Witness with ‘great hearing’ now charged in murder case where a Baby Yoda doll and AC Transit bus provided key evidence

The decision to charge Mashonna Whittle drew a sharp rebuke from a defense attorney, who called it "a classic situation of coercion."

A key witness in the case of a San Leandro man found bound, gagged and strangled — apparently with a dog leash — has now joined the list of murder defendants in the brutal 2021 slaying.

Mashonna Yvonne Whittle, 35, was charged Nov. 3 with murder and kidnapping to commit robbery in the September 2021 killing of Benjamin Hemmann, 37, who was found tied up with duct tape and gagged with a rag off Redwood Road in Castro Valley.

She joins three other people also jailed in the killing of Hemmann — including her husband — in a case that investigators allegedly cracked using surveillance footage from an AC Transit bus, the presence of a Baby Yoda doll and Whittle’s own self-proclaimed “great hearing,” according to court documents.

Whittle remained held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail on Wednesday. She also faces felony charges of first-degree residential burglary and identity theft.

Until recently, Whittle had been just an important witness in the prosecution’s case against her husband, Kevin Woodruff, and two other men, Brian Wu and Steven Hanna, aka Richard Onteveros.

The men were arrested in spring 2022 and charged with murder after investigators said the trio allegedly took Hemmann to Skyline Boulevard in Oakland and tied him up before Hanna drove the man to Redwood Road in Castro Valley, strangled him and disposed of his body.

The monthslong investigation into Hemmann’s death nearly stalled more than once. Yet one notable break in the case came with the discovery of video footage from an AC Transit bus that allegedly captured a Toyota Tacoma on the road where Hemmann’s body was found. Affixed to its grill was a small Baby Yoda doll.

Months after the killing, investigators found the doll — along with three cellphones and black ratchet straps — inside the truck after Hanna allegedly led police officers on a long chase in the pickup, according to court documents. Hanna later told investigators he acted entirely alone, and that he had killed Hemmann “how you kill any (expletive) dog,” a detective said at a previous evidentiary hearing.

Authorities suspect Whittle was in the same vehicle as some of her co-defendants the day that Hemmann was bound and gagged in broad daylight as joggers and motorists obliviously passed by, court documents show. She allegedly told detectives that she went to sleep in the vehicle early that morning and awoke to Wu threatening Hemmann in the back seat, allegedly saying “Do you think I will shoot you? You know I will.”

She hadn’t seen anything but heard duct tape ripping and Hemmann whimpering as he was bound and gagged, according to court papers.

But, she later recanted her statement, blaming it on her mental illness and “intimidation” by Alameda County sheriff’s investigators.

Investigators said they later found numerous images of credit cards, checks and other personal documents belonging to Hemmann and his father on Whittle’s cell phone, according to court documents. Police also claimed that motorcycles and other valuables were taken from Hemmann’s home and stored at Whittle’s house.

At a hearing Tuesday, defense attorneys representing the men criticized Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Nathan Feldman’s handling of the case, and his decision to charge Whittle.

Woodruff’s attorney, Ernie Castillo, argued that Feldman made a “dirty move” by charging a witness who had grown uncooperative. Castillo added that the decision amounted to “a classic situation of coercion.”

Wu’s attorney, Annie Beles, accused the prosecution of lying and said that “this deception cannot be condoned.”

Much of her criticism centered on the fact that a trial date for the three men set for Tuesday never came to fruition. Rather, Feldman asked to dismiss charges against Woodruff and Wu after having already refiled murder charges against them with the addition of Whittle as a co-defendant. Hanna’s charges remained unchanged.

Beles alleged that Feldman surreptitiously planned to avoid taking the men to trial this month, despite having repeatedly assured the court that he was ready to present the case to a jury.

“Earl Warren is rolling in his grave,” said Beles, referencing perhaps the most famous Alameda County District Attorney, who served in the 1920s and went on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Judge Delia Trevino acknowledged that Feldman had acted “less honorable” than she would have liked, and personally apologized to Woodruff for the prosecutor’s actions, saying “I was not aware of what the DA had planned.” Still, she signed off on Feldman’s moves, noting that his charging decisions in the case were allowed by law.

Feldman, as well as an Alameda County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson, declined to comment.