Trial of Henry Dinkins, Day 10 | Wednesday, Aug. 23

foreign [Music] again do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I do I was alerted I know Mr freezer you're going to start your cross-examination that's my understanding the state would like to reopen its direct examination is that correct that's correct your honored there I'm an objection Mitch Cunningham talked to me I have no objection your honor thank you Mr Freeze you may proceed thank you Sergeant pifer I just had two additional topics that I wanted to discuss with you when you went out to the area of cool now Implement on the evening of March 22nd of 2021 they're along 270th Avenue how would you describe the lighting conditions if you recall on the initial night yes the it was just becoming dark okay um were you there well after dark yes um and then as far as lighting in that area um is there any type of street lights um in that area after dark well are there any street lights or is it a rural area that you only have the um natural lighting that you would see at night it is very rural there was no Lighting near where I was okay thank you additionally after the lacier command was recovered from the pond did you direct a Firearms Trace to be conducted on that firearm yes I did explain I submitted the serial number to our gun investigation unit and at that time Detective Nathan Thomas of our gun unit submitted it to the portal where those uh Trace searches are done for serial numbers on firearms okay how does that process work the serial numbers are tracked in the ATF database based off of the 4473 ATF Form that is filled out when a person purchases a firearm from a FFL dealer and so before you take that a step further if an individual goes into a business to purchase a firearm well what does that process look like so you have to present your identification card of Who You Are you complete the 4473 ATF Form which has a long list of questions they cover your status of if you're a felon addicted to control the substances there's many questions but they're of that nature to basically see if you're you're capable of possessing a firearm that firearm although filled out electronically it is stored locally at those each FFL dealers the information regarding the serial number and the the purchase with very limited transaction information is then forwarded to the ATF so upon making these e-trace searches for serial numbers on Firearms we obtain very aggregate information and it results in the location of the FFL dealer that last had a recorded sale of a particular firearm from that point investigators would have to respond to that particular location to obtain a physical copy of those forms okay so then the last point of cell if a firearm had been acquired legally is that where the documentation is going to be located yes all right in this particular case were those steps followed for the lacer Camanche with the serial number 184998 we were not able to obtain the form when the trace came back agent pessman from the ATF it had informed us that the the shop in Iowa City Iowa who had handled the that last recorded transaction had gone out of business in 2014 and the records were being moved to a different owner of that store it was relayed to me through emails and through agent pessman that there was records that they believed were lost in a flood that took place in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area and I believe it was 2009. all right thank you your honor made the record reflect that I previously provided Council a copy of state's exhibit 155 may I approach the witness you may yes exhibit 155 is the results of the e-trace for the loseri Comanche 2 38 Special revolver okay in this particular Firearms Trace summary does it speak to the issue of the wholesale or retailer no longer being in business yes it does okay and does this apply to the gun that we're talking about yes it does the serial number depicted on this Trace form is 184 998 thank you your honor the state would move to introduce States exhibit 155. no objection that exhibit will be admitted the state has no further questions your honor I'm just cutting him if he could just hang on to that for a short period I don't want to use that um detective Pfeiffer looking at stage exhibit 155. that indicates that this lacer 38 revolver came into the hands of the dealer in November of 2007 right yes okay now the firearm that was tested was a lacer 38 special command revolver right yes sir and you have no records no reports that this firearm was ever stolen is that right correct you inspected a firearm you saw a serial number correct correct so the serial number was not obliterated no um no one ever reported this firearm used in a crime prior to this one correct that's correct so the signs that we look for for weapons being previously used in a crime filed off serial numbers stolen Firearms things of that nature those weren't present here were they no they were not okay so for purposes of this record um this firearm was legally possessed up until the time you ran the check on April 6 2021 right there's no information to say otherwise um was a llama revolver ever recovered in this investigation I don't know when I thought maybe you have a location or anything more specific no I'm just asking in general you know what the firearm brand llama is I have not heard of it no okay now why was the FBI brought in on this investigation in the initial phases of this case there was members of the police command and administration busy trying to figure out where resources were going to come from we were in a time of covid staffing issues and dealing with Staffing shortages within our own local agency there were powers that be from well above my pay grade and they began reaching out for the best advice early on while I was still out in the field and upon my return to the office that day I was informed that the FBI was contacted by police command and they were going to be responding um on some sort of level to the best of your knowledge did the FBI get contacted because of the resources that they have that perhaps local police did not have I believe that's part of it and the protocol and the testing equipment they may have that local or State Police may not have it's possible yes is it fair for me to say that when items are sent off to the FBI crime lab for testing at Quantico that we're sending items for testing at a place where frankly we have the best of the best in the country yes okay um were you the point of contact or the liaison between local police and the FBI for many things some of it existed in the upper command rings of the agency did you inform the FBI that Brie Asia Tyrell was in that Impala in the initial phases yes okay what evidence did you have that she was actually physically inside that Impala just statements from who from Andrea culverson and what did Andrea Culberson say that allowed you to conclude that Miss Terrell was inside in that car so as far as being directly inside I don't recall her being specific as as you're saying the inference of her standing next to the car and then at the same time Henry Dinkins left she was no longer standing by the car in Henry Dinkins and Terrell were both gone as well as the maroon apala okay so that was the the leap and logic that you made right yes okay now you understand that because of that inference that that assumption the FBI did not do certain tests on the inside of that Impala correct which does for DNA in a matter of it being a car that you would be familiar with certain forms of DNA would be appropriately in those areas well assume for a minute that bridge of Terrell were trying to put her inside that Impala you would want first of all in your training experience to be able to place her inside that car would you not I would and if we don't have any eyewitness testimony or statements that absolutely put her in that car we would want some physical evidence to put her in that car would we not we would and if she hadn't written in that car before DNA evidence would be helpful to put her in that car right it would so um are you now aware that the FBI did not test that car for any DNA evidence apart from blood and semen I said I'm not sure what what forms of substances that we're getting at sweat tears saliva skin cells any form of DNA so in my experience of collecting DNA there are a few bodily fluids that retain I guess the DNA Integrity far more than others so we don't try I don't know with specificity what the FBI did in their methodology for their their scouring of the vehicles and then the testing processes they did none of it came from our Direction okay well you read the reports from the FBI right I have and those reports said we did not test for DNA other than blood and semen right yes I do did it ever occur to you to communicate back with them and say why don't we try for other types of DNA now with them being the experts in the standard of it there it was all left to them same thing with trace evidence what's trace evidence [Music] so with respects to trace evidence it can be different samples of hair can be skin flakes it can be a multitude of different things expelled from the human body and once again if we don't have eyewitness testimony or some other testimony that puts briasia in that car trace evidence can be very valuable can it not it can be if it's possible to be used and we have a very low to no success rate of trace evidence being developed with the profile okay so once again we don't try that's on the FBI that was all part of their investigation but you saw the reports from the FBI that said they didn't test for trace evidence in that Impala right I did you think to maybe call back your contact at the FBI and say hey maybe we should be looking for breesia Terrell's Hair Skin particles something else I had several Communications with our local agent Cameron Smith about things that I felt were missed through a couple different processes by them and they remained at the level the FBI left it at so the FBI decided not to test is what I'm saying okay um you testified you sent certain items off to the DCI to be tested for Bleach right yes so I can assume that the DCI at least has the capabilities to test items for the presence of bleach right yes is it fair for me to assume then that the FBI has the same capability I would imagine so did anyone ask the FBI to test any item that was sent there to look present some bleach I don't know specifically what's in all of those reports their evidence requests were made and completed by FBI agents would you have preferred to see items tested for Bleach if you would have made those requests yes I would that's because the assumption is that Mr Dinkins killed evidence DNA type evidence physical type evidence with bleach right it's a possibility and would you agree with me being the kind of case agent in this case that we have no evidence that bleach was used anywhere in this case correct there's no signs of it being revealed in any sort of time so just to summarize we have no DNA at all putting Brazier Trail in that car right correct okay we're all discussed um no blood no semen connecting either Bridge Tyrell to Henry Dickens or vice versa correct um you were involved in some interviews with this young boy named DL right yes now by the time you were involved with interviewing him how many times had he been interviewed prior I had him in a vehicle ride with Detective Hamas and I believe at that point he had had two structured interviews okay prior to that and you reviewed those interviews prior to taking him on the ride I had summaries given to me by the people who did them so the summaries you were given um in the in the interviews prior he had not talking about any bloody machete in those first two interviews had he there was there's two different things there I guess you're asking if I can clarify it sure I had information that he saw a machete and then it was wiped off okay um would you have information that he was he made that disclosure to detective Hamas right yes and you also had information that when he made that disclosure to detective Hamas she dug a little deeper into how he knew that right yes and he told her that he was told DL by an officer downtown about the bloody machete right I don't remember the exact contents of that one okay well um detective Hamas when she uh interviews people she reduces that to a report right yes and she's a good report writer right she is very thorough right yes she is and if that's in one of her reports we can rely on that is likely being true I would okay we could talk to her about that and and we will um he also DL talked about credit Island did you go with him to Credit Island on the day that I was with him yes did it turn out that credit Island really had any relevance to this investigation not with respect to the the overall Discovery other than the phone records and video shows they were in the area of credit Island did he talk to you about Henry going fishing there no I tell you that Henry got out and there were six people there at Credit Island yes I don't recall it if there was okay would that be a detail that had he told you you'd likely remember is that a fair statement yes you'd want to know if other people were president and you know note that right I would yes um and how did it happen that DL wound up North on 61 going toward Clinton the area north of Scott County is an area that I wanted to explore for purposes of his memory recollection I referring to deal based off of the cell phone ping at the Camanche Iowa which is adjacent to Clinton just on the south side of it okay so DL didn't direct you that route it was officers having knowledge of phone pings taking him to the north side of Davenport heading toward Clinton right yes and in a full aspect of that when Henry Dinkins and DL left the apartment just after sunup that morning they worked together leaving their by statements of in totality how we came across DL later that morning and by Andrea culverson saying that DL left with his father in those early daylight hours and then vehicle surveillance shows the maroon apala traveling north out of the City of Davenport and goes by a couple different highway cameras so that creates that distance north where DL would likely be in the vehicle and it's going towards the direction of the command phone ping that we had knowledge of by the time that took place well sure and I understand all that but what I'm saying is this little boy didn't say hey we need to go north of town toward Clinton it was office officers who put him in the car and start heading that way as the basis for for going toward Clinton right correct and uh DL had no memories of going out toward Clinton on 61 until you guys start driving that way right correct um and at this point this is the third time he's been interviewed he still hasn't said anything about going to Walmart has he I don't believe so right [Music] um now as you go North toward Clinton on 61. you seem to put some stock in the fact that he makes a comment and passionate about you need to keep going when you turned East toward Clinton right he did make that comment yes why didn't you keep going from me at that point in time I knew of the Walmart and I knew where the phone ping came from and I believe that to be something that would be the freshest for a memory recall event to get in an area that would most likely be factually rememberable well because he's told a couple different stories at this point you'd agree right different yes some things not flowing right so at this point you're having a hard time figuring out what he's saying is credible and what he's saying that's not credible is that a fair statement mixed with confusion yes okay um did he tell you he fell asleep in that Impala at any point in time I don't recall if we did or not when he got him to the Walmart did he have a recollection of going to Walmart yes he did so it's that point in time when you drive him to this Walmart he says oh yeah I remember I was here now right he did and it was at that time he says oh yeah now I remember playing with dad's phone right yes but it wasn't until then that he coughed up the information about the phone and saying very specifically I put took the battery out and put it back in because I was worried about getting in trouble right correct now did you interview him after that ride at all no I mean there's conversation in the car but as far as an interview structure no so after briasia remains were found you had a conversation with Aisha Langford right we had several yes we had one where you told her that there was a break in the case and then finally that Aisha had been recovered correct reagent I'm sorry I'm sorry right yes and you told her that Brie Asia had been shot right I did and he did that just with Aisha in the room is that fair Aisha was there I think she had one other family support person I had also reached out to our advocacy Partners who had been with us a couple different times and looking I don't know if they were there at that moment or not or just on their way pointers DL wasn't in the room he was not in that room he was in his bedroom which is just next to that area DL is a precocious young boy at that point right yes kind of rambunctious very okay did you get a call from Aisha in the weeks following that disclosure but before Mr dinkin's arrest that DL now had new information yes what was that information he had been saying that he saw his dad shoot his sister so did you take a report on that we met with DHS who filed a report on it and we had conversations about that with DL and Aisha it together what D I'll tell you he said that he paraphrasing a little the gist of it was he he had looked back and he saw he made some motion of bang bang of some sort and it was his dad shooting his sister she put any credibility in that it was very low to note to me why do you say that based on the fact that he heard the conversation that I had with his mother I I had no no other ways of cooperating what that was at that point and that phase of the investigation and um there was nothing else to go off of at that point to rule that statement credible or uncredible did he at any point uh talk to you about being at the scene where supposedly he saw his dad shoot his sister and have him pour bleach on the bushes the conversations that I've been a part of he talked about being there and seeing his dad go down into the wooded area to to use the bathroom and he had this machete with him and when he came back out of the woods he wiped it off and put it back in the trunk and that was the the best details that that I heard from him so he said he wiped the machete off in the wood I had to come out of the woods not at Schmidt Road for my recollection it was wiped off was he was putting it in the trunk and then they had later driven that morning down around the credit Island area came back to the motorhome and then it was transferred from the trunk uh to the inside of the motorhome but he never said anything about his dad getting out of the car on a gravel road and pouring bleach in the bushes I do not recall any of that no if that were testified to here at trial that'd be the first time you heard it yes um so there was discussion about this machete and your vast knowledge of the City of Davenport maintenance have you ever used a machete yes have you ever tried to cut a less than one inch round piece of brush or twig with it just by smacking it my only experience with it is tall I call it wheatgrass tall straw type material is all I've done with one do you inspect the machete in this case I did not look at that one up close it was packaged for evidence processing in your view of it though did it appear to be still Sharp and from the pictures I saw I noted to be one that I had not seen before it was serrated on one side and then had a um a ground knife edge on the other okay um didn't appear to be one with heavy use not from what I saw so I'm just trying to picture how this physically would have been accomplished first of all as I understand it where Brie Asia's remains were found that's where she was killed is that a fair statement I I don't know that anybody can discern that okay um so Mr Dinkins would have had to have be armed with a gun assuming this is true that she was killed right there have a 10 year old girl with him keeping her under control and if the states intimation is Right chopping branches with a machete to get through the brush right it's not the theory that I necessarily view with it okay okay that's fair um and when Brie Asia's remains were found um the the 4X t-shirt was still the best we could tell on her body yes with the exception it was probably being tugged by animals and things like that and the bra was still on her body yeah and the shorts were still on her body yes so she had not been even by um um animals rodents Birds whatever disrobed no okay okay and the results of testing on those items when they're sent to DCI lab no bleach was found correct that's all I have thank you Miss Cunningham thank you Sergeant pifer you you keep being asked questions about no bleach being found is that actually an accurate statement relative to the submissions to the DCI lab based on your review of their reports I guess with respect to which peace well for example with the passage of time with the exposure of clothing to the elements does that pose difficulties in being able to test for the presence of bleach yes and was that a factor in this particular case yes I was told that it would be a very improbable amount of potential that bleach would be still detectable after the seasons of rain and snow that had happened during the time that British body was in the elements so is that testimony that we need to wait and hear about from the criminalists who did the testing yes all right now Sergeant pifer did you have a chance to visit with any of the FBI analysts from Quantico to speak with them about whether or not they even had the instrumentation to test for Bleach yes okay um and let me ask you this we've had a FBI analyst who has come in and testified about that particular topic should we rely on the testimony of the FBI analyst who spoke to that issue here in the courtroom yes all right um and have you ever worked