Defendant cross-examines stalking victim in murder trial

Loretta Spencer Blatz said she tried desperately to escape the attentions of the man accused of stalking her and killing her roommate 17 years ago, but Friday she was forced to confront him again — this time as a witness in his Cobb County murder trial.

Waseem Daker is defending himself against charges that he killed Blatz’s roommate, Karmen Smith, on Oct. 23, 1995, and injured Smith’s 5-year-old son by stabbing him numerous times. Daker cross-examined Blatz for several hours about her stalking accusations, and seemed unflappable even when Blatz broke down during the courtroom exchange.

Daker, wearing a dark gray pinstripe suit and tie, his hair buzz-cut short, leaned calmly on the podium as he asked Blatz to review police reports generated from several of the stalking complaints and transcripts from his 1996 trial.

Daker tried to discredit Blatz by pointing out that some things she testified that he did — such as running her car off the road, threatening to slit her 10-year-old daughter’s throat, or hanging a bra or pair of panties on her apartment doorknob for her to find — were not reported to police.

“Many things may not be on this report,” Blatz said, bursting into tears as she turned to face the jury. “My intention was to get it [the stalking] to stop. At the time I didn’t know it would lead to what it … what it led to.”

Prosecutors say Daker killed Smith because she interfered with his attempts to harass Blatz.

Daker allegedly became obsessed with Blatz a few months after they met on a paintball team in 1994. He allegedly confided in Blatz about problems he was having at home and claimed to be suicidal. Blatz said initially she saw herself as a “bigger sister” and tried to help. But she said she became frightened when he began calling her, coming by her home and following her incessantly.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors played several recorded phone calls in which Daker could be heard asking Blatz to meet him or talk to him, even as she begged him to stop calling and to commit himself to a mental health hospital.

As Daker’s questioning of Blatz progressed Friday, her demeanor toward him grew steely.

When Daker asked when he made the threat to kill her 10-year-old daughter, she replied matter-of-factly, “Just a couple of days before you murdered Karmen.”

Daker flinched and turned to Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley.

“Your honor, I’m going to object to that,” he said. “That’s a question for the jury.”

Daker, 35, of Lawrenceville, has pleaded not guilty to charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated stalking and burglary.

Daker told jurors in his opening statement that the evidence will show Blatz is a liar. He said they were involved in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship — a claim Blatz has strongly denied. Daker said he did not stalk Blatz or kill Smith.

Daker was convicted in 1996 of stalking Blatz and served 10 years in prison. Police identified him as a possible suspect in Smith’s death soon after the slaying, but it was not until 2009 that they were able to connect him to the crime scene through nuclear DNA testing of hairs found on Smith’s body.

The trial is expected to resume Monday.