In the week between his alleged murder of two people in Southern Humboldt and his arrest in Chico, Ulisses Rodriguez had a special interest in two topics: shopping for a car and reading news articles about the killings.

On Thursday, the fourth day of Rodriguez’s jury trial, David Kahl, a Sonoma County District Attorney’s investigator and an expert in extracting data from electronic devices, testified about the information extracted from Rodriguez’s cellphone. The phone was seized when he was arrested Aug. 20, 2018.

Rodriguez.

Kahl testified that beginning on Aug. 15, the day after Tiffany Ellebrecht and Jeremy Kuemmel were shot dead, Rodriguez began reading news reports about the killings. A few times he read a story about the autopsies being scheduled.

And several times he clicked on “Humboldt Cars and Trucks” and “Chico Cars and Trucks,” possibly hoping to replace his Lexus SUV with another vehicle.

Under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm, Kahl said that before Aug. 15, Rodriguez had never used the phone to search a news site.

Defense attorney Andrea Sullivan, cross-examining Kahl, asked about the typical Internet searches by homicide suspects.

“Reading news articles about the crime,” Kahl said.

“Wouldn’t they being doing research about how to dispose of bodies, or GPS’s or how to cover their tracks?”

Kahl said that’s possible.

Sullivan pointed out Rodriguez had also clicked on stories about the effort to relocate a sex offender to Humboldt County, a teen being shot in Chico, a teen missing in Chico and suspects being arrested in Chico. He even visited an article about salmon and the Klamath River.

Later Timm asked whether crime suspects, in an effort to evade law enforcement, “attempt to purchase another vehicle.”

“Yes,” Kahl said.

Also testifying Thursday was Humboldt County District Attorney’s investigator Martin Morris, who went through a text conversation between Rodriquez and “D.” The exchange was on the “What’s App” application, and Rodriguez’s user name was Gallo, or Spanish for rooster.

Gallo and D appeared to be planning something that would involve using a Taser and possibly a rifle.

Morris was expected to continue testifying this morning. Judge Gregory Elvine-Kreis is presiding over the trial.