in the laboratory setting where you do any type of DNA analysis no have you ever worked in a Laboratory um a setting where you do any type of trace evidence analysis no have you ever worked in an FBI laboratory setting where you would test for different types of products such as the presence of bleach no all right so as far as the individuals who could speak to those issues who are the individual's testimony that we should rely upon for that the FBI criminalists and the criminalists from DCI certainly taking that a step further when items of evidence are submitted to the DCI laboratory as a detective over the course of your about two decades in law enforcement have you made a number of submissions to the DCI laboratory to ask for items of evidence that are tested yes now do you have a laundry list of items that you would like to have tested when you do submissions yes but does that necessarily mean that the criminalists are going to test everything that you have requested no they can be particular about certain areas of closing and there is a quantifiable amount of evidence that they have a standard on and then variances can be authorized and so then therefore do we need to rely on the testimony of the criminalists or the analysts who would speak to those issues and identify what items have evidence would be valuable for purposes of any type of testing that they do yes we do all right now let's go back and let's talk about DL you've been asked a lot of questions about things that DL had stated um did you ever sit in on the interview that detective Obert did of DL on July 10th no okay there was a transition from detective Obert to detective Marine Hamas on July 10th where she then did an interview of DL can you speak to that issue and why the child then was subsequently interviewed by detective Hamas thank you other than a particular skill set detective Hamas is a certified child forensic interviewer and she had many years of experience interviewing children in our local Scott County Trauma team we had not always used a forensic interviewers at one time the Davenport Police Department did a lot of those forensic interviews in-house and so often times detective Hamas is tasked with some of those events especially when they're they're rapid and evolving certainly and speaking to that topic when the initial complaint came in was the initial complaint ever viewed as an investigation of DL as being a child who had potentially been sexually abused or physically abused no all right and so then at the initiation of the investigation as far as what the um perspective of law enforcement was when they started that initial conversation with DL what was law enforcement trying to accomplish at that particular phase law enforcement was trying to determine who were the people around when was this child last seen and uh were there any other Dynamics taking place in the household leading up to this event okay so within that context then in speaking with DL was there and I don't know if you would know this but was law enforcement just trying to identify anyone that riasia would have had contact with and just a simple timeline of events as they played out yes we worked on developing a timeline that would show even when the the video game system was logged into um I don't remember the game they were playing at this point but to try to establish um the events that they had described playing okay let's talk about that um a particular subject matter during the course of interviews was information provided by Andrea Culberson that both children had been playing video games at her residence yes there was and then while the children were present I'm at her residence did she have some type of gaming systems that at least one of the children had been using yes they did okay so was that gaming system yet another mechanism that was the subject of a search warrant and then processed to determine whether there was evidence which would confirm those reports the children were playing video games yes I had one of uh our investigators conduct a search warrant with the video game platform to verify the internet connectivity through the IP address of that device logged into the server that the game was associated with I don't know the particular names or platforms of it off the top of my head today but those results came back and they did cooperate the fact that they were playing the game during at least the the 9 pm hours that was explained all right was the of law enforcement changing as we proceeded from the morning of July 10th through the evening of July 10th yes so the initial perspective would have been what that breesia woke up and wandered off okay as the day is proceeding Mr Dinkins is interviewed Aisha Langford is interviewed we've got the initial interview that detective Obert has done of notorious Andrea Culberson is interviewed and then we go to a more structured interview of DL do the Dynamics of the investigation change yes there's a considerable amount of physical evidence sightings that that are compiled early on in the evening hours of July 10th okay and then so by virtue of that does that change the complexion of the investigation and then decisions made about doing a different structured type of interview with DL yes all right now um did you sit in on any of the interviews that detective Hamas did with DL I did not I'm actually detective Hamas would she be the best person to speak to about any statements that DL had provided to her she would okay and then I'm just going to ask this question it's a very simple yes or no were you aware of deal making statements to detective Hamas about his father having taken bleach down by the water no all right so is that a topic that we should talk with Detective Hamas about yes all right I'd like um to discuss with you the theory about the use of the machete and the discussions we've had about brush that was located near the area of gracious remains you were out there just based on what you saw the brush that you noted had those clean cuts what was the physical placement of that brush relative to the skeletal remains directly over the area where the remains were and so with you seeing that brush with those clean cuts over the top of the skeletal remains um just a based on your experience as a law enforcement officer what did that suggest to you that branches were cut while they had full foliage on them and used for concealment of her body okay another topic of discussion DL was how old at the time of this incident seven or eight okay [Music] um for a child of eight years old based on video surveillance footage that was gathered was that child taken to a number of different locations when he was with his father yes he was and was that verified through video surveillance footage yes now recognizing that the child was taken out of Scott County to Clinton County what they have had to have traveled some distance yes okay recognizing that the child then was brought back to Davenport down along the area of credit Island and 743 Schmidt Road was the child taken some distance yes okay for an eight-year-old located in a vehicle typically if we think of an eight-year-old and their stature and their ability to be able to sit high and view out of the windshield does their size to tend to restrict what it is that they're able to see yes it can okay did you have a chance to review that video footage from the Walmart where Mr Dinkins is pulling out and we can see that child sitting there in the front passenger seat of the vehicle yes I have all right and then just based on your observations if you you could give us a perspective of that child and his size relative to what would be his perspective related to the dash looking out the um passenger window or even looking at the windshield speak to that topic if you would for me it's probably an unfair camera angle these are higher mounted cameras so you're looking down at more of a bird's eye view into that windshield but you can discern that there is a a smaller person with a white shirt on that remains in the passenger seat while Henry Dinkins goes inside okay are you a father I am um and then of course when you think about your children at that age did you have any of your children ever sit in the front seat of your vehicle at that age objection relevance your honor I think it's very relevant for purposes of perspective sustained okay have you ever been in a vehicle with a child that age I have okay and when you stop and consider the size of a child in the front passenger seat would you agree with me that their ability to be able to see out is going to be completely different than your ability to be able to see out yes all right now as far as going to Clinton was Mr Jenkins inside that Walmart for a significant period of time and when I say significant more than a minute or so yes I believe it was maybe 10. okay um and based on the video surveillance footage was that child then inside that car the entire time yes all right with an eight-year-old child being in a vehicle um and are you able to account for that child's movement around the vehicle not on the inside of the vehicle all right um so you know just when you think about various circumstances the typical you know human I guess evaluation of an incident you've got an eight-year-old child in the vehicle so just by saying that you've got an eight-year-old child in the vehicle of a passenger seat is it natural just to assume that that child just sat there and did nothing else injection calls for speculation it doesn't call for speculation sustained okay speaking to the topic of an eight-year-old do you have to consider the possibility that child may be moving about that vehicle you could consider certainly um so let's go back to the topic of DL and the question of various statements that he made with every statement that he made through the course of various interviews did law enforcement take that information and use that as a basis for evidence that they searched for throughout the entirety of the investigation yes and with respect to the child statements was there either physical evidence or video surveillance footage that was captured that corroborated what that child said yes okay as you know a detective involved in this investigation by the amount of independent evidence that was collected that would corroborate details provided by this child objection irrelevant immaterials whether or not he was surprised your honor this goes specifically to questions that Council had asked the witness to suggest that this child was making statements all over the place and you couldn't view the child as credible the objection is overruled so as far as being surprised I don't know that's the right phrase word but the statements were verified by all of those those different uh comparisons of either um you know Optical viewings and surveillance or physical evidence recovered based off of statements made okay with any investigation when individuals make statements to law enforcement what does law enforcement do with those statements we try to fact check them and I'm not surprised when people tell the truth but it's it has to be verified as much as possible to come to some conclusion of if the statements are valuable or not all right one final topic of discussion involves council's questions to you relative to the discovery of the skeletal remains and the clothing they're about the body Council asked you whether or not the child was disrobed at that point in time do you recall that question I do I'm sorry all right with Mr Dinkins being down in the area of 743 Schmidt Road prior to the three o'clock hour when Andrea culverson woke up and discovered Mr Dinkins gone and Brie Asia gone can we account for what happened inside that RV when he went in and stayed for a period of 10 minutes on two separate occasions no but do we know that Brie Asia is not in that apartment as a 3 A.M yes we do and so is it significant that Mr Dinkins in his interview never mentions being down in the area of that RV and Credit Island between the two and three o'clock hour he never mentions it okay is it significant then that based on time elements there's a vehicle entering on Credit Island and coming off of credit Island during that two to three o'clock time frame I believe it is okay is it also significant that after Andrea Culberson saw the child standing there by the passenger side of the Impala at 3 30. she sees Mr Dinkins leaves looks out the vehicle is no longer there Mr Dinkins is no longer there and Brie Asia is no longer there but we have him up at the quick shop at 3 30 to 2 A.M where he's making purchases and purchasing gas and leaving at 3 38 A.M can we account for what would have transpired between that time frame and then when he showed back up at the apartment prior to 5 50 a.m to pick up Notorious no we cannot okay now was there evidence that was gathered in the course of the investigation that would have tied Mr Dinkins to the location where briacious remains were recovered before 5 50 a.m and after that 3 38 a.m time frame on July 10th yes and that evidence is what Jared Brinks was driving to work on that morning of July 10th and he came forward and described a subject jumping up in the middle of the median on Highway 61 adjacent to the Kunal Implement and Jared brings pulled over offered assistance he described this individual matching the description of of Henry Dinkins and that he was stuck off the side of the road and Jared Brinks um put him in his truck drove him over to the location where the maroon Chevy Impala had gone off the side of the road a little bit Jared Brinks explained that he he hooked a chain to the the front corner underneath the Impala hooked it to his truck pulled it out he said that the individual offered him a hundred dollars for that which he said he didn't receive and he drove off went to work when she works down here Southwest of Davenport in a little town called buffalo all right um was Jared Brink's cell phone then submitted Ahmad to the FBI lab with our special agent Richard fenren doing the processing of that cell phone to to identify its location during the early morning hours of July 10th yes it was all right and was that phone located Hitting off cell phone towers in that area after 3 30 8 A.M and before 5 50 a.m when Mr Dinkins came back the apartment yes it was okay and is that testimony we're going to be hearing about you I have no further questions sir the clothing of Brazier Terrell showed no evidence of being sliced at the machete did it none that could be expected no showed no evidence of being cut with any sharp object at all did it no it was all intact right for the most part yes they had no blood on it did it thought that was detectable and uh that's a that's a fact that was not corroborated uh of DLS was it I'm not aware of him talking about her being bloody in my interactions okay well Michelle the machete would have gotten bloody somehow we could assume that was from brie Asia right I I don't have that information to provide now the investigation and interviews of DL is very important to keep them pristine and just very very uh untainted right as much as possible you'll agree that his story that he was present when his sister got shot came directly from you I believe so okay uh you mentioned something about it was important in that first day to kind of understand the Dynamics of what was going on in the home in response to council's questions about DL expand on that for me what do you mean so and not in a negative fashion is my context of that um anytime there is an event in a household um especially if someone runs away or there are circumstances where the Dynamics and the composition of everybody that it's home changes for some sort of reason we try to isolate and separate those people to try to get the best feel for what was the temperature of of the evening uh you know were there arguments between the adults and and did that scare kids and make them go hide that happens sometimes um you know where they're just other arguments or was everybody just having a great time and it's just completely unexplainable and so that's what I'm referring to by trying to capture that in the Dynamics Dynamics in Henry Dingus household leading up to the evening of July 10th which everybody was getting along and having a great time right yes Council talked about the DCI report and the bleach the fact is there's no bleach detective right I don't care the reason right and Council talked about you submitting things for all these years to DCI and perhaps they don't test for it it doesn't stop you from submitting items right that's correct your job is to collect evidence and ask to have it tested they do what they want right correct and you may think something is this relevant and you may want it tested but they do what they want right by their standards yes right so that's what you did in this case you thought bleach might be there and they thought for whatever reason they may not find it so they didn't test for it on certain items right correct in fact they did test the white bottle that they thought would contain bleach possibly and there was no bleach in it right okay what we do know for a fact however is that the DCI or Iowa state criminalistics laboratory is someone you deal with regularly right yes weekly yes um what we do know is that all the evidence that was sent off to the FBI crime lab was sent off to them within maybe a week or two of free Asia Terrell's disappearance we can agree on that yes and it was back in Davenport PD's possession I'm going to say no later than October 1st 2020. and we agree on that because what prevented you or anyone else at Davenport PD from sending off that evidence that wasn't tested for bleach at the FBI assuming for sake of argument that the nation's top crime lab can't test for Bleach okay [Music] sending that off to Ankeny like the cuttings from the Impala for instance and say hey DCI we think we should test for Bleach because maybe Henry Dinkins bleached out the inside of his car sending it off to the DCI and saying please test What stopped the Davenport Police Department from doing that discussions with the command staff and our ID and evidence Bureau they took a position that they were not going to re-examine things that were sent to the FBI rather there was a conflict or they were not tested the two entities were going to be responsible for their own independent results and not cross pass not a decision of mine but that that was a decision that was made at that time show up the chain yes sir you're telling me that we didn't have a test for Bleach from the FBI and someone up the chain at the Davenport PD says we aren't going to test for it because we don't want to step on toes at the FBI semantically that that's close What was decided is that what this lab determined to be factual and their examination was going to remain at that lab and that we weren't going to pin different lab technicians against one another even if it wasn't tested for that was a decision but those are those labs decisions to do what they did even if they weren't requested I have to rely on what their expertise is and I don't mean to come after you because it wasn't your decision I'm just kind of befuddled by this that's the decision right that was the decision Council talked about Jared Brink a little bit so I have to talk about Jared Brink a little bit uh Mr Brink's deceased right he is he was asked to identify Mr Dickens out of a lineup right I don't know that part of it do you know if he was able to identify Mr Dickens out of a photo lineup didn't not that what was relayed to me at that time was his uh recognition of the bolo uh news article that was sent out you recognize or do you know that he indicated that it was a whole different time of year they pulled this vehicle out of the ditch no I don't know that you know that he indicated the vehicle he pulled out of the ditch had a big dent in it no and you've seen Mr the Dinkins Impala he was driving many many many times right yeah no big dent in that Impala is it no that's all I have Miss Cunningham yes thank you sorry foreign counts what's been marked as or previously introduced to States exhibit 142-1 you made 142 days I'm Sergeant Piper [Music] just look at that for a moment I just want to reorient you to a question that I'm going to ask okay go ahead your honor may have published this exhibit I took humane Sergeant Parker I just want to make this make sure there's no confusion was there a white jug that was sent to the DCI laboratory for testing to determine whether they could detect bleach from from which from up here who now Implement no because of the size of it not being involved are you sure about that well no if you have something that's different there are several different bottles throughout the course of this case all right so here's the thing confused on one sure let me just do this okay going to 142-1 for purposes of our written record again what is this exhibit so this is a printout that is generated from a evidence documenting practice utilizing the total station crime scene detection process which takes different plotted points from a known datum point so it there's a point selected and then everything is so far from that point to the piece of evidence all right as we look at 142-1 on this diagram generated from the total station by Sergeant Mayer do we see an item identified as a white jug you do right here you have number one all right thank you and then of course um what was that believed to be when it was seized a one gallon container for what type of product bleach did it have any labels on it at that point in time no um what created the impression that it might potentially be a gallon jug for Bleach that it resembles a bleach jug certainly and of course what was the size of the bottles of bleach that Mr Dinkins purchased from Walmart at 7am on July 10. I believe they were 82 ounces they were less than the gallon size all right at any rate do you know and just yes or no whether or not there was a white gallon jug submitted to the DCI lab to see if they could test it for the presence of bleach not my recollection that that one was sent okay um and then should we just go ahead and rely on the criminalist and what we have