The lives and romantic crimes of William Andru and Stephanie Ball - At Jury Consideration

The lives and romantic crimes of William Andru and Stephanie Ball were laid bare in Chippewa County Court Tuesday in William Ball’s murder trial.

Far from a story of young love leading to a happily-ever-after storyline, their story is one of a series of extramarital affairs used to hurt one another, efforts to reunite thwarted by temptation, growing resentments, suicide attempts, anger, jealousy, and ultimately, murder.

If the jury of seven men and seven women (two will be alternates) were asked to pass moral judgment on the Balls’ marriage or behavior, they might both be rebuked. But the jury, which is expected to get the case today, must determine William Ball’s level of culpability in the April 3, 2010 murder of Kyle Ryba.

William, who was referred to in court testimony by his middle name Andru, shot Ryba 11 times while he sat on a love seat with Stephanie in the Boyd home of Stephanie’s father.

Chippewa County District Attorney Jon Theisen is portraying the crime as a premeditated act done for reasons such as jealousy. Defense attorneys Julius Kim and Bridget Krause portray Ball as a man trying to save his family, but pushed to the breaking point.

Neither is a pretty picture.

Testifying Tuesday were William Andru Ball himself, his father William Ball Sr., Stephanie Ball, plus two young boys and a bar manager.

Young marriage

Some of the testimony dealt with the Balls’ early relationship. He was an 18-year-old senior in high school, she a 15-year-old freshman when they started dating while both were living in Colorado.

“We were two kids falling in love,” Andru Ball testified.

They made a decision to have a child together, despite their young age.

William Ball Sr. said in emotional testimony that he disapproved of the relationship and was not happy about the marriage, but consented to it, as his son was taking responsibility and wanting to care for his family.

Little Nora was born in October 2007.

But then, according to testimony, the marriage descended into infidelity. Stephanie had an affair, and so did her husband.

“Because I felt if she was going to do it to me, I was going to do it to her,” Andru testified, referring to looking for affairs on social network websites.

They had affairs to get back at one another, but then would get back together again. At one point, Andru moved in with another woman for a few months.

Visits to Boyd

Most of the testimony focused on Andru’s two visits to Boyd, where Stephanie was visiting her father William Johns and his wife Carrie Johns, and their four children.

Over a Christmas 2009 visit, Stephanie met Kyle Ryba, and a man named Martin Norman.

Andru made two trips from North Dakota to Boyd to see Stephanie, one in late March 2010 and the other April 1-3, 2010. He learned of Stephanie’s growing feelings for Ryba just before the first visit, and it precipitated his first suicide attempt.

“I pretty much convinced myself Stephanie was cheating on me,” he said. “That night I took 25 Advil and tried to kill myself.”

But he survived with new vigor to save his marriage and family.

When he recovered he got a couple of days off to go to Boyd to retrieve his family. During a short visit there, he learned Stephanie thought she might be pregnant with Ryba’s child.

Andru testified he told her that he would forgive everything, and raise the child as his own.

She agreed to come back after he reached the days-off cycle from his job.

On that first trip, according to Andru’s testimony, Carrie Johns belittled him for putting up with Stephanie’s infidelity.

“I told her I wanted to kill Kyle and kill every guy that’s ever touched her,” Ball admitted.

Between the visits, Stephanie text-messaged him that if she really loved him she wouldn’t cheat on him, yet she was very confused and didn’t want a divorce in case she changed her mind.

Distraught, Andru attempted suicide again. Then he got encouraging messages from her, and was ecstatic. He recovered and went to Boyd to get his family.

Fateful trip

Only on arriving, he found Stephanie leaving with his daughter and Norman for a motel in Thorp. Later, he went there with William Johns, who said Stephanie was there swimming at the pool.

Andru found her with her neck covered with “hickeys” from intimate contact with Norman. Again, there was a conversation and Stephanie expressed desire to return to North Dakota, but after Easter.

Yet she did not return to her father’s home until the next day, Friday, and admitted to Andru she had sex with Norman.

“I told her I didn’t care who she slept with in the past, I just wanted my family back together,” Andru said.

Yet when he found she had been wearing the man’s sweatshirt, he ripped it up, which angered her.

But none of this meant the affair with Ryba wasn’t still going on.

Two of William and Carrie Johns’ boys, ages 12 and 8, testified that during this trip they heard Andru say he wanted to kill Kyle Ryba. They said Andru also said he wanted to do so in a slow, painful way that would not be fun for Kyle but would be for Andru.

In his testimony, Andru Ball denied making the statements. The defense tried to show inconsistencies in the boys’ testimony in describing when the statements were made. But Lori Zugier, manager of the bar across the alleyway from the Johns house, also testified that Andru made such remarks to her.

Carrie Johns continued to belittle Andru, according to his testimony, telling him Stephanie did not care for him and making fun of him for putting up with her. Stephanie testified that it brought Andru to tears.

That Friday, Carrie took Andru shopping to buy him clothes to make him look sharper, with the intent to take him out to the bars that night and finding a girl to have sex with to make Stephanie jealous.

Attempts were made that night to hook Andru up with two women, a cousin of Ryba’s and an ex-girlfriend of Ryba’s, who was at the same bar with Andru Ball for about a half hour that night.

Carrie at one point paid a girl to give Andru a “hickey” to make Stephanie jealous later.

“I wanted to piss her off like she did me,” Andru said.

Stephanie, meanwhile, was upset that Andru was “out getting laid,” according to one text message. She kept texting him, but he wouldn’t answer.

Theisen contended that Andru Ball propositioned two women that evening, but Ball said he wasn’t serious.

Stephanie started to text Ryba in an exchange that took place about a half hour before the shooting, and arranged to have him come over. Andru arrived first and fell asleep on a couch.

When Andru woke up, he saw his wife in an intimate pose with Ryba on a love seat, gathered his things, went to his car and started it and returned.

He was looking for his sweatshirt, which Stephanie was wearing. She started to take it off and he pulled it from her.

When she asked if he was going to say goodbye to their daughter, he said no. She said, “I’ll remember that.”

“I said, no, you’ll remember this, and I pulled out the gun and started shooting,” Andru testified.

He emptied all but three bullets in a 15-round magazine, with 11 shots hitting Ryba.

He said he stopped because he heard his wife screaming. He also testified that he “honestly didn’t know” if he was trying to hit her.

A couple of more witnesses were expected to testify Wednesday morning in rebuttal to defense witnesses, but most of the day should be taken up with jury instructions, closing arguments and jury deliberations.