Affidavit: Suspect told girlfriend he beat father, former dean to death

Affidavit: Suspect told girlfriend he beat father, former dean to death »Play Video
Johan Gillette

EUGENE, Ore. - The adult son accused of murdering his father and his domestic partner told sheriff's deputies he was at home watching TV when he first learned of the attack.

But the accused's girlfriend told investigators she loved him - but wouldn't lie for him. She told deputies her boyfriend called and said he'd killed his father and his girlfriend with a wrench.

Johan Gillette, 36, faces two counts of murder and one count of animal cruelty.

He's accused of the Sept. 7, 2012, slaying of his father, 73-year-old James Gillette, and his domestic partner, 71-year-old Anne Dhu McLuca, a former dean of music at the University of Oregon.

In a sworn affidavit, the lead investigator on the case tells a horrific story about what investigators found in the main house on the large property just south of Eugene.

"There were large pools of blood on the floor," Detective Aaron Hoberg wrote. "On James Gillette's right side was a dog that was still breathing but unresponsive lying in a pool of blood."

Hoberg wrote that Johan Gillette claimed to know nothing about the deaths until another resident on the property came to his door to report finding the bodies.

When asked why his hands were bruised and bloodied, Johan told Hoberg he fell while on a walk, the detective wrote.

When Hoberg asked why his knees weren't bruised, Johan's story changed - and he refused to re-enact the fall for investigators, Hoberg wrote.

Johan's girlfriend Asia Seaton told investigators a different story.

She told investigators that Johan told her he went to the main house for water and got in a fight with James Gillette, who had threatened to kick them off the property and euthanize their cats.

"He got into a physical altercation with his father, and his father was reaching for his gun, so Johan Gillette hit his father with a wrench or something," she told investigators, according to the affidavit. "McLucas jumped on his back, so he did stuff to her."

Medics rushed McLucas to the hospital with serious injuries that night. She died sometime the next day.

Deputies also found evidence in Johan Gillette's home of clothes being washed in a heavy bleach solution.