relative to chain of custody that would speak to that particular issue I would okay thank you very much and then um Sergeant pie for the other topic that I want to talk with you about there's been then we're going to question their findings and then we're going to submit things to the DCI laboratory do you rely on these experts who work in these fields for knowing what they're doing and making determinations about the presence of evidence or the lack of presence of evidence exclusively certainly and so then are you going to keep sending things to one laboratory after another laboratory after another laboratory hoping that you're going to get a different result no have you ever done that in at any time in your career no I have no further questions entries in green uh everybody loves a shirt and one was a pair of shorts they have nothing to do with this case your honor I think Council has he's mischaracterizing the record in terms of the items that were located out there outside of the remains I I don't know that that's an objection or not Mr Freeze but I'm going to ask that you rephrase your question please you were showing exhibit 142-1 just a moment ago yes sir there was two green dots outside of the immediate area of the remains you saw those right yes one was a shirt correct yes one was a pair of shorts correct objection your honor um that is a mischaracterization of the record believe them is Cunningham may be correct in regards to the shorts I'll be phrase the second one was assured as well right though the green dots correct okay what relevance did those two shirts have to this investigation so you're talking about two shirts away from the body right um based off the size of them they were not relevant at that point were They seized everything was collected were they tested I do not believe those were tested from the presence of two shirts out there we can assume that at least one other person had been out there at the scene prior to Bridge's remains being found right I wouldn't make that connection though what other connection can we make that two other shirts were near the location of briations remains other than someone else left them there in August of 2020 there was the duration storm that went through that area that had an 80 to 90 mile an hour direct line winds and there were trees damaged in that area and debris uh blown into that area and as you know wooded areas are kind of a Catch net for things they're just blowing across Open Fields which is that area so it's your testimony that the ratio possibly deposited two shirts there I think it's very possible question John Miss Cunningham if you could wait one moment please certainly your honor foreign thank you for everyone's patience while we addressed a technical issue um Ms Cunningham I understand you'll be calling it another witness but we're close to the 10 30 hour and I would like to make a record of our bench Conference during the witness of Dave Baker and I think that would be a good time to do that at this time and then take our our mid-morning break and then we're not interrupting a witness within minutes of them beginning their testimony um we did have a bench Conference during David Baker's testimony I believe Mr Waters was asking a question concerning convictions and uh it was discussed during the bench conference that essentially Mr Waters was not going to ask specifically what he was being incarcerated for he was essentially trying to elicit if he obtained any favors in exchange for his testimony in this case and that was his initial question to start going down that line of questioning and based on the explanation the state had no further objection and the court agreed that that would be a proper questioning of any question as to his actual charges would not be appropriate Mr Waters is that a fair summary of that discussion it is right and Ms Cunningham yes sure all right we'll be in adjournment for approximately 15 minutes or three convene approximately at 10 40. foreign thank you everybody's right hand do you sort of tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth yes please have a seat can you please State and spell your name yep it's Adam wojciechowski Adam wijahoo spelled w-o-j-c-i-e-c-h-o-w-s-k-i so exactly like it sounds huh just like a sound uh how are you currently employed I I'm a deputy with the Clinton County Sheriff's department and how long have you worked for the Clinton County Sheriff's Department uh six years have you worked anywhere else in law enforcement no can you briefly describe your educational background in the training you've received for your position I have a bachelor's degree from Ashford University and then I have a also a master's degree in Business from Ashford University I graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and 2017 like I said Clinton County Sheriff's Department's the only place I've worked since then I was assigned to Road Patrol right out of the academy and I've held that same position ever since what are your duties as a Patrol Deputy for the Clinton County Sheriff's Office uh it ranges for everything from handling day-to-day calls for service serving civil papers interviews traffic stops normal Patrol things like that and were you working in this capacity back on March 22nd of 2021 yes and what shift were you working that day that would have been night shift what hours does the night shift cover so we work 12 hour shifts so it's 6 p.m to 6 A.M and at some point were you dispatched to the area near Kunal implements yes do you recall approximately what time you would have been dispatched to that area uh approximately what time no but it was right around the time I did come on shift so I think it was around 6 p.m seven maybe 7 P.M sometime between 6 and 7 PM yeah I think so and do you know why you were dispatched to that area uh originally it came out as a call for service for a possible uh body that was found now are you familiar with the area near kuna Implement yes um do you know what the approximate address of that area uh not the approximate address the area where the body was supposedly found doesn't really have an exact address but it's between 212 218th Street and 270th Avenue it's just right off highway 61. it's visible from the highway on the east side so you knew where to go when you were dispatched to that area yeah I knew exactly where to go when they said that it was at the pond just south of Kuno uh what did You observe when you first arrived at that location uh when I first arrived I I met with the caller it was there were two gentlemen that were down there fishing that called in that they had found possibly a skull possibly a body do you recall their names at all I know does the name Brandon rogge sound familiar yeah Rocky wrote I think it was like Rocky or rogie and when you arrived where were they located uh they were standing up on the road do you recall which road oh yeah it's 270th Avenue it's a gravel road now right next to you here is State's exhibit 41 and there is a pointer on your left as well um first of all you're familiar with what's being depicted in States exhibit 41. yes what is it it's a map a location of kunau and also the wooded area to the South where the body was found um in March of 2021 what was the vegetation like in this particular area yeah so the vegetation in March is it's obviously very light uh just tree branches uh some heavy uh thick bushes uh is it like that all year round no um in the summertime Springtime uh and then like late fall it's pretty thick in terms of leave coverage foliage like the satellite picture is shown there you can see like really well in the summertime you wouldn't be able to really even see the pond now may I approach your honor you may mysterious state exhibit 42. [Music] once you made contact with the callers um describe for us how you would have proceeded at that time well once I uh spoke with the callers I told them to stay up on the road which would be right around here and then I walked down this path because that's what I said where the body was located right about there so I didn't obviously want them to go with me I wanted to try and preserve whatever was there when I located the area where they said the body was I did notice that there was a human skull sitting up what looked like to be on the chest of the body and then there was some black hair coiled up right underneath the skull now you had indicated with a pointer your path of travel just for the purposes of the written record did you point to there's it appears to be two different driveways yeah so this driveway here is it's pretty much vertical it's kind of it's kind of like a rant that people go off of I think with ATVs you can kind of notice how it's even a little like the the it's a little tighter it's not like a car would go up and down there and and then this one here is still pretty vertical but you would need like a SUV or a truck to get down there and first the driveway you were talking about the way this is depicted would be that one yes is that I guess the southern driveway on this road yep okay and then the the first one the one you were that you actually walked down that would be the the northern that one I'm calling it a driveway is that what you would refer to it as sure okay so you had walked down that path is there a reason you didn't drive I didn't want to get stuck um were you in a department-issued squad car that day I was in a Ford Explorer but like I said it's still pretty vertical and uh I was also thinking from preserving the crime scene standpoint if I drive down there in a car I don't really see what I'm driving over I prefer to walk um had the people you met with directed you to the general area where they believed they had found a body yeah from from the road they they stood over by the driveway as you said the northern one and they pointed right for where kind of for me to go uh one guy actually kind of walked a little bit with me and then I excused him to go back up to the road and again with the pointer can you show us where then you would have walked um uh I would have walked I would have walked right down this path and then into this area here you can't really see it again because of the trees but there's actually a rock formation uh right here kind of like a 15 foot wall originally this area Was An Old Quarry test site and so once you got to that area I believe you said you you did see a skull yes um were you able to determine if it was a human skull or anything along those lines yeah I determined that it was a human skull just from looking at it I probably got within a few feet and kind of stood over it um four or five feet I'd say it's about the closest I got to it and you also observed some hair yes I observed some black curly hair do you recall observing any other skeletal remains at that time yeah uh like I said you can kind of see the chest um and then I would think part of like a a leg and based on what I was seeing and the size of the skull I thought that it was a small body possibly a child do you recall seeing any clothing at that time no uh excuse me I did I did see a flip-flop to the right I believe it was white or pink based on the hair were you able to make any sort of determination about the ancestry of that hair based on the curliness of the hair and the way that it looked I thought that it could be an African-American type person were you familiar with a missing child case out of Davenport involving Brazier Terrell yes um now back in July of 2020 had you assisted with any of these searches in the Clinton County area yes I was assigned like the Southwest area down by the wapsi and so when you arrive at this location and you're observing these skeletal remains and you've already testified it it appeared small like a small child what were you thinking at that time I immediately thought that it was a Bridge of Trail so at that point how did you proceed well at that point I I told Dispatch over the radio that um is confirmed to what the call for service had stated I didn't say over the radio that it was a body I didn't want people they use scanners to under to know what was really going on I wanted to keep it quiet so I told them they had been confirmed and then I used my cell phone to call dispatch to notify my Sheriff Bill Greenwell once you notified your Sheriff then so then I immediately used some fleece tape to kind of make a quarantine safe Zone around the scene and approximately what size of I guess I'm gonna call it a perimeter which you have so I used the like I said before there's that uh rock wall to the north I kind of use that as my Northern base for the perimeter and then I made a horseshoe going around the trees maybe like 40 feet away from the body in all directions um I went all the way down to where the pond is located on the Southwest and then I went to the East and then back up to the north what was the purpose of doing that to preserve and to keep people out while you were doing that did more law enforcement arrive on scene yes do you know which departments those law enforcement agencies were from yep so some more deputies had arrived from our department and then also the Davenport Police Department Clinton Police Department also arrived to help with the perimeter several DCI agents arrived on scene once you establish that initial perimeter what was the rest of your involvement there on scene the rest of my involvement for that night was to do a log to keep track of who came and went I did that for a few hours and then I was told by my Sheriff to pass that log off to Davenport so then they became responsible for tracking who came and went um like I said earlier our shifts are 6 p.m to 6 a.m I stayed on scene until midnight and another deputy came uh from Midnight to 6 A.M but you've testified that you were familiar with this particular area yeah um is this a well traveled pond uh no um is this an area that you know the roads are I guess well traveled themselves as well well that's the thing this is a well-traveled area in terms of Roads uh like 218th 212th Street yes 270th Avenue you kind of want to think of it as like a back Alleyway that goes behind puno which creates kind of like a pie shaped property really nobody uses that Gravel Road very often I would say but then you also have Highway 61 there which has also traveled a lot so it's in a very centralized location in our County but I bet people don't even know it's there for the most part the pond area is that what you're referring to yeah and again you described the vegetation and how it changes throughout the year if you're driving on 270th Avenue in the summer or even the Fall Would you be able to even view that pond from 270th Avenue uh you'd be able to view it but the only angle you could view it from again would be right about there looking down into the Southwest when you're coming north and looking you can't you can't see that pond the vegetation is just too thick oh 270th Avenue that what type of road is that it's a gravel road and depending on the weather conditions is it easy to drive on that road yeah I mean it's it's a Well paid a well-maintained gravel road it's not like a b road which would be more difficult it I would say it's easy to drive on any car could go down it um particularly on the since the West portion of 270th now you've described it being sort of vertical going down to that pond is that consistent with the shoulder area then yeah so the shoulder area in terms of like a car broke down there would be nowhere to go but to actually park on the road on the west side of 270th Avenue and also the East Side there's it's like a it's like a straight ditch you know and is that area more dirt yes that area is dirt mixed in with rocks from the gravel yeah after then you handed off the log to the Davenport Police Department did you have any further involvement with this investigation no like I said that night I monitor the area for safety until midnight after that I was relieved thank you I don't have any further questions Mr Waters sir I think you just indicated that one of your jobs or tasks was to keep a log of who came and went right at the beginning yes okay and that would be know any any law enforcement Personnel who was there or any other crime scene technician right that's correct okay and then after you were done keeping that log you had to give it over to the Davenport Police Department yes okay who made that decision uh that was decided by my superiors that would have been the sheriff or the sergeant that was on scene you have any clue why a body that was found in Clinton County why your supervisor would give that log of personnel over to the Davenport Police Department I did not ask okay okay that's all I have thank you no further questions you may step down you all know the state calls Dr Kelly Cruz to the stand thank you foreign do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I did please have a safe journey thank you thank you thank you please state your name for the record and spell both your first and your last name my name is Kelly Cruz k-e-l-l-y-k-r-u-s-e what is your occupation I am an associate State medical examiner at the Iowa Office of the State medical examiner how long have you been employed to the State medical examiner's office since July 2018 okay are you considered a pathologist then yes I am a forensic pathologist certainly and so with the title of doctor be appropriate when I talk with you Dr Cruz yes thank you if you could please describe your educational background after I graduated from high school I attended Tulane University and I earned a Bachelor of Science in anthropology I then attended St George's University there I earned a master of public health degree and then my doctor of medicine degree I graduated from medical school in 2013. I then attended an anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency program that was in New Jersey I then completed a forensic pathology Fellowship training program at the office of the chief medical examiner in Maryland after I graduated I then came to Iowa to practice okay and is that when you begin your formal career with the State medical examiner's office yes what is a pathologist a pathologist is a doctor who practices pathology which is the study of disease processes and how they affect the human body forensic pathology goes a step further they look at disease processes but also injury and how those affect the body and ultimately lead to death all right in your capacity as a state medical examiner's office or with the State medical examiner's office do you work hand in hand with law enforcement yes we work closely with law enforcement and describe the nature of the professional relationship that exists between your office and law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Iowa so our office serves the majority of the state of Iowa usually with the exceptions of Johnson County and Muscatine we work with all agencies then outside of those counties most times when a person comes to our office they have a sudden and Unexpected death and in those cases law enforcement investigation is warranted so usually our interaction with law enforcement is receiving a report and other times it may be talking on the phone and other times it may be in person when they attend an autopsy and then so where there has been a body recovered where there is an unknown cause of death is the state medical examiner's office requested to perform autopsies to determine what the cause of death would be for that individual we often are and it is at the discretion of the County Medical Examiner who in essence orders the autopsy be performed by our office now describe the role of the County medical examiner's office in the context of criminal investigations and how that has bearing on any involvement that the State medical office would that engage in each county has their own County Medical Examiner and sometimes they have more than one when someone has a sudden Unexpected death that medical examiner is called to the scene they may respond or they may have investigators who respond once they learn what they think they need about the person's death they then determine if an autopsy is necessary once an autopsy is deemed necessary they then send the individual to our office and then we perform the autopsy and essentially take over the entire case then we are the ones interacting with family members we are the ones interacting with law enforcement we will certify the death certificate and so on certainly now if you could speak to the issue of chain of custody where there are human remains or even skeletal remains that are submitted to the State medical examiner's office to perform an autopsy how does that process work one of the more important duties of that County Medical Examiner or their investigators is to maintain China custody especially with the body and part of that is placing the body in a body bag labeling the body itself labeling the body bag and placing a lock with a number on the body bag so that when we receive the lock and we see it sealed that indicates to us that no one has had access to the body during transport to our office and then once you receive the human remains whether or not they be a body or skeletal remains where is that evidence stored until the autopsy is performed we have two what we call coolers in our office and we have one main one when someone is received we place them in that cooler it's much colder than the normal temperature in the office and there they stay until the autopsy is ready to be performed at that point then is the body essentially checked out and then directed to a room where you'll perform the autopsy that's correct Dr Cruz were you involved in performing an autopsy on skeletal remains that were collected in the area of rural Clinton County near a farm implement business known as kunau Implement yes all right who was the County Medical Examiner that would have responded to the crime scene and assisted in you know placing those skeletal remains or I should say even taking custody of those skeletal remains that would have been sent to the State medical exam Center's office Dr Mary Malcolm is the County Medical Examiner and she would be in charge can you um spell Dr Malcolm's last name so that we