Testimony continues in Jake Eilander trial

BONNEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) – UPDATED 4/17/22 at 5:35 p.m. – Monday marked day four of testimony in the trial for Jake Eilander. He is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Ulises Rangel behind Planet Fitness in Idaho Falls on March 30, 2022.

Jury trial began on Tuesday, April 11 after having to be rescheduled due to COVID-19 exposure in early November 2022.

In court on Monday, the jury got to hear from Idaho State Police Forensics Analyst, Eric Seat. He said there is a one in sentillions chance that the DNA found on Rangel's shirt he was wearing at the time of his death does not belong to Eilander. Seat also says DNA collected from the suspect weapon had a 2.47 trillion likelihood to be Eilander's.

Seat says anything above 100 would indicate a DNA match.

Also revealed in court on Monday, video evidence of the interrogation on the night of the alleged murder between law enforcement and Eilander's girlfriend, Brandelyn Carlson. She was on the stand as the over an hour long video played.

In the video, she went on to describe her account of what happened that night saying Rangel, "just started going off," and she, "had no idea who he was... He just kept coming at us... He kept egging Jake on." In the video she also explains Rangel looking strange. "The dude didn't look right," Carlson says, "You can tell something was not right about him." In the video, she never admitted to seeing Jake with a gun or pulling the trigger. She says she only heard one shot fired.

As the video played out, Carlson had her eyes locked on the screen in front of her. Eilander watched the video, but occasionally looked down and looked over at Carlson on the stand a few times.

After the interrogation video, Carlson grabbed a tissue and wiped her eye.

Prosecuting Attorney Randy Neal then began to ask her questions. Neal was pointing out inconsistencies between what she told officers in the video and what she testified in court last week. Neal says on stand last week, she said she did see Eilander pull out a gun. In the video she told officers she never saw Eilander with a gun.

Carlson got emotional stating, "it's been a long year," and she doesn't remember everything but tried her best last week on stand.

Court is scheduled to continue on Tuesday at 9 a.m.