Robert Falk was the first to discover Patricia Bottarini's bloody and broken body after the 36-year-old woman fell some 500 feet to her death in Zion National Park.
"It was not something anyone should see. It was instantly a situation where I knew we wouldn't be able to help her," Falk testified Wednesday in the federal trial against James Bottarini of Ottawa, Ill.
Falk resumed the witness stand in the Thursday morning session of the three week trial. At that time, jurors viewed a poster-sized photo of Patricia Bottarini's body as Falk found it on May 9, 1997.
Prosecutors allege Bottarini, 43, pushed his wife to her death in order to collect $1.25 million in life insurance and other investments.
Falk said he immediately tried to dissuade James Bottarini from coming any closer, while he walked to the woman lying about 15 feet away.
"I turned to the defendant and said something to the effect of 'Jim, it's not good, don't come up here,' " Falk said.
But as the Phoenix man knelt to verify his suspicions, he heard Bottarini's footsteps and knew he had seen the body of his wife of nearly a decade.
Bottarini showed little emotion at the sight, Falk said. He did, however, pick up a rock and throw it at a pack of vultures circling overhead.
Falk was one in a group of six who encountered Bottarini on his way down Zion's Observation Point trail. Bottarini told the group that his wife had fallen and he couldn't find her.
Mike Fulton replaced Bottarini's park-issued brochure with his topographical map, but soon realized the situation was more serious than it first appeared.
Bottarini didn't convey any "sense of panic or urgency," Fulton said.
Fulton's hiking partner signaled the rest of the group, which included Falk, and they began making plans. Fulton and another woman would run the approximately three miles down the trail for help, others would continue up above and Falk and Bottarini would search a nearby canyon for the woman.
Both men said Bottarini did not help make the plans, and didn't speak much. Fulton said he seemed "disoriented," and remembered that his hands were trembling and his voice quivering.
Falk said Bottarini appeared "distracted" and did not join him in calling out Patricia Bottarini's name — "Patty" — as the two searched.
After scrambling up a ledge covered in loose soil and finding Patricia Bottarini's body, Falk said he decided to head back toward the main trail and report the location. Bottarini, however, said he "couldn't leave, that he needed to stay" with his wife.
Falk found his girlfriend on the trail, told her where to send authorities and returned to find Bottarini standing near his wife's body. He had replaced Patricia Bottarini's shorts, which had come off during the fall and left her lower body exposed.
The two men took shelter from the afternoon sun under a small tree, and waited between one and two hours for park rangers to arrive. They spoke occasionally, Falk said, mostly about their children — the Bottarinis had two young boys and he mentioned this was "going to be difficult" on them.
Though Bottarini "never seemed overcome with emotion," Falk said he did briefly place his head in his hands and begin to cry. And, later, he expressed concern about how his wife's body would be removed from the steep ledge.
National Park Service special agent Pat Buccello testified Thursday she initially mistook Falk for Patricia Bottarini's husband.
"I almost went directly to Mr. Falk," Buccello said, adding that he seemed much more upset and worried than Bottarini did.
Buccello said park rangers, at first, didn't recognize the severity of the situation.
"We all kind of looked at each other and said, 'Nobody falls off Observation Point Trail,' " she said.
Buccello's review of park records shows no accidents on the trail in the past 30 years, fatal or otherwise.
Bottarini is charged with four counts of wire fraud, and one count each of making false statements to a federal investigator and interstate domestic violence. If convicted, he faces life in prison on the domestic violence charge, plus 30 years and a $250,000 fine on each fraud count.
E-MAIL: awelling@desnews.com