have a correct spelling for our record I hope I spell it correctly I believe it's m-a-l-c-o-l-m and then who would have performed the transport of those skeletal remains to the State medical examiner's office each county has their own process and I'm not entirely sure who Dr Malcolm would use it's often a funeral home certainly do you know what date then the State medical examiner's office received those skeletal remains those remains were transported on March 23rd 2021 which is the day before the autopsy all right what date did you perform the autopsy March 24th 2021 how was the body presented to you the body was presented to me in that body bag as locked and tagged by the County Medical Examiner and we have a photography process that documented that and then once the bag was opened I had the body and then a number of bags which contained smaller bone fragments and teeth since you were dealing with skeletal remains as opposed to an individual who had just recently died and law enforcement was trying to or determine the cause of death how is the autopsy process going to differ so the autopsy process we try and follow the same process for everyone however when someone is decomposed we do utilize a number of additional steps one of those additional steps is taking an x-ray of the body we will do that when someone's not decomposed for various reasons but when someone is skeletonized we always do that so that was something that was performed before the actual autopsy at the point of death how quickly does a body start to decompose the decomposition process it varies significantly depending on the person and depending on their environment so really it's hard to say but ultimately at a cellular level you start decomposing right away when we start to see it and appreciate it better does depend on that environment if an individual is outside in a rural environment during the heat of the summer is that body going to decompose much more quickly than let's say a body that may have been recovered in an outside environment in the middle of winter yes much more quickly okay and how does heat then facilitate the decomposition process the decomposition process has two components it has autolysis which is your body breaking itself down then it has putrefraction which is bacteria breaking itself the body down heat provides a really nice nurturing environment for that bacteria so they're able to essentially kind of take over the body and promote that decomposition process much more readily than they would in a cold environment that they really don't in essence enjoy being in certainly now when a body is decomposing at any point in time is there the possibility that there will still remain tissue associated with skeletal remains yes and how would you describe that type of tissue that would still be present on the recovered skeletal remains a in this case uh even with severe decomposition so mostly skeletonized remains there still was tissue which I would describe as mummified so the water component of the soft tissue no longer remained um it was leathery and firm I'm similar to what you would expect to see when you do think of a mummy certainly now let's talk about who was present for the autopsy when you performed it we had two individuals if I can look at my report from the Davenport Police Department it's Jeffrey pifer and Evan Obert all right and then were you assisted by technicians during this process yes I was as you perform an autopsy are there photographs taken as you proceed through the various stages yes and was that done in this particular case yes all right um so let's just start walking through it when you receive the body bag what was the first step in that process upon receipt of the body bag the tag labeling the body bag and the lock with the lock number are photographed then that lock is broken the tag is removed and then the body it's zippered the zippers are opened and then the contents of the body bag are appreciated a photograph is taken immediately regardless of what you can see at that time and then if there's something like a blanket obscuring the body then that is removed and the body is photographed again were the tags appropriately secured when you receive the body bag with those skeletal remains yes all right and then once you were able to open up the bag just on your initial observation what was your impression of whether you were dealing with an adult or a child it was it was dull especially with skeletonized remains but it was a small individual at least with the components that we had okay now um do you weigh those skeletal remains yes why it's part of our process and also adds extra information for our Anthropologist certainly in this particular case what all would be weighed I hear the skeletal remains that mummified tissue and there was hair and teeth also all of that was weight and what was the total weight of those Remains the total weight um was 17 pounds okay was there any clothing within the body bag amongst those skeletal remains yes could you please describe that so there were three clear items of clothing one consisted of a large light colored shirt potentially a white shirt that was tattered and torn there were black perforated gym type shorts and then there was a light colored Sports type bra when you were able to view those items were they significantly soiled by virtue of having been Outdoors yes were you able to observe a tag on the shirt itself to identify the size yes and then what was the size for the shirt for XL now relative to the hair did you examine the hair yes what did you note about the hair just upon first glance could it give you any indication of the ancestral background for this individual yes it was black hair and it was affixed into dreadlocks and there are also some seashells within it all right would you have combed through the hair itself not with a comb itself but looked very carefully through the hair for any objects that would be of importance okay in doing that did you find anything within the hair Beyond just the seashells that were attached to the hair yes describe what you found I a bullet was found within the hair okay when you discovered that bullet describe the chain of custody that you maintained for that item of evidence once that bullet was identified it was photographed within the hair that it was removed and photographed again alone then it was placed into evidence packaging and sealed by our investigator in our office what was the import to finding a bullet within the hair as you go through examine the body and then later make a determination about cause of death the importance here especially since I did not know a potential cause of death it alerted me to the possibility of there being signs of gunshot wounds while I looked for everything else it definitely alerted me to a higher possibility at that point certainly all right then did you start the process of examining the entire body yes how does that process begin with skeletal remains once everything is photographed as received and things of importance like the bullet are removed then the bones are laid out according to anatomic position in an attempt to identify what bones we do have what we don't have and look for injury I utilize Dr Garvin a forensic anthropologist who relied on her expertise pretty heavily so really my job was to find things that were more particular to my area of expertise like the bullet and looking with you know the amount of experience and expertise I have for any injury I could appreciate before she did her job okay when you perform autopsies on bodies that have been shot with a living individual as the bullet enters the body what are we going to see relative to the entry wound in its appearance as compared to an exit wound if the bullet actually did exit the body the difference between entrance and exit wounds on skin is usually pretty clear entrance winds tend to be quite round there's a lot of energy and force that become comes behind that bullet as it's usually just traveling through air before it makes contact with the skin other things you can see with an entrance wound as well are findings associated with close range discharge of a firearm like soot or stippling which are little abrasions on the skin from gunpowder once that bullet enters the body it goes through organs and more soft tissue potentially bone it's losing a lot of energy so once it exits the body it more pushes through the skin in order to exit so we don't have a round wound we have more of a slit like lacerated exit wound Dr Cruz given the Bony structures within a body with a bullet entering the body does it present a good likelihood that the a bullet could strike bony structure that would leave evidence behind yes okay now in this particular case since you're dealing with skeletal remains were you looking at the Bony structures to see if you could determine a potential a potential point of impact by bullets striking the um skeletal structures within the body yes okay what did you know so at autopsy there was a clear gunshot wound that was evident as I was laying in all the bones that one was in the mandible or the jaw bone there was a clear gunshot wound there it was round and it has what we call beveling we're on one side of the bone the opening is larger than the other side of the bone there's also a clear gunshot wound in one of the scapula which are bones in the top of the back the right scapula all right now I'm just staying with the topic of the mandible and that gunshot wound were you able to discern a path of travel and wear that bullet may have gone after traveled through the mandible yes explain so the in the mandible the way the beveling showed the pathway the bullet traveled from the front of her body to the back of her body when I do directions of wound paths it's relative to anatomic position with the person standing straight up looking forward their hands by their sides with their palms forward so from her front to her back other injuries that were appreciated by me and even further characterized by Dr Garvin where injuries to cervical vertebra or some of her neck bones which were right in the pathway of that injury to that mandible so the pathway for that was front to back and left to right certainly did it appear then that the bullet got stuck within the cervical region of the child's neck there was injury to that cervical region I is possible that that bullet recovered from the hair which is right in that same area could represent that bullet that created that wound thank you for that and can you please explain what um the um presence of having been shot in the mandible and having traveled through the cervix region but what's significant about that type of Entry relative to human life and causing death so the mandible itself and the cervical vertebrae injury to those may not necessarily be immediately life-threatening however there are a lot of structures surrounding them that could quickly produce death there are a number of very large vessels in the neck in between those two that when injured could cause pretty rapid death or significant bleeding also the spinal cord is next to those bones in the neck and that could have been injured in the process as well and that can have significant effects on the human body okay if a bullet strikes the spinal cord what happens so the spinal cord relays information from your brain to the rest of the body depending on where your spinal cord is injured leads to certain sorts of disabilities an injury high up and the spinal cord could have devastating effects on a person and then how does that type of injury impact the body's ability to relay messages to various organs or even the brain to keep that body functioning it inhibits that process so it's depending on how significant the injury is but it definitely could stop that communication completely all right from there then let's talk about the physical structure of the body a back first so that we've got some understanding of that for your descriptions of other areas of injury all right so if we top start at the top of the back in the area of the neck that area of the spine what is that known as in the back of the spine so the spinous processes or just this area what do we describe that the back of the neck or the spine and cervical vertebra okay and then if we move down from the cervical region um going down the back what would be the next region so once you're out of that neck region and down into the chest it's the thoracic region okay and then how far does the thoracic region extend from the base of the neck and down the back it goes down so your entire chest cavity and down into your abdominal cavity when it then transitions into the lumbar region okay and then what area of the human body does the lumbar region encompass of the lumbar region is that lower back area and then if you're looking from the front in the abdomen all right and then in the area of the lumbar when we talk about the lumbar region in the tailbone area can you explain just the various locations there and what is um at Play uh so throughout this whole area the spinal cord is there the lumbar region then moves into the sacrum kind of overlying that tailbone region as well there you're not getting those vital structures but you have a lot of blood vessels and it's you know a pretty significant bone in the body okay before we talk about the other injuries that you noted there's a thought that I had I want to go back to when you were talking about the direction of travel of that bullet through the mandible does that give you any indication of the placement of the individual shooting the gun at the time that the child was shot and that bullet traveled through the mandible in terms of placement of the person shooting them and the shooter it's difficult especially if it's the head since they're going to be a lot of movement what I can say is the bullet came from her front thank you all right now let's go to the other area that you denoted injuries to again what was that area the scapula what is scapula so you have two um and they're in your back in the upper portion um and it was the one on her right side that was injured okay so if we're looking at the human back you know and we think about our arm and the rotation of our arm and then there's that bony structure there up toward the shoulder region is that the scapula yes the shoulder blade the shoulder blade now we've had seen pictures of the scapula um we've got that broader point of the scapula that comes down more toward a point the broader section of the scapula where does that lie relative to the top portion of the shoulder versus the lower portion of the back as you're moving down amid the thoracic region and going toward the lumbar region so that top part part of the scapula you can think maybe where the clavicle is or that breastbone and then it moves down into that point and that whole area is called the blade certainly so does it get narrower as we go from the top of the back down yes okay thank you all right what did you note in the area of the scapula on the right side of the body in that right scapula at autopsy I was able to appreciate one obvious gunshot wound that was in the blade region and then Dr Garvin upon her examination afterwards she appreciated that same gunshot wound and then an additional one that was in the area of the spine so more in the top portion of that scapula when Dr Garvin noted that second location involving a gunshot wound did you have an opportunity to go back and look at that as well yes I did did you agree with her findings yes I did okay what's the significance of sustaining gunshot wounds to that area of the body so gunshot wounds to that area of the body both of those had a front to back also Direction due to their placement they represented two separate gunshot wounds different from that mandible and the cervical vertebra which repaired when someone is shot from the front and it injures part of their back there are a lot of vital structures in between you have your lungs your hearts on the left a side of your chest and you have ribs a lot of blood vessels so there's potential for a lot of other organs and vital structures to be injured before that scapula gets injured okay and I want to make sure that I understand when you say it traveled from front to back so were you talking about an entry point to the chest and then traveling toward the back itself correct okay all right is that type of injury significant relatives to cause of death yes okay all right now beyond that then um what else did you note when you were doing your autopsy I on top of those three gunshot wounds the projectile the main thing that I noted was the severe decomposition of her body and then I took on the task of identifying her body certainly um why was that something that really stuck out to you you know when you talk about the severe decomposition of her body I that amount of decomposition tells you a story about timeline I'm giving a firm timeline is incredibly difficult but you know that sometime at least has passed it also says why I potentially didn't see other injuries as we indicated organs were likely injured but no organs remained and she may have had some other sort of injury but those just weren't able to be appreciated due to the state of her body all right given the absence of any type of human skin human tissue or organs outside these gunshot wounds can you even begin to speak about possible injuries that that child may have sustained I cannot I did not see any all right so just as far as the significant deterioration did that speak to those remains having been out in a climate where she was found for a significant period of time before they were recovered yes okay all right now um the fingernails um did you examine her fingernails I did okay and of course I mean I've asked the question assuming that there were fingernails that came in with the body bag correct there were describe why you would examine fingernails the fingernails were examined I always look at fingernails whether someone's decomposed or not sometimes they can be torn or irregular also they can potentially provide DNA evidence if I'm looking for a way to identify a body okay describe your examination of the fingernails the fingernails were devoid of any soft tissue that would help with the DNA process what was noteworthy with them is that they appeared to have been decorated with some white polish than the very least were quite white in color all right is that something that would be important if talking with family members to determine whether or not a lost family member did have those nails painted yes okay and do you know of any discussions that happened with the mother about whether or not brieza Terrell's Nails had been painted I do not recall that's all right all right um so there was no type of tissue there that you could utilize for purposes of DNA no there was not but speak to the topic of DNA whose DNA DNA okay all right with the deterioration of the human body when you were dealing with skeletal remains then say for example the perpetrator's DNA would have been with that child's body by virtue of the decomposition process then is that DNA going to be destroyed most likely yes okay and then with a body being out in an environment like this for an extended period of time do environmental factors weigh into whether or not DNA evidence can be developed yes explain as you indicated DNA can be destroyed if someone is in an environment where they're being rained on it can be washed away and then just degraded over time animals can get involved and um you know there as you indicated there's a high likelihood that someone else's DNA is most likely there not there okay so so DNA does degrade yes all right and at the point that it's completely degrade we would not be able to I identify even the presence of DNA depending on the environment sure do you know of any products as well that would destroy DNA there are cleaning supplies that can degrade DNA or clean them so that when testing is performed you can't identify any can you speak to the subject of Clorox or bleach how bleach is one of those products that can do so okay in addition just doing to doing your physical examination of the body what else was done so continuing on I suppose with the identification process the fingernails were examined to see if there's any abriacious DNA or tissue left on them she did have some that mummified tissue and then ultimately bone was used which contains DNA to compare her DNA to her mother's DNA okay when the comparison was made between the DNA taken from the body to the DNA of Aisha Langford what findings were made the findings from the laboratory was at their very very high likelihood that they were related okay now when you talk about DNA is DNA unique to each individual yes but who does a child get their DNA from well DNA comes from the parents and depending on what type of DNA mitochondrial might just be from the mom so testing of a parent should be successful in determining if they're related or not okay spell mitochondrial mitochondrial is m-i-t-o-c-h-o-n-d-r-i-a-l okay so does the mitochondrial DNA come from the mother yes now um in comparison comparing the DNA taken from this body to that of the mother were you definitively able to establish that these skeletal remains were a child of Aisha Langford yes okay but in order to identify specifically um who this child was what additional steps had to be taken in addition to the DNA the dental morphology so the teeth of the individual that we had at the autopsy were compared to the teeth of briasia she had very clear um photographs of her teeth before she died so again I used Dr garvin's expertise and she compared the teeth that we had at autopsy um different characteristics of them to the teeth that Brie Asia had photographed and in her opinion they were a match and reviewing her report I'm confident they are a match okay so then um do you did you then make a definitive finding as to who the skeletal remains belonged to yes and what identification was that they belonged to breasha Tyrell let me address just one variable relative to the development of the DNA did you receive assistance in developing that DNA profile yes we do not perform that