Wisto feared Myers would expose meth trade

March 13, 2013
MICHAEL CUMMINS Pool photo by Joe Johnston, The Tribune

MICHAEL CUMMINS
Pool photo by Joe Johnston, The Tribune

By DANIEL BLACKBURN and KAREN VELIE

County prosecutors continued Wednesday to cultivate the concept of culpability of a mother-son “criminal enterprise” in the violent slaying of 15-year-old Dystiny Myers, weaving a sordid story of life inside a drug dealing family.

Rhonda Maye Wisto and her son, Frank Jacob York, are on  trial for the Sept. 26, 2010 murder of Myers, which occurred, according to testimony, after Wisto became paranoid that Myers was “about to rat” on Wisto and others who were smoking, buying and selling meth and a variety of other drugs in her Nipomo home.

Prosecutors showed graphic video slides of Myers’ skull while Dr. Allison Galloway, a forensic anthropologist employed by the county, described the probable reasons for visible fractures and other blunt force injuries sustained by Myers. Myers’ mother, Aileen Myers, fled the courtroom during the testimony.

Susana Douglas of Oceano, who saw Myers the night before the teenager was murdered, said Myers “was kinda loud” and often boastful when she was at the Wisto home, and usually under the influence of meth.

Douglas, who cried several times during her testimony, said the victim spent a lot of time at the mobile home, and Wisto became concerned about that, and also that the girl was “disrespectful.”

Wisto fiddled with her long pony tail and whispered to her attorney, Michael Cummins, during Douglas’ testimony.

A large portion of Wednesday’s proceedings was taken up by the showing of lengthy video surveillance tapes of the suspects at a Pismo service station and Jack in the Box fast food restaurant the morning of the murder.

Cari Levi, a criminologist with the state Department of Justice crime laboratory, discussed evidence found, including lip marks on a mirror with the DNA belonging to both York and Myers. Testing of a baseball bat showed the DNA on the handle belonged to York and Blood on the end was from Cody Miller, a suspect who has already plead guilty.

Prosecutors claim Wisto, York, and three other men — the other three have already plead guilty — are responsible for Myers’ beating and eventual death by suffocation. Her burned body was found in a shallow grave in Santa Margarita early in the morning, and the the five suspects were arrested only hours later.

The trial is expected to last nearly a month.


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Bread for food and stale water, live in a tent,sleep on the ground, one blanket and no talking. shackles. a big hammer and a lot of rocks. Forever. Take back the meaning of punishment from the courts.


I don’t believe any of the perpetrators of this unspeakable brutality should get a chance to live. Any right to life was extinguished when they committed this atrocity.

A life sentence will no doubt afford them three meals a day, shelter, socialization opportunities, limited entertainment, education, letters, etc.

Dystiny on the other hand, was sentenced to an incredibly brutal, violent, painful, horrifying, hideous death.

Sadly, the death penalty in California fails to do what it was intended to do. Decades and decades of residency on death row is NOT a death sentence. Dystiny was NOT afforded decades of appeals, neither should her killers.


When you say that California’s death penalty fails to do what it was intended to do, do you mean stop people from committing murder?


What happened to that poor girl was horrible, unforgivable, and should be punished beyond severely. However, because these tweakers did not afford her the ability to live, does not mean that the system should automatically stoop to that level. I am a little disturbed at your willingness to join in the fray and kill humans, simply because you feel you have been given some sort of moral shield that protects you from being a killer too.


I don’t support the death penalty because I do not believe justice is, or the justice system and rule of law were set up to be the same thing as vengeance. Now before you think I am some bleeding heart I also don’t support it because I think these pieces of filth deserve the easy way out. I think they deserve to rot, not be sentenced to sleep. I witnessed a good friend of mine get murdered in cold blood in a totally random act of violence over twenty years ago. I am glad the guy who did it is sitting in some cage in the Central Valley, and not laid to rest. I’m glad he has another 40 years to go. I am also glad that because he is doing life without parole, he will never get the chance to be a victim because of the death penalty


I’m sorry you find my moral conscience disturbing. Given the brutality and complete lack of respect for human life, yes, I believe they should be put to death if found guilty

Right or wrong, I believe there must be lex talionis for these sub-human violent creatures.


With more and more losers in prison for life, all we’re doing is creating a drain on us the taxpayer, life in prison really isn’t a deturant because the perp never gets back out in society, so I’m not so sure life is such a good idea and it just doesn’t seem to slow crime down much less stop it, for a senseless murder such as this one I think the chair is the only way to go, this may have an effect on crime.


