VICTORVILLE • A couple awoke to the sound of breaking glass from downstairs in their Kemper Campbell Ranch apartment.

Alice Sauls said her husband, Joel Auest, told her to call 911 before he ran downstairs. Upset and terrified, she couldn’t dial the phone, Sauls testified Tuesday, recalling the early morning of Oct. 4, 2003.

Auest soon came back into the bedroom, followed by a slender, young man wearing blue medical scrubs.

“You’re gonna have to calm down ma’am,” the stranger told Sauls, according to her testimony. “You’re gonna have to have my baby.”

The intruder approached Sauls and struck her in the head with an object in his hand, Sauls said. She went downstairs to get help after the man went out to the balcony, Sauls testified. Later Auest came downstairs with blood dripping from his head.

The couple was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center where Auest died three days later from blunt force trauma to the head.

The prosecution began presenting its witnesses Tuesday in the trial of Melvin Douglas Cannon, accused of murdering 55-year-old Auest — a crime that shook the tranquil Victorville ranch community more than seven years ago. The 23-year-old is also charged with the attempted murder of Sauls, burglary and other allegations.

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