analysis it's into a DNA lab and they provide me with a report and I determine where to go with that report do you work hand in hand with the DCI laboratory we are actually physically connected and we submit evidence to them and that's how we operate with them okay and that's one of the issues that Dr Garvin had spoke to she indicated that there had been a submission to the DCI so that what had been taken from the bones or the DNA from the bone could be identified correct and that is a part of what occurred is that correct that is correct did you determine a cause of death yes what was the cause of death the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds okay all right Dr um Cruz were their photographs taken throughout the course of this autopsy yes all right your honor May the record reflect that I'm showing Council what's been marked as States exhibit 16-1 through 16-45 may I approach your honor you may I'm handing you what's the market states is it at 16-1 through 16-45 I'd like for you to look at that group exhibit and tell me if you recognize that group exhibit foreign foreign autopsy photographs that we took okay and do those actually depict what it is that you observed as you performed the autopsy yes your honor of the state would move to introduce this group exhibit that exhibit will be admitted may I publish your honor you may all right um but before I do that um Dr Cruz I want to go back and talk about one other issue so you indicated the cause of death was attributable to multiple gunshot wounds and then beyond cause of death do you also author a professional opinion about manner of death yes and what was the manner of death that you reported in your autopsy report homicide all right all right all right I have before you States exhibit 16-1 explain what we are seeing in State's exhibit 16-1 this Photograph shows the body bag which is the white for most of the photo and then in the center is a tag indicating who is inside of the body bag and then that lock that should be intact when it's received in our office that lock also comes with a number that we document so we know it hasn't been changed out when the skeletal remains came in to the State medical examiner's office what identifier was used for these skeletal remains uh so this tag on the body bag and then a tag inside as well but a lesson though and then does it indicate a date and time that essentially it was found or recovered yes and what is that 3 23 21 at 10 45 in what county Clinton and then of note I also spelled Dr Malcolm's name incorrectly I'll have a second L that's all according to what she wrote and does this particular body tag indicate who was responsible for 10 protecting um the body bag once the skeletal remains were placed Inside Yes and who is that Dr Malcolm all right States exhibit 16-2 what are we seeing here this is that photograph which I call an as is photo so this is exactly how the remains are in the body bag as they were received once we open the zippers okay doctor can you take the Putter and I'm going to I'm going to point her behind you and show us what would represent the hair body bag the mass of hair that came with the body and then here are the rest of the remains and then in the backs are even more remains that are more fragmented okay as we look at this photographed too is the clothing intertwined with it that larger portion of skeletal remains yes all right States exhibit 16 3. what are we seeing here this is essentially the same photograph just making sure we have everything in the frame sometimes it's difficult to tell so I'll take more photos than maybe are necessary in this Photograph are we focusing on the lower half of the body or the upper half of the body it appears to be more the lower half but things are kind of jumbled sure going to State's exhibit 16-4 what's the perspective of this this is that other end so potentially more of the upper half of the body including one of those bags just to make sure we have everything included and as we look at this Photograph can we see the article of clothing that you've described as the shorts yes we can where is that at that's to the I guess the mid right of the photograph in between the hair and the brown paper bag all right in this photograph is there other clothing that's difficult to see but as we look start to recognize that that's another article of clothing that's correct and then can you point that out for us well intermix more so with here where I'm able to take off that really tattered shirt it was really jumbled end of everything thank you States exhibit 16-5 what is happening at this point so this is these are the bones as I receive them at autopsy once I took that clothing off we were able to remove that massive hair um and they're just sort of a loose representation of how they should be in the human body before Dr Garvin made them essentially the way they absolutely should be absolutely going to State's exhibit 16-6 here more of those bones more laid out and then that massive hair here next to that ruler as we look at this Photograph can we see the seashells within the hair itself yes we can can you point those out all right how many did you point out for purposes of our record I pointed out too as an example all right States exhibit 16-7 similar photograph as before okay 16-8 here we're looking at some of that mummified remaining tissue on one of the extremities just to give an idea of how severely decomposed she was so not quite a mummy not quite a skeleton but quite close all right what um bone is this a mummified tissue attached to I'd have to go back and look it's one of the long bones in the extremities sure States exhibit 16-9 this is a photograph of it the top portion of the skull looking down 16-10 this is the skull as it was received and for the teeth were put back in I'm looking from the front all right so in this Photograph how many teeth do we still see within the jaw bone itself uh here we can still see two very clear teeth in the upper portion of the mouth okay State's exhibit 16-11 here we're looking at the left side of the skull I'll let one of those pieces 16-12 this is the right side of the skull and you can see those teeth again 16-13 the back of the skull all right Dr Cruz can you speak to this as we're looking at the back of the skull there appears to be some type of compromise of the Bony structure yes can you talk um to that topic and help us understand what we're seeing here sure so you have a number of what are called sutures in this skull when you're a baby you have we all have many bones in our skull when you're a baby they're not quite together as you get older those bones fuse together but we still see remnants of them being separate so here we call it super suture line so it's a squiggly line that shows the two bones connecting and at the back of your skull is called the lambdoid suture thank you going to State's exhibit 16-14 what are we seeing here this is looking at the top of the skull we see more of those suture lines um here going to the back we have the sagittal suture and then across the sides the coronal suture we can also see here the mandible or the Jawbone which contains some teeth and then we also see a box containing multiple additional teeth all right the mandible would that be the lower jaw then yes and then how many teeth were still intact in the lower jaw which did not have to be replaced looking at this Photograph I can clearly see four teeth got it okay let's go to State's exhibit 16-15 what are we seeing here uh here it's the underside of the skull um let me see teeth and then a large hole in the middle of this call which is called the foramen magnum certainly 16-16 again it's that same photograph um the lighting okay I'm gonna see if I can well that's the best that we can do there 16 Dash 17. this is batmanable won some teeth have been replaced 16-18 and here's that mandible with the replace teeth this time from the left side and as you go through the process of replacing the teeth then our x-rays taken and compared to the dental records of riesia Terrell yeah yes they can be here more so the gross method morphology just looking at the teeth with the eyes um they that was most helpful given the records that we had thank you State's exhibit 16-20 so part of the process of doing the autopsy is the top of the skull cap that's removed usually to look at the brain but really just to see any contents so this is looking inside of the skull where the brain should be here we have cycle 16-21 [Music] 16-22 this is one of the cervical vertebra before it was cleaned a little more but as part of the Middle Light portion of the vertebra or for the injury from that gunshot wound that also injured the neanderthal 16-23 foreign again from the side with some irregularity representing the gunshot Wilderness and discoloration and hurt 16-24 this is that right scapula so this is one angle of it where irregularity can be seen representing one of the two gunshot ones to the scapula all right let's go to the top right corner Cunningham we're going to an hour and I think you're going to start another area of this examination I think this would be a good time for our break I think so too Yolanda thank you thank you for being a German until 1 30. thank you okay is everyone ready to proceed yes your honor all right you may proceed Miss Cunningham thank you Dr Cruz um can you please describe what's depicted in State's exhibit 16-24. yes this is a photograph of breesia's right scapula at the bottom left corner of the bone is a defect corresponding to a gunshot wound all right and then if you could just so that we've got some perspective right there certainly and then let's go to the upper right corner that dark portion there on the scapula what is that attributable to so that's most likely attributable to the post-mortem interval being outside or some animal Scavenging just the process of the Bony breakdown being out there um which is one of the reasons why Dr Garvin is so helpful in interpreting those certainly let's go to State's exhibit 16-25 what are we seeing in this particular photograph so here it's the other side of that bone so where the bone was protruding um on the other side here you can see the actual hole that was created by that bullet absolutely and then just go ahead and point to that again so that the judge can see what area you're referencing but for the bullet impact would that have been solid bone there correct okay going to State's exhibit 16-26 what are we seeing in this image this is the right scapula again so turn to the side and we see that bullet hole again from different angles you can appreciate more of the jagged bone around it a little bit better thank you State's exhibit 16-27. paragraph more from an inferior angle again showing the whole does this give us probably the best perspective of the whole created by the bullet I think so certainly States exhibit 16-28 uh this again is showing that the whole um which gets not as nice because you don't have the blue behind it but the hole can be appreciated and the irregularity of the bone around it 16-29 this is a photograph of the tag that was inside the body bag and attached to the body itself it's attached to a rib here and here it's labeled with adolescent dough the same name on the outside of the bag and the same identifying information with Dr Malcolm's name and at this point are we going to start to examine the hair that came in with the body I believe that might be next yes States exhibit 16-30 but this is a photograph of the hair that was received of the body it's dark in color a fixed into dreadlocks and there are seashells that we can see throughout okay 16-31 this is another another photograph of the hair showing the seashells sometimes I like to take multiple photos to see which ones it shows up best on the computer certainly 16-32 as we look at this particular photograph are we now going to start to see where the bullet was located at yes I near the center of the photograph the bullet was recovered all right and just going back in your testimonial testimony earlier is that consistent with the possibility of that bullet having traveled through the mandible through the C3 C4 and out and got caught in the hair that's correct okay States exhibit 1633 this is a closer view of that bullet when it's still in the hair 16-34 another view of the hair with a bullet 1635 even closer view of the hair with the bullet 1636 this is a photograph with the hair in addition to the seashells and the bullet a tooth that was recovered from the hair which can be seen here many of the teeth as we had seen prior were not within the skull all right thank you then did you take photographs of that bullet that had been removed from the hair yes 18-37 this is a photograph of the bullet after it had been removed showing it has significant color discoloration and still has hair attached to it 1638 this is that bullet just flipped over um showing it so it has hair and it looks like some other debris attached to it 1639 this is the photograph of that tattered light colored shirt that was recovered with the body and intermix with the bones and the mummified tissue now as we look at this photograph is there more than one article of clothing that is depicted it's hard for me to say if there should be just the shirt just the shirts a bra that was received that was a similar color um but that there's a separate photograph of that all right thank you and as we look at this t-shirt can we see what the color of the T-shirt would have been but for its exposure to the elements most likely I think the color of this t-shirt is probably best represented by the center of the photograph white or a very very light color thank you States exhibit 16-40. this is a photograph of the tag on that t-shirt which is clearly imprinted with the brand Cotton Zone and the size 4XL and when we consider the size 4XL would you attribute that to being a child shirt or an adult shirt an adult a man shirt or a female shirt I mean either but it could be a large adult male is probably most likely certainly going to State's exhibit 16-41 this is that light colored um sports bra that was also received with the body 16-42 this is the other side of that sports bra and here the tag is also visible it shows a size 36 and Fruit of the Loom brand all right States exhibit 1643 these are the perforated black shorts that were also received with the body doctor oh give me a moment Dr Cruz we're all struggling with cold soap as we look as photograph um do you show areas or do we see areas of discoloration on these shorts [Music] part of the short similar to this shirt probably represents the true color which is a black color and then there's discoloration up near the band of the shorts the whitish sort of discoloration and does that seem to extend across toward the center portion of that short States exhibit 16-44 is the same discoloration present on portions of the fabric on the back side of the shorts as well yes it is State's exhibit 16-45 this is a close-up of the tag the tag did not have any writing that I could make out certainly um but as we're looking at the waistband with this close-up do we get a really good perspective of the discoloration that was present in the fabric yes thank you [Music] Dr Cruz let me throw a question out there I don't know that this is something that you can speak to but I'll throw the question out with bullets being out in an environment like this do you have any training experience as to how the elements would impact the bullet itself as part of my training I was always told that anything we're often trained with Tissue human tissue so any sort of human tissue or blood can degrade a bullet and similarly being exposed to elements rain dirt can also degrade a projectile but further defining that would take someone who has greater expertise thank you I have no further questions Mr Waters good afternoon doctor good I will just ask your profession would involve or include detecting you know possible deaths by either Sharp sharp force trauma or blunt force trauma correct correct just briefly can you describe what those two things are sharp force trauma involves injury with any object that essentially has a sharp surface we commonly think of a knife it can be glass or something similar so when that object makes contact with the skin it cuts and divides that skin and cuts and divides soft tissue and everything underneath it blunt force injury involves the impact of an object that has a flat surface you have a lot more options there once that object with a flat surface makes contact with the skin it has more of a crushing sort of injury it can cause abrasions or scrape off the surface of the skin it can cause contusions or tearing up the blood vessels Under the Skin can cause lacerations which is actually just tearing of tissue which is in contrast to a cutting wound which is a nice neatly cut and divided area of tissue and it can also cause fractures of bone so you mentioned a lot about tissue right there what I'm wondering then is can you detect either sharp force or blunt force trauma just in bone like the mummified remains we just discussed yes so sharp force injuries for example with a knife if that knife comes into contact with bone there are defects or cutting wounds that can be appreciated same thing with blunt force where you would get more of a fracture so breaking up the bone that's very difficult when it's a long postmortem interval and the body's been outside so that's when I employ a forensic anthropologist like Dr Garvin and she has expertise in identifying those injuries okay so correct me if I'm wrong but with the remains of Raja Terrell you didn't identify or detect any sharp force or blunt force trauma and that bone did you correct okay and then you did mention Heather Garvin who was the forensic anthropologist she didn't report to you that she found any sharp force or blunt force trauma right that's correct no acute trauma would account for the person's death can you describe to me what that means as she does mention in her report there are some areas of healing of healing I believe on the skull which may have represented a previous injury but nothing in the general time of when breesia died okay so we couldn't know any one way or the other uh in her expertise they were old okay and then um see the manner of death I think you indicated was homicide right correct and then it would have been defined or explained by three gunshot ones correct correct okay so can you indicate through your expertise and training uh the distance that those three bullets were fired from no can you indicate how many assailants fired those bullets no and because that homicide was the determination or the manner of death I think you alluded to this a little bit during direct examination with Miss Cunningham but you couldn't tell me how long griesha Terrell was dead right correct and specifically you couldn't tell me an exact date of when Brazier Terrell had died correct and the reason is I'm imagining but correct if am I wrong animals could have gotten to the body you know rain sunlight worms insects that sort of thing correct correct it was a long time sure so it could be July 2020 it could be August 2020 it could be September 2020 all the way up until March of 2021 when she was found correct okay okay and then you were asked a little bit about the coloration of those shorts in your experience um what could cause that discoloration you know different sort of chemicals like bleach but also with a garment that's exposed to the environment sort of the sun other environmental factors I didn't do any sort of testing to say what caused the discoloration I didn't didn't test for for Bleach I did not okay are you aware whether it was those shorts were tested for Bleach no and then so in your training and expertise you could you couldn't tell me one way or another whether it was bleach or the sunlight or the elements that's correct okay and then just for my knowledge how many bones are in the human body oh my goodness that's exactly how many 106 or 207 a lot yeah sounds about right did you as you were performing the Zod Topsy did you find any is it a practice of yours to keep a log of how many bones you found that's where I defer to Dr Garvin and she logs them and she knows exactly how many bones are in the body sure and then obviously you would be relying off for a report correct okay but then your job is to receive this information and essentially just Define what the manner of death was I Define both cause and manner I'm using the information she provides I think of it similar to a toxicology report where I would have to use someone else's expertise but ultimately the decision is mine sure so the cause was then three gunshot wounds and the manner was homicide yeah multiple gunshot ones yes okay that's all I have thank you thank you Miss Cunningham yes Shawna thank you Dr Cruz um in speaking to the issue of the discoloration in the fabric on the shorts you had mentioned that that can be caused by chemicals yes as well as environmental exposure is that correct correct all right um for fabric that's out in the sun for an extended period of time would we expect to see some fading yes all right but relative to fabric that's been out in the sun for a significant period of time wouldn't you expect there to be consistent fading across the entire surface of that fabric versus what we're seeing on these shorts I think you would expect to see consistent fading in all the exposed parts of that and then um let's um speak further to that if a body has been disposed of in an area that is heavily wooded as well as a significant amount of vegetation that's present would you agree with me that there's going to be a limited ability for that fabric to be exposed to such to create that sun fading yeah I think there might be a lower likelihood that it were exposed to the sun okay I'm going to put up before you what was previously introduced to State's exhibit 43 . and I'm going to direct you if you could give me this pointer to an area down this access road and right about here just as you look at that aerial view does there seemed to be a significant Treetop surface up above the ground there yes all right and so just looking at