The war on drugs is a boat load of crap. just like the panga boats we keep finding on the coast, don’t tell me we can’t find these boats out there, all the dollars the govt has wizzed away with their tecno toys and we don’t use them to blow these boats out of the water, this is an easy cleanup, but it doesn’t happen, this 15 yr old girl had no business on meth, if the law would do its job drugs could be wiped out, this old biddy and her useless kids should have been cleaned up long ago I for one minute don’t believe the law didn’t know about these people.

There is no deturent for crimes anymore,life in prison and parole in 5 doesn’t do the trick, capitol punishment is the only deturant I know of and can be much cheaper than life on the taxpayer.

Fienstein and Capps need to quit worrying about guns and get on the drug trade, these people didn’t use a gun.


Careful, Myself, you are getting uncomfortably close to the truth. Some of the more delicate hoi polloi might not be able to stand it.


There are a couple of different ways of looking at this case:


One, it was a sordid, violent little dope drama which ended in murder. Close the case, punish the savages, and everybody go home while the story fades away into the dusty annals of crime and the family endlessly grieves and writhes in agony. End of story for the rest of us.


Two, it is the horrific end result of an elite political policy at the highest levels of American government with its crony collectivist police state. It is a system rife with secret dope smuggling, money laundering, fraudulent banking practices, Black Ops funding worldwide, and, of course, the occasional murder to square things up. As for the latter, the lower the status of the victim, the less likely that John Q. Public is going to raise any hackles about it. A little street enforcement goes a long way and saves the bigger boys from getting dragged into the spotlight where things start to get messy.


It is easy to take option number one. Anybody can do that.


The hard part is to take option number two. Many of you out there can’t seem to do it. You are blinded and brainwashed to this unpleasant reality. In a way, I don’t blame you. At least you can sleep at night. As for the rest of us cranks and gadflies who won’t stop thinking about the REAL cause of the so-called “Drug War,”……..


DOESN’T it seem strange that with all our Billions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment dedicated to detecting movement over earth and sky (NORAD), they can’t deter little “panga boats” from unloading dope on our shores or on land? Why can’t they stop them? Actually, most of the dope is coming into US territory by air, so NORAD KNOWS that they are coming in!


Does anybody really and truly believe that NORAD and the Coast Guard, Air Force, ICE, other policing agencies, et al., can’t stop them??? If you do, then you are completely ignorant of what NORAD does, or what the rest of our defense infrastructure is capable of doing! Nothing can come or go over US air space or land that NORAD cannot detect!


The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that there is OFFICIAL, GOVERNMENT COLLUSION in this matter!


Sooner or later, people are going to have to face facts.


Our federal government and big banks (via Black Ops) are heavily involved, even directing, the world drug trade and are involved in money laundering on a breathtaking scale.


I sure wish Californians would follow through with the death penalty (and enforce it) as this case is proof positive that we need to remove the cowards who commit these acts against us from society. We need to stop housing and feeding them and allowing them to drain our system of precious funds that should be used for the benefit of law abiding citizens.

There are arguments saying that its not a detergent….to those I say you’re wrong.


Just my opinion


Since you state that it is “just your opinion”, you should feel the same who feel differently then you do. I do not care if the death penalty is a deterrent or not; I do not want the government murdering any citizen in my name, period. Just my opinion. I am not wrong, you are not wrong, we have simply stated our opinions. Currently the law is that those convicted of certain crimes are to be put to death by the state, and that they get the chance to go back to court to attempt to get their conviction overturned. I do not want any person who did not do the crime they were convicted of to be put to death by the government, period.


It’s just too bad Destiny could not post her “opinion”…


This government allows innocent people to die daily, know any smokers? The list goes on and on but the risk of prosecuting the wrong person “to the death penalty” would be far less. Yes, wrongfully executing just one person is not ok but ” I say” to not exterminate those who commit premeditated murder is wreckless negligence. Again I say socialize criminal law so that the victims are inherently recognized as, they could be any of us. Until then criminal law is just the best system that money can buy.


I agree with you bob, I don’t want our gub putting anyone to death in my name either. It’s cheaper to lock them up in a cage for life and never let them out anyway. In my opinion it’s also more painful to lock them up for life like an animal, death is too easy.


Give me my liberty or give me death and I mean every word of that. Death is too easy for these animals.