Former EMT and wife of a Los Angeles firefighter, Luella Weireter, testified in court Friday that during the Southern California Radio and Television News Association’s Golden Mike Awards in February, she saw his county firefighter Los Angeles’ Tony Ibrenda shares photos of Bryant’s remains. and other images from the crash site with ceremony attendees. Many firefighters attended the media event, which also honored Fire Department officials for their work in keeping the public informed about the fires. After a small group of people at her table gathered to view images on a cell phone, in what Weireter described as a party trick, she testified that she saw a firefighter walk away from the group, saying, “I can’t believe it. I just looked at it. Kobe’s burnt body and now I’m about to eat.” After that comment, Vanessa Bryant could be seen in the courtroom with her head in her hands, rocking back and forth, crying. Weireter is the cousin of Keri Altobelli, who, along with her husband John and daughter Alyssa, were also killed in the helicopter crash. About two weeks after the award ceremony, Weireter drove to a county fire station in Malibu and filed a formal complaint with a battalion chief, she testified. That same day, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marone called on her to follow up. On Thursday afternoon, Vanessa Bryant left court during testimony describing photos taken at the crash site. She became emotional when Victor Gutierrez, a bartender, was asked if he had seen the body of her daughter, Gianna Bryant, in the pictures. Gutierrez had described what he saw in the photos shown to a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy at a bar on a previous date. Bryant cried, stood up, and her attorney asked the presiding judge for Bryant’s permission to leave the courtroom. Bryant did not return for the rest of Gutierrez’s testimony, which continued with a series of surveillance footage from the bar where he worked on Jan. 28, 2020 — two days after the crash and a month before the awards ceremony. Gutierrez described being turned on by the photos and later admitted to telling the condition of the victims’ bodies to five groups of people. The trial is expected to last about two weeks, and witnesses will likely include Vanessa Bryant and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The suit, filed in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages and claims civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy. A jury of six women and four men was selected for the case. They include a nun, someone who works in television production for NBC Universal, a college student, a real estate investor, a pharmaceutical researcher, a computer science professor, and a restaurant host. Jason Kravarik, Natasha Chen, Amir Vera and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