that from an aerial view that does that appear to be a location that it would be difficult for Suns to get through to fabric lying on the ground below there and cause that fading with it looking like that yes all right um relative to sharp force trauma does human skin and the presence of tissue really give us an opportunity to discern whether or not there was short um sharp force trauma yes tissue would be desirable for interpreting that type of wound okay and even if there were organs would that also make it uh easier to determine whether or not there was sharp force trauma yes was there an absence of organs with these skeletal remains in fact there were no organs and then other than the mummified tissue that we observed was their total absence of skin and human tissue yes and then when we talk about blunt force trauma can I safely assume that there is some type of blunt force trauma that if there is enough Force used it could actually break a human bone yes all right but um the issue of force is that really the determinative factor how much force was used before you might see a fracture to a human bone it's force and location of the actual blow thank you I have no further questions Mr Waters I don't have anything else thank you you may still come thank you foreign foreign do you sort of tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I do please have a seat can you please State and spell your name Joseph Adams j-o-s-e-p-h 80 AMS what city do you live in I live outside of DeWitt Iowa how long have you lived outside of DeWitt about 23 years and are you familiar with an individual named Jared Brink yes how did you know Mr Brink oh through work at one time uh how would you describe your relationship with him we were pretty good buddies um unfortunately has Mr Brink passed when did that occur two months ago now back on March 22nd or 23rd of 2021 at some point was Mr Brink over at your residence during that time period I don't know the date for sure but yes um can you describe why Mr Brink was over at your house that day we he was just stopping in to say hi just you know I had a beer with them and you know kind of talking back and forth and at some point did the topic turn to the discovery of a body near Kunal implement yes do you recall how that came up in conversation I think we were just saying we know I heard that they found a body up by house and that's how that started and prior to that day where Mr Brink was over at your house and you were discussing this body had you had an occasion where Mr Brink had told you about pulling somebody out of the ditch before that time yes no okay while you were discussing the body that was found around kuna Implement did Mr Brink bring up the topic of pulling up pulling somebody out of the ditch yes and describe how that came up in the conversation well he said he was in that area he was going to work early in the morning and he pulled the guy out that was stuck and uh I said well they're looking for a vehicle that was up in that area or could have been up in that area and did he describe the vehicle that he had pulled out of the ditch at that time no I said that they have a flyer on the phone that they've been kind of circulating and I asked my wife to come out and show Brink the picture and he goes yeah that's that's the car I pulled out uh and so your wife showed him the flyer right it was on a cell phone on her cell phone and what was his reaction to seeing that flyer yes that's that's the car he pulled out hey approach your owner you may I'm showing you States exhibit 105. um does this exhibit contain the photographs that your wife would have pulled up on her phone and showed him to Mr Brink yes um which of these photographs okay nail polishes here on her you may all right Mr Adams there's a pointer there right next to you could you again point to the vehicle that Mr Brink identified right here and you're pointing to the middle photograph that appears to show a maroon Chevy Impala that's correct um did he describe the individual that he saw with the vehicle that night he said it was a black male and he didn't mention anybody else that was there just that fella so he just indicated it was a black male right after this topic got brought up in conversation um did you encourage Mr Brink to call law enforcement to report this information yeah I said that they're looking for people to have that have information or have seen this car to call the I think it was the Davenport the police department or it could have been the Clinton County I don't recall which um was that something you encouraged him to do yes and to your knowledge did you follow through with that yeah I think he did and at some point then were you contacted as well by law enforcement to um yeah it was a while before they contacted me because we were up in Wisconsin and the Davenport Police Department I think called me and I didn't know at the time it was them because I didn't recognize the number so I never answered it and then when I got back home they called again and left a message on my phone that time so then I called them back and when you were able to make contact with them did you relay the same information that you've shared here today with us yes yeah I did right thank you I don't have any further questions Mr Waters Mr Adams yes right so essentially what you've testified to was that um you and Mr Brink were having beers one night right yeah we could have been I don't recall him well regardless you were hanging out with them yeah we're together working on a project do you remember when that was the date an estimation I couldn't say for sure no you know if it was after March of 2021 I can't recall okay and then was it you that showed him the picture of this flyer that we've discussed actually my wife showed me that picture a day or so earlier and then you showed him that picture then I had my wife show him off her phone that flyer okay and then he looks at this Impala and says that that's the car yeah now when he said that did he tell you that it was a maroon Impala or did he say that's the car no I believe I told him it was a maroon Impala okay he didn't tell me he knew it was a a GM vehicle and he knew it would make him out because he is a mechanic or a Gearhead uh and I think I showed him that flyer and then he said yeah that's the car I pulled out right there okay that's all I have mistletoe just briefly your honor um when Mr Brink said that's the car I pulled out he seemed pretty confident about that yeah I mean yeah he did to me no further questions Mr Motors I don't have anything further okay foreign thank you your honor the state calls Mike Tate the automatic stuff out real quick for a moments too foreign do you sort of tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I do please have a seat thank you sir can you please State and spell your name for a record my name is Michael Tate it's spelled m-i-c-h-a-e-l-t-a-t-e and how are you currently employed I'm a criminalist with the Iowa Department of Public Safety division of criminal investigation criminal six Laboratory in the you said criminalistics laboratory yes ma'am do you work with a certain Department within the DCI crime laboratory I'm assigned to the firearms and toolmark section of the laboratory and how long have you worked in the firearm into a mark section of the DCI crime lab unofficially I started working with them late 2007 officially I transferred in April of 2015. how long a DCI crime lab next month will be finish up about 34 years and you've alluded to this but have you worked in different departments throughout your almost 34 years there yes I have a where all have you worked within the DCI crime lab well I was originally hired in as a drug chemist that lasted about a month simply because I have a background in toxicology and they had one gentleman and only one gentleman doing doxology cases so the lab director shifted me out of the drug chemistry section into toxicology fairly soon during that time I took on learning to work with and work on the breath alcohol instruments as I'm mechanically inclined and I worked with both sections for quite a few years in 2001 I was moved out of Toxicology into depressed alcohol section because the gentleman there had passed away and I was there until 2015 officially in 2007 a gentleman who was in charge of the reference collection and the guns for Destruction program retired and they needed help and I didn't have a lot to do when I was at the laboratory so I offered an that's what I was doing in my spare time I don't like to be idle so in 2007 then you unofficially started assisted the firearms and toolmarks Division and what different ways were you assisting them well the primary way was to take in guns that had made it through the system as in the case had been adjudicated and by the code as I understand it the guns have to come through the laboratory first before they're destroyed to see if they can be used in the reference collection or used by other departments for their use you know their law enforcement use and then get you know funneled out the road to be destroyed that I looked after the reference collection to make sure that was kept up I also was trained in the use of the Neiman system which is a ballistics identification system that basically takes a picture of the the head stamp area of a cartridge a fire cartridge case and uses that picture and Compares it against computerized photographs and sees if there's a lead and that lead gets passed back to law enforcement you've mentioned the reference collection a couple of times what is that that is a collection of firearms that have been most of which have come from cases here in Iowa turned in by law enforcement over the years and what is the the purpose of having a reference collection it gives us an ability to um well let me back up for a moment there's a reason for it they wanted it initially so you could find parts to make things work the gentleman who left uh that I took over for back in 2007 had instructed his examiners that if you have a gun that comes in non-functioning you can't just say it doesn't work you need to find out why and see if you can make it work well those guns that are in the collection are used for spare parts quite often otherwise they can be used as reference material if somebody wants to they think they have an idea what kind of gun this was so he can be presented to them and say did it look like this or it can be used to demonstrate in court and do you have any idea how many guns you have in the DCI reference collection roughly 4 500. then it sounds like in April of 2015 you officially would have moved into the firearms and Tool Mark section how did your role change at that point well I stepped away from everything else and I began my training in firearms and Tool Mark examination it comprised a year-long schooling with the ATF and followed by a year of 100 percent case work review by our lead Examiner after which and then going through a name of proficiencies and such they said I was good to go and I was on a Firearms examiner now and are you a certified Firearms examiner no ma'am not by anything there's no certification here in this state that was my next question is there such thing as a certified Firearms examiner there's a certification process that's put on by a outfit known as The Association of firearm and Tool Mark examiners afte for short um I have chosen at this point in time not to go through that process only because I was told that you should have at least five years under your belt before you do it and quite honestly I have about a year left before I retire so you do you do engage in regular proficiency training yes what does that entail an outside company is provides us with a challenge whether it's bullets or cartridge cases or we also do tool marks so it's something that was damaged by a tool of some sort and we will go through and perform examinations and comparisons on those items and prepare a report and then that report gets sent in to the company that we purchased the product from just to go back briefly can you describe your educational background for us yes I have two bachelor's degrees one is in the administration of justice from the Pennsylvania State University the others in forensic and toxicological chemistry from Westchester University which also happens to be in Pennsylvania fairly soon after that I joined the laboratory here in Iowa since that time I've taken classes and seminar attended seminars and such that have been put on by the FBI ATF the DEA other instrument manufacturers equipment manufacturers and then most notably the I'm a 2016 graduate from the National Firearms examiner Academy that ATF puts on no turning to this particular case were you provided items regarding the investigation into the death of breesa Terrell yes did you author any reports regarding any examination or findings that you may have made in this case two two reports um they approach your owner you may I'm showing you state exhibits 55 and 54. starting with the state exhibit 55 do you recognize this exhibit yes state exhibit 55 is a copy of my report dated April 16 2021 it's our report number two as our sequence goes report he would have offered on April 16 2021 yes then handing you States exhibit 54. do you recognize this exhibit yes States exhibit 54 is a copy of the second report report four is a sequence goes um dated 4 30 20 21. yes at this time you're honored the state would offer exhibits 54 and 55 in Texas no objection those exhibits will be admitted um at this time the state would ask to publish excuse me starting here at the top of state's exhibit 55. now you indicated this was report number two in the lab sequence reports what does that mean it's simply the number that came up when it the Report was generated so does this there's a number here at the top this 202016859 is that the lab number that the DCI crime lab would have assigned to this particular case yes and so any criminalist doing a report would have tagged in their reports under that same number yes and so for example there may be a DNA report that would have been tagged under this case number and that would have been report number one or three or something along those lines yes okay so report number two just simply means you were this second report authored under this particular case number yes so moving on then to this section under Firearms tool marks and examination report um can you describe how many items we're talking about in reference to this report three and what were those items three recovered bullets so starting then with lab number four what is the description provided for that particular item this is a box containing projectile from a hair and right above that um does your report indicate that that item would have come from the State medical examiner yes it does and then moving down to the next two items lab number 17 and 18. what were those items referring to those were two bullets that were covered and Jennifer Pullen from our laboratory would have submitted those um was your understanding then that the items number 17 and 18 would those items been collected from the actual scene where the remains were recovered since I didn't come from the medical examiner I have to say yes versus the item number four which came from the medical examiner's office yes ma'am so when you are handed these three items which appear to be bullets how do you first begin your examination of those types of items well I would have requested the items from the evidence room got in control of them and taking them back to my work area and gotten out the appropriate paperwork we have worksheets for all the different items that we have to look whether it's a bullet a cartridge case a gun something that created a tool Mark that sort of thing we've gotten out the worksheet and checked make sure everything was sealed broke the seals and then went about making notes about what I found and what types of things are you looking for when you're examining bullets I'm looking for the makeup of the bullet what sort of shape it's in by makeup does it happen to have a copper or brass jacket does it have a steel core or a Lead Core what sort of shape is it in has it been smashed into anything has there is it picked up debris that I can see um and then ultimately what I'm looking for is is does it have any use for me in making comparisons to a test fire say if it was provided to me later on um and in this case I had I made some measurements that would give me a an idea what I would did then it's called General rifling characteristics and there's a list on this next page that I believe I used the FBI's listing for and provided that in part as part of my report um so when you're referring to General rifling or class characteristics what exactly does that mean well what it means is what I've done is gone and measured the bullet to see what the diameter was measured its weight and then when a bullet is fired out of a rifled barrel which most of the things we have these days are with the exception of shotguns um the rifling actually will leave marks behind on the bullet jacket or the outside of the bullet um it can have enough detail to allow us to make an identification of a bullet back to a test fire from a particular gun but in the least ways it gives us ideas by the width of of The Impressions on the what we call the bearing surfaces we can plug that into a database which is that list on the second page and get an idea what the possible guns were that were could have done it it's not an all-inclusive list but it gives us a start and it's an investigative item for departments so essentially you're trying to look at the different marks the weights the things that you can visibly see on these bullets to to try to determine if you can determine what type of firearm this bullet would have been fired from yes now are you able to make that determination by just looking at a bullet itself well there is one particular type of firearm that's currently being made that is the generation five Glocks that do happen to make a they have a land and groove Impressions that are I have not seen in any other firearm and if I were to see that I could tell you we would narrow it down to that kind of firearm a Glock generation 5. um but that's about the only one I can tell you about so very so definitively for all other bullets then that don't show the same class characteristics consistent with being fired from a Gen 5 clock what would you need in order to actually make a determination about what type of firearm those bullets came from the weight gives me an idea the diameter also adds to that and then the the width of the land and groove impressions are the final components and the number of them I'm sorry would you need a known gun in order to make some of those comparisons as well if you want to make an identification to it yes okay so how does that then work when you have a potentially known firearm well I'm assuming you're meaning that I haven't somebody has presented me with a firearm as well to work with in that case once I go through checking it through I can test fire it collect the bullets and the cartridge cases that have come to me as part of the test firing and use them to compare against the unknowns say for instance that I was presented with a revolver um I could compare them against as I recall 17 and 18 on this list uh 14 numbers 14 4 had no useful information for me I could have tried to use 17 or 18 but unfortunately the corrosion had done its Dirty Work and damaged it beyond my ability to make an identification so let's talk about then the results from just your visual examination of these particular bullets and again referring to your report what were you able to determine about just their General class characteristics from experience it looked like those bullets had probably been fired from a 38 caliber which includes 357 Magnum 38 Smith and Wesson nine millimeter that's all under the 38 caliber but from its bullet weight it was fairly typical for a 38 special um the land and groove impressions there was it was a six right if I recall that's fairly common that doesn't help at all really when it comes right down to it but it had there been individual detail that was visible on the in those Impressions then they would have been useful for going back and making a comparison and possibly an identification to an unknown or to a turned in firearm now just in comparing the bullets to each other did you make any observations about whether the markings were consistent with just each other yes the three of them look like they probably came from the same firearm and what were your findings in regards to that well I didn't have anything to ID identify them definitely to each other however the the weights and the land impressions the wits and such as I had mentioned were very similar so they all contain roughly the same weight the same did you say land Impressions yes and the width of each of those bullets all appeared consistent with one another number four didn't I couldn't get a measurement on it because the damage was so severe but from appearances that looks to be very similar to 17 and 18. and as you included here in your report then because of those consistencies within the same bullets did they appear to all be fired from the same firearm that was my conclusion yes um referring then to the bottom paragraph of page one of your report on State's exhibit 55. you indicated that these were fired copper jacketed bullets um just what significance is there to the fact that these are copper jacketed bullets it just what the loading was for that particular cartridge okay um and all three of them contained that same type of copper jacketed bullet yes okay um now as you've indicated they were all determined to be consistent in size design and weight with either a 38 special a 357 Magnum or a nine millimeter Luger cartridge are those all different types of ammunition yes okay um now items number 17 and 18 you indicated reflected six lands and grooves with a right hand twist what does that mean the rifling within the barrel would have when the a bullet is fired down a barrel it's going to expand and seal itself if you will to the inside of the barrel the pressures are going to