock.
“I still can’t get my thoughts together; I’m waiting on Damon to call or text me. I text Jeanna (Rader) to listen to the scanner. I tell her I think I just shot somebody.”
“Jeffrey, we’re going to have to talk about some of the stupid things you did,” Kerns said. Chapman didn’t call 911.
When he didn’t hear from Galyardt and there was nothing on the police scanner, Chapman went back to Rader’s house in Great Bend. Another man drove him to Hoss/Galyardt’s house on Stone St.
Someone had turned the lights off. “I’m yelling for him but there’s no answer,” Chapman said. He saw Galyardt’s body on the living room floor, propped against the couch. “I can see the bullet hole in his chest. I’m freaking out; I know he’s dead.”
They returned to Rader’s house, but Chapman decided to move the body.
“I know it’s Summer’s house. I don’t want her to go there and see him,” he explained.
So he borrowed Shayla Richmeier’s car and returned alone. He wrapped the body in a mattress pad, dragged it to the car and drove into the country, where he left the body along side the road. On the way back to town, Chapman saw there was blood on everything and started tossing things out of the car window — gloves, shoes and the gun, which Chapman said he tossed into a river as he drove across a bridge.
Looking at the jury, Chapman said, “I don’t know how to make you understand. I didn’t want this. ... I’m sorry.”
Prosecuting attorney Steven Karrer handled the cross examination. He asked how Chapman was able to get Galyardt’s body to the car alone.
“I grabbed his leg and pulled the body,” Chapman said.
Why did he wear gloves?
“Because I didn’t want to touch him.”
At what point did he decide to toss things from the car?
“I get back in the car and I see blood on the sweatshirt. I didn’t want to see it on me. I noticed it all over everything.”
Karrer asked how he saw the blood on the toe of his shoe while he was driving.
“I don’t know what I threw out, sir. Everything I see that had blood, I just threw it out of the car.”
“Now, when you got back, Jeanna saw you in dark jeans and white tennis shoes,” Karrer said.
“Where did you get a new pair of shoes?”
“I did not have shoes on when I came to Jeanna’s house,” he said.
Karrer called Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Cory Latham as a rebuttal witness. Latham searched the house on Stone St. on Nov. 13, 2011. He saw no evidence that a body had been dragged. He also looked at rugs on the floor, and concluded they had not been moved. “The floor ... was fairly dirty,” he said, and when he moved each rug he could see its outline in the dust.