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Testimony at the trial for Two Dogs Salvatore Fasaga wrapped up on Tuesday with the appearance of a material witness who was present for the alleged May 2018 murder of 40-year-old Paul Snarski.
The witness, Rachel Donnelly, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on a $250,000 material witness warrant — meaning she’s not accused of a crime but is required to testify as a key witness at a trial — at 4 p.m. on July 14, according to jail records.
Donnelly was transported from the Lewis County Jail to Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, July 18, to testify against Fasaga, 43, who is facing one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Answering questions from both prosecuting and defense attorneys on Tuesday, Donnelly recounted the day of Snarski’s murder and the subsequent months from her point of view.
According to Donnelly, she and Snarski were in a romantic relationship as of May 11, 2018, when he stopped by her house in Auburn after work and picked her up to go to a friend’s house before going down to Oregon to visit his mom for Mother’s Day.
Along the way, they picked up a mutual friend, identified as DJ Lancaster.
After visiting another friend, the three stopped by Fasaga’s cabin in Onalaska to eat and hang out before continuing the drive to Oregon.
Donnelly described the property as “a typical compound,” with a small one-bedroom studio cabin with a deck, a detached outhouse and a large number of cars. Fasaga reportedly had two dogs that roamed the property.
Donnelly testified Tuesday that she and Snarski went inside the cabin while Fasaga and Lancaster remained outside.
Donnelly, Snarski and Lancaster had reportedly consumed meth and alcohol earlier in the day.
Lancaster came inside after about half an hour, at which point Donnelly started heating up food she had brought for everyone to share, she recalled.
About five minutes after Lancaster came inside, Donnelly recalled seeing the door fling open and seeing Fasaga in the doorway.
“Paul’s last words were ‘watch out, fool,’” Donnelly said, adding that she presumed Snarski thought Fasaga was joking around, up until he wasn’t.
“He (Fasaga) was crouching down and pointed the gun up and shot (Snarski) in the face,” Donnelly said Tuesday. “One minute we were just sitting there, the next that happened, so I didn’t know what to think. It all happened within seconds.”
After the shot went off, Fasaga ordered Donnelly and Lancaster to get face down on the floor, Donnelly said.
“It seemed like eternity but it was probably like a minute,” she said, adding, “I thought I was going to die. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Snarski was reportedly making “snoring sounds” at that point, but no one made a move to help him, Donnelly said.
While she was on the ground, Donnelly said she heard one of Fasaga’s dogs “ragdoll” Snarski’s head, at which point the snoring sound stopped.
Fasaga ultimately pulled Donnelly up and sat her on one of the two couches in the cabin beside Lancaster, she said.
“I didn’t know what to do or say, so I asked (Fasaga) ‘Do you need help?’” Donnelly said, adding, “He looked like he didn’t know what to do with what was in front of him.”
Under Fasaga’s direction, Donnelly and Lancaster cleaned up the scene, mopping up the blood with paper towels and burning them along with their clothes and anything else they could see blood on, she said.
Fasaga appeared “calm” during the process, Donnelly stated.
Lancaster was sent to dispose of Snarski’s car, according to Donnelly, who said she ultimately fell asleep as she came down from the drugs she had consumed and the stress caught up with her.
While she was sleeping, she reported being woken up by something that sounded like a chainsaw, then going back to sleep.
Fasaga is accused of dismembering Snarski’s body and having others dispose of Snarski’s remains, vehicle and shoes, according to court documents.
Donnely stated she later awoke to Fasaga approaching the bed. She said she invited him to sleep beside her, which he did, and the two slept for up to a day and a half, awaking sometime in the afternoon.
When she finally got up, Snarski’s body was gone, she said.
Donnelly stayed with Fasaga of her own free will for the next several months, she said, with the two of them entering a “romantic relationship.”
When asked why she stayed with Fasaga, Donnelly said, “Just to make sure that he was OK and that he knew I wasn’t going to run off. I don’t know why that was important to me. I think because I just saw that happen.”
When asked by King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jacqueline Lawrence, Donnelly said Fasaga had told her about an incident in March 2018 involving Snarski that resulted in Fasaga’s arrest.
In the prosecution’s opening argument last week, King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott M. O’Toole argued that Fasaga was “paranoid” and the March arrest “planted the seed in Mr. Fasaga” that led him to kill Snarski.
Donnelly and Fasaga remained together until they were both arrested in July 2018 for an unrelated incident.
Fasaga was subsequently taken into federal custody for a stolen firearm case, then was transferred to King County custody after the murder case was filed there in 2020. He was transferred to Lewis County earlier this month after the case was moved to Lewis County Superior Court.
Meanwhile, Auburn detectives were investigating Snarski’s disappearance. An Auburn detective interviewed Donnelly about Snarski on March 18, 2019 and Donnelly lied to the detective multiple times during that interview, Donnelly confirmed Tuesday.
Defense attorney Peter T. Geisness handed Donnelly a copy of the transcript for that interview during her testimony on Tuesday and walked her through multiple instances where her statement didn’t align with the testimony she had just given in court.
Donnelly confirmed Tuesday that she lied during that interview, stating “I was scared” and didn’t want to incriminate any of her friends.
She did eventually cooperate with the detective during the 2019 interview, saying Tuesday she ultimately “broke down” and told the truth.
In the defense’s opening argument last week, defense attorney Peter Connick argued Donnelly and Lancaster are both not credible witnesses due to their respective criminal backgrounds and existence of evidence proving the two separately lied to the police during the investigation into Snarski’s death invalidates their testimonies, without which the defense argues the state can’t prove Fasaga killed Snarski.
Witness testimony concluded with Donnelly’s testimony on Tuesday, but the trial is set to continue through at least the end of this week as the court goes through physical evidence and photographs associated with the case.
Fasaga’s trial is being held as a bench trial, in which a jury is not involved and the presiding judge makes the final verdict.
Judge J. Andrew Toynbee is the judge presiding over Fasaga’s case.
As a material witness arrested on a warrant, Donnelly will remain in custody at the Lewis County Jail until the case is resolved.
The court has mandated Donnelly and Fasaga remain separated within the Lewis County Jail.