push it down the length of the barrel but as it seals itself against it it's pushing against in this case six raised areas and part of it's pushed into six grooves the pressures that are going on that are pushing both expanding the bullet and pushing it down the barrel are forcing the bullet jacket in this case copper to take on the form that they've been forced into no I do believe you testified that based on the weight of these bullets you thought they were probably most consistent with a 38 special type of ammunition is that fair that's my experience yes that referring then to page two of your report what is it that you've listed here what I have done here is taken all that information I mentioned earlier the bullet weight well not so much the ball away but the land Impressions the number of them the width of the land Impressions and groove Impressions the number of them and place them into the database that in this case we have one the FBI puts together I believe that's what this one's from we also have one that ate after puts together um and these are the the names of the the database spit out based on the information I gave to it so then turning to the next page in this exhibit here what are all these that are listed well this one happens to be I recognize this style this happens to be an after search um they said they set theirs up a little bit differently than the FBI and what you have is the search results the manufacturer model and the firearm type and so essentially are the remaining pages of exhibit 55 again just all of the different types of either ammunition or firearms that were consistent with the general rifling characteristics that you observed on these at least the two bullets item 17 and 18. yes so turning then to page 54 I'm sorry exhibit 54. this would have been the report you authored on April 30th that you've labeled report number four at some point then were you provided with a firearm to attempt to do some sort of comparisons with yes um is that listed here as item 20. in your report yes and the description here is a stainless steel revolver with a serial number of 184998 you recall is that an accurate serial number for that gun the serial number is accurate the description is not okay and why is the description not accurate well what I noted the gun came to me in a bucket the bucket was full of water which is how we asked that any submerged firearm is submitted to us it prevents rust from taking over and destroying whatever we could have worked with um once I got it out of the water cleaned up I noted that the bluing or the which is effectively rusting of the metal but it's done in a controlled environment and deliberate was worn away down to what I known as I know as it's a condition called the white that is a unfinished surface of a barrel or of a piece of metal it's I was told it was called being in the white before it actually has a painted or a bluing or whatnot applied to it so stainless steel I can understand why you could see it like that when you first pull it out but to me it looked more like a a barrel that had lost its Bluing a firearm that had lost its blowing the stainless steel description is that perhaps because there appears to be some silver elements to the gum in color it does when you don't have the bluing yes and so when the the bluing kind of wears away or kind of Fades away then what's underneath there appears to have some silver color to it yes it gives that impression yes okay now you've already talked about then the appearance of this firearm when it first was presented to you you mentioned that it was in a bucket and still in the water that it had been found in um how do you proceed with that firearm especially one that had been in some sort of water in order to examine it well I got it out of the water rinsed it off as much as I could tried to remove any debris that I I could so I could see if it would function and then quite frankly I covered it with WD-40 to coat the surfaces so I didn't have to worry about rusting right away and then went about my normal collection of information and making notes of what the appearance of the gun what I saw as far as manufacturer serial number that sort of thing and then got it to a point where I could test fire it and it test fired it and that's the end of that turning to the result of your report you have listed here the LA llama model Comanche 2 38 Special revolver when you're referring to this item as a llama model Comanche 2. what does that mean is what I know it as a trade name the manufacturer is something else um it's a long name Lassie or something or other I really don't remember the whole thing it's built in Argentina but um llama is what I know to be called as a trade name and the model is the Comanche 2. so for example if you're talking about a vehicle we heard testimony in this case about a Chevy Impala Chevy Impala would be a trade name of that vehicle but the actual manufacturer would be General Motors is that fair to say yes okay so is that kind of similar to what you've done here where you've listed the trade name the Llama model even though it does come from a different manufacturer though was there or some whatever you said yes okay um and again it as you indicated it had that serial number of 184 998 yes um we've indicated you had to remove any debris and dirt before test firing and when you first would have opened this revolver could you see if there were any either cartridges inside or bullets inside of that all I noted was cartridge cases which is a fired component of a piece of ammunition and how many cartridge cases were inside of that revolver six are you able to determine then the type of ammunition that had been in that firearm based on the cartridges that are left the headstamp provides me the information of the original manufacturing of that ammunition and what did the headstamp indicate in this case I was a Winchester 38 Special plus p cartridge and so you were able to determine then that the ammunition had been fired from this um firearm was 38 Special plus P yes what does the plus p mean extra power so would you have then removed those cartridges in order to test fire the cartridge cases yes okay okay so then once you test fire the what does it mean to test fire a gun first of all well after having collected all the information I'm as I'm looking over the firearm I will look to make sure that it's in a condition that I would consider it safe for me to handle and subsequently test fire that is I'm going to look for cartridges that are in this case from our we have an ammunition collection as well pull 38 Winchester 38 Special plus P cartridges from a box of that same ammunition and use that when I do the test fire we try to testify our like for like if we can um once you test fire the firearm um do you then make those same type of observations with the test fired bullets that you did with the previous bullets that had been provided to you yes and once you do that do you attempt to try to compare the test fired bullets to the other bullets that had been provided what I would have done first is to look at the test fired bullets and look for anything that might have been useful in number one orienting them one to the another and then two looking for points that were allowed would allow me to identify a test Fire To The Unknown in this case the damage to the unknowns was to the point that I would not have been able to make an identification so the bullets from the test fired rounds were you able to observe sort of those General rifling class characteristics on those particular bullets yes I was but not you weren't able to do that necessarily with item 17 and 18 those unknown bullets is that fair to say no that's not what I was fair to say would be I wasn't able to find individual detail on 17 and 18 that would have been would have assisted me in determining whether or not they had been fired from the same gun that just produced those testifiers and what type of factors affect the individual details on bullets initially it's the manufacturing the tooling that goes into cutting the rifling producing the the back Port of we're talking about bullets all right correct okay what cuts the rifling and then from there it would be how is the firearm cared for um has it been cleaned regularly or has it been misused or you know thrown in the river or thrown in water that's going to start affecting uh the surfaces because they're going to rust are there environmental factors that can affect the individual detailing on a bullet yes explain nature in general if a bullet comes in contact with chemicals or just passes through something or into dirt um commonly what I see is something that passes through wood or drywall that those two surfaces if you will tend to damage the bearing surface or the land Impressions and the groove impressions are to the point that it makes it very difficult to identify a bullet back to another to a to a firearm um another chemical portion is if the bullets happen to have passed or been caught up in um human or animal tissue the chemistry of the body acts on the surface of the bullet and can erode or corrode the surfaces to the point of it makes identification difficult if not impossible and in this particular case again when you're talking about the individual details on item 17 and 18. um had you been provided any information that those bullets had been outside for a period of time the being outside would definitely cause corrosion and again if if these particular bullets had also been at one point inside a human body would that have also led to additional corrosion yes that could have affected your ability to see those individual details yes now while you weren't able to make an exact identification in this particular case your report does indicate that the test fire bullets still had similarities with item 17 and 18 is that fair to say yes and what were those similarities the general bullet weight the 17 and 18 were lighter than the one side testified but that's a natural point of things of something passing through and impacting something you'll lose some of the weight the land Impressions the measurements I made the land and groove Impressions were all similar to each other but again this is not the only firearm it could have been given that and that's why I provide you the list on report too so while you can't make an exact identification you also can't rule out this firearm again based on the the similarities you saw with the test-fired bullets and the similarities on the item 17 and 18. that's correct in fact we're the the land and groove impressions and your opinion very similar to the unknown obstruction after the term very similar as vague and ambiguous if he can answer the question one moment sustained please rephrase What similarities did you note you mentioned the weight already did you know additional similarities between the test fired bullets in item 17 and 18. in particular the the width of the land Impressions and the group impressions are very similar well I want to go back quickly then to your first report item number 55 the page number three that first page of the after results that lists out the different types of manufacturers do you see a 38 special last year sa Comanche 2 listed as a potential firearm for the type of General rifling characteristics for that you noted on item 17 and 18. yes it's there now included in this report is several pages a potential firearms regarding nine millimeter lugers is that also fair to say yes it's part of our practice my practice to if it's a 38 caliber I'm going to try and cover everything when I don't have at the time when I created this I did not have a cartridge case to go with it otherwise I could have narrowed it down very quickly and say if I had just a 38 special cartridge case I would not have included nine millimeter in the database search and why not the likelihood if it would have told me that you've got a nine millimeter cartridge case it may have come from that nine millimeter now if I still have any question of it because of the bullet weight because again my experience 38 specials a lot of them are roughly 138 grain weight or 130 grains that's the bullet weight I don't see that a lot in nine millimeter however there is a 124 in which case I probably would have included it anyway the nine millimeter and then specifically from this list here and realizing that this was created before you knew what the cartridge cases were um does this loot list include a nine millimeter SCCY pistol no it doesn't and so again could those bullets have been fired from a nine millimeter SCCY pistol no once you've finished your examination of the revolver what do you do with it pack everything up put it back in the box and seal it and return it to the to the Evan's room and when you return it in this case back to the um container it was in do you include any ammunition or cartridges or anything like that inside of it the unknowns if if in this case because the unknowns were already in the gun I would have included it and I would have included the test fires as well but the gun itself is not actually loaded no okay I didn't leave it loaded may I approach your honor you may I'm showing you what we've marked here is State's exhibit 108. does this appear or do you recognize this item yes I do what is this item this is the uh bucket that the revolver came in to into into the laboratory in and um is this what you would have returned to the firearm to when you were done with your testing that's yes okay and how do you know that this is the same bucket and the same firearm that you would have examined oh I'm looking around and I'm actually I'm seeing my handwriting on some of the seals and I would have put the seals I would not have put a seal on this until I actually opened it well I was but I would have opened it done my work put the lid back on and put the seal on it and so face then on your recognition of the bucket and the fact that you have signed on some of this heel with this the same revolver that we've been talking about here in terms of your examination and items exhibits 54.55 yeah if it's still hiding in here at this time your honor the state would offer exhibit 108 into evidence the witness just said if it's still hiding in here so you probably should open it no um sorry I did not bring scissors myself the reason I made a point is because that's not my seal on there yeah do you mind if I take stand up for a moment you may yeah not a problem [Music] no I'm okay okay go ahead okay you may yeah this is the gun okay go ahead this is the box with my test fires okay and this envelope contains the cartridge cases that I recovered from the gunman first examine so all of that would be then included in this bucket yes okay again I see six envelope or something all right at this time you're honor the state food offers no objection that exhibit will be admitted all right thank you I don't have any further questions Mr Tate uh just so I'm clear you can't tell us to any degree of scientific certainty that the three projectiles you were asked to test were fired from that firearm right that's correct you're not representing that those are 38 Special projectiles or either are you they're consistent with what I have experienced in my time but they could be again from a different particular front nine millimeter or 350s of a magnum it could be from a long that that long list of Manufacturers as well correct fired from as far as fired from a firearm from that long list yes sir and um when you were talking to the state about uh bullet weight things of that nature that's kind of specific to the the ammunition as well correct yes and how many millions of rounds of Winchester plus P38 special do you estimator out there on the market today I have no idea sir it'd be a lot right yes and each one of those is going to have the same bullet weight basically right yes and each one of those is going to have the same grains of powder in them for the most part correct whatever the manufacturer cares to do yes true and they're also going to leave if their manufacturing standards are consistent lands and grooves pretty similar no matter what firearm they're shot from correct yes so um the fact is this is a 38 special plus P Winchester bullet doesn't really help us much in this particular case does it that's not up to me to decide but you didn't draw much inference from the fact that these bullets were Winchester 38 Special plus P did you I wouldn't even have known that I honestly I fired what cartridges that were similar to and the 38 caliber firearm could be 357 38 Special or nine millimeter I think we need to explain to the court exactly how close those calibers are to one another they're minute and difference aren't they yes they are and just exactly how how small is that difference sir oh approximately two one thousandths of an inch okay in fact I get this wrong all the time but the 357 can be shot out of the 38 Special or vice versa vice versa Okay so uh if I have a 38 special I can shoot 357 through it right or they get it wrong again do you get it backwards okay so um let me help you out for a moment the 357 Magnum is physically longer than the 38 Special if you remember it like that you know that the 38 Special can be fired in of 357. but not the other way around thank you now you talked about this this particular firearm and the trade name llama llamas sold a lot of firearms in the United States right yes and when you buy a llama firearm they stamp their name right on it right they may yeah it's not particularly a high end firearm correct that is my experience yes okay um you inspected this firearm and got the serial number on it and wrote it down right yes but you're looking for the trade name on there no I I don't remember seeing it on there I was actually looking at my notes and I didn't have it in my notes okay so my practice in that case would have been to do an internet search based on the um model name and that's where llama came up because in evidence already is the fact that on the barrel is the name lacer is lesser the manufacturer of that firearm that's my understanding yes sir because that list you provided an exhibit I believe 55 um lesser makes a Comanche too that llama makes a Comanche 3. right yes there is a difference there what's the difference as my understanding the Comanche 2 is a 38 special specific to fire the cylinder that chambers within the cylinder will only handle a 38 special cartridge that's Comanche 3 is a one that's the cylinder is large enough to hold and withstand the pressures from a 357 Magnum so there is a difference between a llama and a laser in this particular circumstance I couldn't tell you what it is um but your testimony is after physically examining the firearm you couldn't tell the manufacturer or the trade name oh I can tell you what the manufacturer was the trade name I got from the internet search okay but looking at the firearm without going to the internet you could tell me the manufacturer yes okay and that was lesser yes um and you were given three fired projectiles but there had been six fired from that firearm that's your testimony well there were six fired casings right um the indentations on the primer from the firing pin can that tell us anything about this particular firearm if there's a firing pin impression you know on a primer it will usually fire the cartridge but can you then look at that cartridge and then do a test fire and compare the cartridges to say these two cartridges were fired from the same firearm yes did you do that here no thank you I have nothing further why not I found the cartridge casings in the gun I didn't have any reason to believe they hadn't been fired in that gun it typically do people put fired casings into a revolver or leftover cartridge cases into a revolver I can only speak to myself and the answer to that is no hey approached that Elmo I'm showing you here we have a state's exhibits 20 -8 I'm going to zoom in here this appears to be one of the markings on this firearm are you able to read what that says yes and what is one of what does it say it was a Comanche too the states exhibit 20-10 what are we looking at here that would be with the location of the serial number and the that's the serial number that I would have written down then this is State's exhibit 20-11 what is written there on the side of the gun that's the manufacturer and that again is that that s a something else that's written there as well yes and then showing you State's exhibits 20. 