Dally Allegedly Asked About Wife’s Funds

About a month before Sherri Dally disappeared, Michael Dally surprised his retirement administrator by allegedly asking a strange question.

“If something happened to Sherri, who would get the money?” the former grocery clerk purportedly asked, referring to his wife’s $4,500 retirement fund.

After Sherri Dally’s stabbed and bludgeoned remains were found June 1, Dally allegedly posed another surprising question to Ventura police detectives.

“He asked us if Sherri’s head was detached from her body. And we told him we didn’t know,” Det. James Burt told the Ventura County Grand Jury, according to a transcript released Tuesday.

And shortly after his wife was kidnapped from a shopping center parking lot May 6, Dally allegedly told a co-worker that Sherri Dally was probably dead and had been tortured.

“I know something you don’t know,” he allegedly said.

Those details are contained in the 233-page transcript of grand jury proceedings in the murder case.

Dally, 36, was indicted on murder, kidnapping and related charges after testimony by 17 witnesses Nov. 14 and 15.

His girlfriend, Diana Haun, had been indicted four months earlier on murder charges. Their joint trial is set to begin Feb. 3, and they each face a possible death sentence if convicted.

Although prosecutors also sought an indictment against Dally in August, the grand jury indicted only Haun.

But after a second round of testimony, the grand jury charged Dally with his wife’s kidnap-slaying and added a special allegation against him and Haun that the crime was committed for financial gain.

Prosecutors recalled six witnesses from the August hearings and called 11 new ones, including Dally’s friends, co-workers and police detectives who have investigated the case.

A key grand jury witness was Sarah Bonmarito, a longtime friend of Dally, who testified that he confided in her one night and allegedly admitted that Diana Haun killed Sherri Dally.

“I asked him if his girlfriend killed her, and he said, ‘Yes,’ ” Bonmarito testified.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth acknowledged to the grand jury that in a follow-up conversation, Bonmarito denied that Dally ever made the remark.

Bonmarito’s statements received widespread publicity a week after her appearance before the grand jury when a crisis hotline counselor told newspapers that Bonmarito--during an intoxicated phone call--told her that Dally confessed to killing his wife.

But Bonmarito publicly denied making such comments and told The Times on Nov. 23 that the counselor must have misunderstood her statements during the phone call.

Bonmarito told the grand jury on Nov. 15 that she and Dally talked about his relationship with Haun.

“He talked about how she allowed him to bite her neck and suck his blood, or her blood,” Bonmarito testified, adding that for years Dally had been involved with religious practices akin to Satanism.

“He said he was on the dark side,” she said.

Defense attorneys said in prior court hearings that allegations that Dally and Haun were involved in the occult are untrue.

“It’s a red herring,” Haun’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Neil Quinn, said last week. “I think it has nothing to do with this case.”

The first witness called before the grand jury during the November proceedings was Darrell Anderson, the grocery chain’s administrator who handled the Dallys’ retirement funds.

Sherri and Michael Dally each had an individual retirement account valued at about $4,500. Michael Dally was the beneficiary of his wife’s account, Anderson testified.

Michael Dally came to him about a month before Sherri Dally disappeared to inquire about the funds, which seemed strange, Anderson testified, because Dally had talked about the beneficiaries when the accounts were opened.

Prosecutors say Dally and Haun, who had been having an adulterous affair for more than a year, conspired to kill Sherri Dally at least partly for money.

Other witnesses testified that Dally was having financial problems. Grand jurors were shown evidence of unpaid bills.

Ventura police detectives said Dally seemed nervous and asked a series of questions after his wife’s body was discovered in a ravine north of Ventura.

Det. Burt said Dally asked him and another officer whether his wife’s head had been severed while inquiring about a necklace she often wore.

“He made the comment that, well, if it was attached--if the head was attached--that the necklace should still be on her,” Burt said.

At that time, Dally had not seen Sherri Dally’s remains. An autopsy showed that the bones in her neck had been broken by an instrument such as an ax.

Several witnesses testified about Dally’s behavior and comments he made between Sherri Dally’s May 6 disappearance and the discovery of her skeletal remains June 1.

Family friends Deborah English and Kelsey Birkett told the grand jury that Dally showed no remorse or sadness after his wife’s death.

Co-worker Martha Garcia stocked shelves with Michael Dally at an Oxnard grocery store. She told the grand jury that he often confided in her.

In May, Garcia said, she told Dally that she felt sorry for his children because their mother was missing.

Dally allegedly told her: “Don’t feel bad for my kids. . . . They don’t miss her.”

Garcia said Dally later told her he believed his wife was dead and had suffered an “awful death.”

“He said that he bet that she was tortured,” Garcia testified.