The reputed mistress of a Phoenix man who was slain in Dana Point Harbor didn’t show up Tuesday morning for the opening day of his alleged killer’s murder trial.

Sharlene Slama’s absence prompted an Orange County Superior Court judge to issue a bench warrant for her arrest, as she is a key witness in the case against Gary A. Shawkey.

Shawkey is accused of luring Robert Vendrick to Orange County on the pretense of a $1.2-million business deal with the federal government, and then killing him on a boat.

Just after the jury was dismissed for lunch Tuesday, prosecutors asked Judge Richard F. Toohey to issue the warrant for Slama, a Turlock resident. She had not been found as of early Tuesday afternoon, and police were staking out her residence.

She was one of the last people believed to see Vendrick alive. 

Defense attorneys, in their opening statements representing 47-year-old Shawkey, said Vendrick used Slama’s address to receive bank statements and credit card information, because he wanted to hide from his wife how much money he was earning. They said Carole Vendrick had become angry with her husband’s irresponsible gambling habits.

According to the district attorney’s office, between January 2004 and February 2008, Shawkey stole roughly $1 million from Vendrick by convincing him to  invest in fake deals with the promise of high returns.

In February 2008, Shawkey and Vendrick met at Vendrick’s home in Phoenix to discuss a top-secret deal that would take place on San Clemente Island. At that time, prosecutors say, Shawkey asked Vendrick for an additional $100,000 that would seal the $1.2-million deal. 

Vendrick, having already lost most of his money, had to ask his brother Charles Vendrick for a $40,000 loan, attorneys said.

Shawkey took a bus from Phoenix to California while Vendrick purchased a round-trip plane ticket from Phoenix to Long Beach Airport. Once they arrived in California, Shawkey purchased a boat for $1,000 as well as a new engine and two new anchors, while Vendrick rented a car, attorneys said.

But Vendrick had other things on his mind beside the secret government investment, defense attorneys said. He had a mistress, Slama.

Vendrick had Slama meet him at his hotel in Dana Point. He began his affair with Slama in 2001, while she cared for Vendrick’s elderly parents, attorneys said.

After spending the night with Slama, Vendrick was last seen by security cameras leaving Dana Point Harbor on the 23-foot sailboat Shawkey purchased.

He was never seen alive again.

Shawkey’s attorney argued Tuesday that after setting off on their voyage to Catalina Island, Vendrick felt uncomfortable on the boat because of the choppy water, and insisted they turn around and drop him off back at Dana Point Harbor.

Shawkey’s defense claims he dropped off Vendrick at a public dock outside Turk’s, a restaurant in Dana Point, before going to Catalina by himself.

After three days, Shawkey returned from Catalina alone and docked the boat in Long Beach, without the two newly purchased anchors, attorneys said. Police discovered one of the missing anchors off Catalina Island; the whereabouts of the other anchor are still unknown.

When Vendrick’s wife found he wasn’t on his flight back to Phoenix, she called police to report him missing.

Shortly after Carole Vendrick called the police, Vendrick’s brother Charles went to the hotel in Dana Point, attorneys said.

Slama had stayed there an entire day by herself, after Vendrick left, before leaving without speaking to anybody.

Shawkey set out looking for Vendrick and told police before his subsequent arrest that he saw Vendrick in Mexico, that Vendrick went to Bike Week in Florida and that he was going to Chile and didn’t want to be bothered. Shawkey also said Vendrick had a bag of cash with him that looked like it had hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The trial will continue Wednesday in Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.