Pair charged in Royal Oak murder planned other killings, detective testifies

Royal Oak— A pair of parole absconders — broke, drug-addicted and homeless — allegedly planned robberies and killings after slitting the throat of an 80-year-old Royal Oak woman, a detective testified Friday at their preliminary examination.

Alan C. Wood, 48, and Tonia Watson, 40, are both charged in the death of Nancy Dailey, who was found tied up in her Royal Oak home Nov. 20. Testifying in 44th District Court, Royal Oak Police Detective Perry Edgell laid out details from a 4˝-hour interview he had with Watson the night after her Nov. 22 arrest.

Wood is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, two counts of unauthorized use and possession of a financial transaction device and larceny in a building. Watson is charged with felony murder and the unauthorized use/possession of a financial transaction device and larceny in a building.

Edgell said Watson told him how the pair returned to Dailey's house on Trafford — where they had been paid $40 to rake leaves a week earlier — to rob her. Watson said Wood had her knock on the front door while he went through a side door and overpowered Dailey.

"'I tried to help you, you dirty birds,'" Dailey allegedly complained to the pair before she was tied up, stomped and eventually stabbed and beaten to death.

Wood showed little emotion in court as Edgell recounted his interview with Watson, who frequently shook her head or buried her face in her hands as he spoke.

Watson allegedly told Edgell that after cutting Dailey's throat, the pair gathered up jewelry, the victim's purse, some cash and credit cards and tried to steal her car from the garage, but it wouldn't start.

They ran and caught a bus to Pontiac. They bought heroin and then returned to Royal Oak, where Wood buried the pocket knife used in the killing near the Seville Motel, where they had been living, the officer testified.

Edgell said Watson told him Wood became "nervous" and wanted to retrieve a scarf he had used to tie her up because he feared his DNA was on it. "But when he went by and saw police were already there, he called (Watson) and told her to pack everything up," Edgell testified.

The pair took a bus to an Eight Mile motel where they watched "media reports" on the killing, Edgell testified. The next day, they spent several hours at a food court in a Meijer store in Canton and planned their next move.

Edgell said Watson said Wood planned to find an elderly woman with a car, kill her and then leave the area and adopt new identities. She said he also talked of returning to Royal Oak, where two women had filed complaints against them for theft, because "he didn't want to leave any witnesses."

Wood and Watson were arrested at Meijer while using one of Dailey's credit cards.

Among the first to testify Friday before Judge Terrance Brennan was Dailey's cousin, who fought back tears recalling how she and one of Dailey's neighbors found her body. Leah Sorto had rushed to the house after Dailey did not respond to telephone calls the night of Nov. 20. Sorto begged a neighbor, Steven Schram, to help her get inside the house because she was unable to open the door with a key.

"Nancy was lying face down on the floor, partly in the bedroom, part in the hallway," said Sorto.

Schram testified when he rolled her over, he could see she her throat had been slit.

Other neighbors said they had seen Watson and Wood in the area about a week or two before the slaying, seeking yard work. One recalled seeing them on Dailey's property the weekend before, raking leaves.

Other evidence against the pair includes surveillance videos from a restaurant, gas station and credit union where they used Dailey's credit cards or accessed ATM machines. Dailey's broken cellphone was also found on the rooftop of the Seville Motel, where Watson said Wood tossed it, according to Edgell.

She also told police where they could find the murder weapon, the detective said.

Ironically, evidence obtained from Watson's interview can only be used to implicate her, not Wood. Her attorney, Jack Holmes, indicated his client was under duress and not thinking clearly when she was interviewed by Edgell.

Wood's defense attorney, Elias Escobedo, tried to have the exam adjourned until he was able to obtain more police reports from the prosecutor's office, but Brennan reminded him that much of the information he sought that was obtained from Watson could not be used against Wood.

Both murder charges are punishable by life in prison. The other charges are felonies punishable by up to four years in prison.

Brennan adjourned the exam until March 16 on the request of assistant prosecutor Tricia Dare, who said she needed more time to obtain DNA evidence results from the Michigan State Police.

mmartindale@detnews.com

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