Defense attorneys for Michael Miske opened their case in chief Wednesday with testimony from five law enforcement experts who analyzed fingerprints and DNA evidence after 21-year-old Johnathan Fraser’s disappearance in 2016. 

The testimony from witnesses, who included an evidence specialist with the Honolulu Police Department and a former crime lab director, appeared to set the stage for the defense to present alternate theories for the disappearance of Fraser, who was last seen at his Hawaii Kai apartment on July 30, 2016. His body has never been found.

Prosecutors say Miske arranged to have associates kidnap and kill Fraser and dispose of his body at sea. Multiple witnesses testified that Miske wanted Fraser dead because he blamed Fraser for a car crash that critically injured his son, Caleb. Caleb died of complications from his injuries months after the crash. Witnesses said Miske falsely accused Fraser of being behind the wheel the day of the wreck.

But Miske’s defense team has maintained Miske had nothing to do with Fraser’s disappearance and has even suggested Fraser didn’t die in 2016. While questioning Fraser’s former girlfriend, Ashley Wong, in April, defense attorney Lynn Panagakos proposed Fraser may have gone missing due to the effects of a traumatic brain injury and smoking marijuana.  

On Wednesday, law enforcement experts testified Miske’s DNA and fingerprints weren’t found in Fraser’s apartment or car after his disappearance. The forensic evidence found belonged to Fraser, except for one latent fingerprint that to this day remains unidentified, said Lori Kaneshiro, a state expert in fingerprint identifications who was formerly a fingerprint examiner with the Honolulu Police Department. 

Kaneshiro testified she ran the print through a criminal database again yesterday, and it still did not turn up a match. 

Miske defense attorney Michael Kennedy said outside the courthouse his line of questioning exposed “basic crime scene work that’s done in any case that didn’t come out in the government’s case.” 

Two of the most serious counts Miske faces — murder in aid of racketeering and murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death, both of which carry mandatory minimum life sentences upon conviction — stem from Fraser’s killing. Miske now faces 16 counts after the government dismissed one drug-related count last week and a judge on Monday acquitted him of two counts related to a 2017 attack at Kualoa Ranch.

Wednesday was the first day of trial since the government rested its case in chief on June 4. Kennedy said the defense’s case could last between seven and 15 days, in contrast to the government’s case, which lasted just over four months.