13 what are we looking at there that is the edges of two of the uh cartridges inside of a their own individual Chambers in a cylinder and are you able to deter see there what type of cartridges those are well I can see enough information to say they're probably Winchester I see 38 and S looks like an SP on the lower one but the cylinder shroud at the back here blocks the rest of it so if I'm understanding your testimony correctly this particular fire firearm the Comanche 38 Special revolver cannot fire 357 cartridges if it would be able to chamber one it could probably fire it but in my practice is to actually use a cartridge since it was a marked 38 special I will take a 30 357 Magnum cartridge and inserted in the chamber and see if I can actually close the chain and close the cylinder up into the gun it's easy enough to tell for me to tell whether or not I'll be able to because if that the bullet tip is protruding from the chamber you know outside the cylinder itself it's not going to be able to close because the the gap between the the cylinder and the forcing cone where the bullet first passes into the barrel is too small so if they're if it's sticking out I can't you're not going to be able to fire it in there go ahead wrap it up closely and can a 38 Special revolver fire nine millimeter lugers I believe you could probably use a what's it called a half moon or full moon clip and and fire one in there so it's possible but you're not really sure it would depend on the specific type of bullet well a nine millimeter cartridge is not meant to sit in a revolver it's meant to be used because of the design of the cartridge case itself it's meant to be fired in it a semi-auto or a single shot and so typically then a 38 Special revolver is going to use 38 ammunition you would think so and that's what you found when you opened up the revolver and saw the cartridge cases yes um and then the bullets that were provided to you were consistent with the weight and land and groove impressions of the test-fired bullets that you used that were also 38 specials correct yes all right no further questions you may step down thank you at this time we'll take our afternoon break we'll reconvene and approximately 325 330. thank you thank you your honor um just to make a record we are at that juncture in the state's case in Chief where we're going to be presenting um a testimony related to Jared Brink as the court is aware Mr Brink died of a massive heart attack in June of this year he was deposed in May these are issues that we had discussed in pre-trial matters and so um at this juncture we are going to put on testimony that was provided by Mr Brink during a deposition that was conducted in May of this year we have investigator Billy Thomas who will play the role of Jared Brink than once we conclude with his deposition testimony the state within called detective Sean Johnson who the parties had agreed they would want his interview also introduced into evidence for completeness of the record thank you Mr Freeze she's correct thank you thank you Thomas um I would swear you in that you are going to uh correctly read the deposition as it has been transcribed I do thank you this Cunningham for the purposes of our record I would inquire whether the deposition will be introduced as an exhibit if it is then that would relieve my court reporter of the obligation to transcribe the testimony as it is presented in court your honor we have marked at a state's exhibit number 49 thank you for bringing that to my attention and so the state would move to introduce States exhibit 49 into the record and that would reflect the deposition of Jared Brink taken before Jane Fitzgerald a certified shorthand reporter at the Scott County Attorney's office at 11 15 a.m on May 8th of 2023. I have no objection to that all right the exhibit 49 will be admitted Senior Honor for the record we're going to read us into the record verbatims I took the deposition so I'll be reading first thank you you may proceed thank you state your name please Jared Brink Mr Brink my name is Chad freeze I represent Mr Dinkins this is Mr Waters he also represents Mr Dinkins have you ever had your deposition taken before no have you ever testified before no okay nothing tricky going on here okay I had to think about it but no I've never testified good for you the purpose of this is to just get some information about what you know about the case a little information about you I'm not trying to pry but I do need to know some basic information about because we're set for a jury trial and one of the things we ask we have to ask the jurors is if they know Witnesses and of course that would be you at some point and just to get an idea of what your knowledge is and get a story from you under oath okay so the first thing I want to talk to you about is some ground rules first one is that you are under oath you understand that yes and the oath you took today is no different than the oath you take from a judge in front of a jury or in front of a judge for a court hearing okay it's the same one it has the same Force the same effect okay you understand yes that brings us to rule number two we aren't recording anything here with the video camera or a digital tape recorder anything like that everything is done by the ladies sitting here to my right so she's actually typing down everything we say so you know in a few weeks she'll kick back to me a transcript of everything we say and she can't do that if we're doing head nods head shakes or using words that we do every day like uh-huh or uh I do that to her every time so I make her type out something so the answers here have to be audible okay correct very well the final thing really is that it's really important that she makes a good record for us as she can that's totally dependent upon how you and I communicate and I'm as guilty of this as anyone who sits in that chair when we have conversations we aren't always the best at letting someone finish and then start our answer sometimes we want to get that answer in as soon as we can or start the next question before you've totally answered that's just the nature of conversation we have to refrain from that here because although she's the best at what she does she can't take down two people talking at once so please let me finish my question and then answer and I'll try to afford you the same respect okay correct very good I'll try to do my best there is no wrong answer okay only if you guess I don't want you to guess at my question if you don't understand it tell me you don't understand and ask me to rephrase okay I'm not trying to trick you here I'm just trying to get information so if I ask you a question that's a bad question that you don't get that's unclear and I do that because sometimes I get ahead of myself and I'm thinking two or three questions ahead that the one I just asked is absolutely horrible just tell me I don't understand and I'll reconfigure it into a question that you can but don't guess because then we get in all kinds of trouble okay okay how old are you sir 48 okay had to think about that my wife told me I was going to be 49 so I keep that in my head she wants you to be older evidently you don't need to tell me your address but generally where do you live Northeast of DeWitt and you keep your address current with the county attorney so if I need to get a hold of you correct I can go through them okay agreed yeah what do you do for a living shop supervisor at Linwood mining how long have you worked there five years and you're married correct what's your wife's name Jessica do you have children yes how many two and they you're 48. are you talking about high schoolers or college age one just graduated high school the other one is in elementary so you're getting into the expensive years she's pretty self-sufficient okay do you understand why you're here today yes what's your understanding for being a witness as to what pulling a gentleman out of the ditch so you live up in the DeWitt area and there was a period of time where I understand you were going to work one morning right correct if somebody was in the ditch yes walk me through what was going on that morning what's your typical morning what's going on how do you encounter this person in the ditch it was about 4 30 in the morning I came off a gravel road behind kunau Implement and got on Highway 61 South and then after three quarters of a mile there was someone on the side of the road or on the white line on the left hand lane of the southbound so on the passing Lane yes heading Southbound on 61 yes there was a vehicle no a person a person okay describe that person for me black man wearing white shorts White shoes Okay describe his physical features was a tall short heavy set thin similar to my height how height what's your height six two about six foot little heavier build than me okay I mean 250 260. this is 4 30 in the morning real close and this guy is just walking down the highway no he jumped out in the lane in front of me okay what did he do I stopped the truck good thing I was paying attention or else could have had an accident sure he come up to the driver window and asked me to pull him out of the ditch all right so you're pretty close to this guy oh yeah I mean you rolled your window down he comes up to the driver's side window correct did you notice anything about his face could you describe his face for me black man was he wearing glasses I don't recall them he had a mole right here you say right here you're pointing to your left cheek oh I'm sorry right here right cheek yeah okay how about you can't recall glasses right no any facial hair I don't really recall was it light out at this point in time no it was dark what time of year was this I don't recall did you know notice anything about his teeth anything about his teeth that stuck out to you nothing how long did you talk to him alongside the road there 20 seconds so he asked you to pull him out right yeah what'd you do I said go ahead and hop in okay then he drove down the road probably another then we drove down the road probably another half a mile and there was a turnaround in between the lanes and I took that and he directed me back she drove back 61 North 61 North got off at kunau Implement got off at the implement store there yeah turned right okay took a right and then you were going east east then on the Old Highway on on the Old Highway that kind of goes in front of kunau yeah what did you do then then we went down the gravel road by the Old Quarry there is an Old Quarry down there by the yes okay is that where the car was yes down by the Quarry or is it on the gravel road gravel road not quite right at the beginning of the Quarry okay this Quarry you talk about to get down to the Quarry you kind of have to go down a deep or steep little no we were on the Gravel Road but to get there you have to go down a steep little driveway right further down the road so you were back from that we were towards the highway from that okay and kind of across from the driveway to get down into the Quarry there's kind of like some I'm going to call it junk yeah construction Junk and Stuff concrete dirt and stuff yeah were you near that we were to the south side of that just to the very south side of it what kind of car was this maroon Malibu did you see any plates on it don't recall how was the car positioned which direction was it pointed it was on the west side of the road Facing East the back end was facing west towards the kunau implement the front was Facing East okay and was it in the ditch or just off the shoulder a little ways no I was sitting perpendic perpendicular to the road like he was doing a three-point turnaround okay I know the right rear tire fell off into the ditch and that's why he couldn't pull pull up the front tires were dug down in the gravel road a little bit how did you get him out I had a chain in the back of my pickup I was lucky it was a four foot chain I crawled underneath the front of his car hooked it up to the cross member and drove my truck and it just come out easy so when you jerked him out real quick you would hook the chains and drove away uh-huh yes yes did you ever get the guy's name no was there anybody with the guy no could you see inside his car yes there wasn't a child with him no and was this time of day this is your usual shift like five o'clock AM somewhere around there I'm a supervisor so I come and go as I see fit was this Springtime summer fall I thought it was odd to be wearing shorts it was cooler that day I don't remember the time frame and you said Malibu yes did you see the color of the interior it had bucket seats with a console shifter okay and a tan with maybe some black highlights in the seat a tan like a light tan or dark light tan lighter tan did you notice any type of bumper stickers or stickers in the window or anything no I was only by the car for maybe a minute minute and a half that included pulling pulling him out pretty easy pull out it sounds like no yeah three people could have pushed it out so after you pulled it out did you have a conversation with the guy did he say thank you and stuff or offer you any money he was very appreciative and more than once he offered me a hundred dollars and I didn't accept it I just said do something nice for somebody else and went on my way have you ever seen this guy before no have you ever seen him since no how did you become involved how did you then become involved in this particular case it was after they found the body okay I was at a friend's house having a beer and that's when he said they found a body and we were talking about it and I just said to him is what's weird about that is that I pulled a guy out of the ditch there about a year ago around that area okay so you saw a picture no you just said you pulled a guy out a guy out he asked me what kind of a car it was and I remembered what kind of car it was he had his wife send me a picture of the flyer that was posted around town or whatever and that's when I decided I had to call the police department so the car looks similar identical pardon me identical did anybody ever have you look at a photograph or a photographic array and try to identify the person who was with the car I can't recall so no one had you look at a picture and say is this the guy I can't recall no but you recall it being a cool day right it seemed cool for shorts that's all I have Mr Brink what time did your shift start at your employment at that time I was going in at 5am okay and then so when you leave your house what do you need by way of drive time 35 40 minutes all right so it's probably closer to 415 420. all right so 4 15 4 20 in the morning at that point in time was it dark out yes were you up to the car where you could actually see inside and verify that there was not another individual inside the car itself yes okay I walked from the front of the car down the right side to see how it was stuck in the ditch okay and I seen the right rear wheel was dropped off and then I walked back up beside my car now during your testimony you indicated that you'd observed something on the individual's cheek and had pointed toward the nose I missed what you had said what had you described just a facial blemish okay all right so the subject that you were dealing with race black sex male and then with the facial blemish that you described where was it located on the right side of his nose and then additionally as far as how you describe this individual's physical build how would you describe his physical build so six foot tall 250. okay and when you were speaking with law enforcement do you recall telling them that you didn't remember him being that bigly built but they had did have a big frame yes now during your discussions with law enforcement did they ask you whether or not you would be able to pick him out of a photo lineup and you indicated that you didn't know if you would be able to do that yeah I don't I don't remember that part of the conversation and I've got a report here of your interview with the officer I don't know if it would help you if you would want to review that real quickly that we way we could definitively put that issue to rest I don't have my cheaters oh you don't have your cheaters okay so I will do this he is 48. yeah yeah 45 it went downhill bad all right and the time frame then that you would have had contact with this individual would that have been about what time that morning right about 4 20 4 15 and 430 somewhere now you gave a very specific description of clothing do you recall telling the detective that you remember him wearing some type of white denim shorts and you were asked if there was any design on them and you stated you could see there was some blue design on the shorts like they were screen printed does this sound familiar yes and then there was some discussion about a shirt that he was wearing and you described as a darker t-shirt does that sound familiar I think during that interview I said I could not remember the shirt he was wearing sure I think that's what I started at that time all right and then did you describe him wearing some jewelry but nothing really flashy I think I said he was wearing a necklace all right I think I stated that then then let me get to the point where you had the discussions about your ability to be able to identify him during the interview did detective Johnson ask you if you were to see this guy again would you be able to pick him out and you stated you didn't know your response is if you put two pictures of them there he isn't sure if he'd be able to pick him out Jared you stated if you put six of them there you still um he still doesn't know you did acknowledge that you observed a flyer with a blackmail on it prior to coming to the station to speak with him but the officer didn't present those to you for purposes of doing a lineup would that be fair yes all right and then I know finally the last topic of conversation during the interview had the detective shown you an image that had been captured from a quick um shot video at about 3 30 a.m on July 10th of 2020. yes and when you were shown that image what did you advise detective Johnson I said that's the shirt he was wearing okay all right and was it the shirt or the shorts that you told him that the guy was wearing no I was very pleased my memories served me correctly because I called the shorts out perfectly okay so did you call the shorts out perfectly yes perfectly yes and what you saw on that and that's why I couldn't remember the shirt all right absolutely and then do you also remember telling the detective that you didn't remember her being that bigly built but he did have a big frame yes I have no further questions thank you thank you the state calls detective Sean Johnson foreign do you sort of tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth I hear you please state your name for the record Shawn Johnson could you please spill both your first and your last name s-e-a-n-j-o-h-n-s-o-n where are you employed City of Davenport how long have you been employed with the Davenport Police Department approximately nine and a half years could you describe your prior educational background in any training that you've received for the position you feel I have a master's degree in criminal justice from St Ambrose University and I graduated graduated the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy a 14-week program out in Johnston Iowa once you completed um at that training did you start your career with the Davenport Police Department yes I did detective Johnson can you describe for us the different capacities that you've worked for the Davenport Police Department I first started out as a patrol officer and a sworn evidence Tech then I was promoted to the detective Bureau where I worked I've worked five years in Special Victims Unit and then about a nine month Span in property crimes okay what was your assignment in July of 2020. I was working in property crimes at the time were you on duty on July 10th of 2020 when the initial report came in Brie Asia Terrell missing yes I was and were you involved in a lot of aspects of the investigation as it was developing yes I was all right we're going to be more targeted as to topics of discussion that I think we really want to focus on but during those initial stages let me ask you this were you tasked with um completing various applications for search warrants as the day played out on July 10th of 2020. yes I was um and as the investigation was ongoing did you continue in that role where you completed various applications for search warrants yes I did okay um as to those applications for search warrants at some point in time on July 10th did you prepare um well no let me ask you this at some point in time did you prepare a search warrant um yeah on July 14th of 2020 involving the maroon Chevy Impala yes I did your honor May the record reflect that I'm showing Council what's been marked as State's exhibit 150-1 they had culture honor you may I'm handing you what's been marked that states exhibit 150-1 do you recognize citizens of the 150-1 yes I do how do you recognize State's exhibit 150-1 this is the one of the search warrants I wrote for the maroon Chevy Impala okay on what date was this much more prepared July 14th of what year 2020 sorry whose name appears as the officer preparing this application mine does okay what is the location um to be searched the 2007 maroon Chevy Impala all right and then relative to that application for search warrant What specifically were you interested in trying to collect at that time uh DNA evidence blood and bio biological evidence and then collection of any and all forensic evidence okay now just for purposes of perspective did the FBI actually become involved in this investigation yes I did okay and then did they respond to the Davenport area on or about July 14th of 2020 to process three vehicles that had been seized associated with the defendant yes they did and then so had they applied for their own search warrant which they utilized to go in and process all three vehicles I believe we wrote those search warrants yes oh you believe you wrote those search warrants and then so then was this the search warrant that they would have utilized that would have allowed them access to that Chevy Impala I believe so okay thank you now what I want to do is I want to go to attachment a is there an attachment a within this exhibit yes there is very simply for a record what does attachment a Encompass uh it's the affidavit for the search warrant okay we're interested in whether or not you had included within your attachment a um any observations noted by officers or an officer of the Davenport Police Department who had some initial contact with a vehicle on July 10th when it had been seized and brought down to the evidence Bay of the Davenport Police Department to be photographed by civilian crime scene technician Jill Foster yes are you familiar with what I'm talking about yes I am could you speak to that issue as I was writing as we're investigating this case I believe I was writing a search warrant when detective Beth Tharp came up to me and stated that she was just down by the vehicle and they were doing a curse research during that curse research the trunk was opened and she said that she got a smell of bleach coming from the trunk by virtue of that statement to you did you then incorporate that information into attachment a as a portion of the basis to establish probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant yes I did all right and then attached there too is there the search warrant that was presented to a judge and signed and approved for the execution of that vehicle yeah yes you're on at this time the state would move to introduce States exhibit 150-1 that objectives hearsay is redundant and cumulative the objections detective Johnson I want to then fast forward into two events of March 22nd of 2021. um were you aware of the discovery of the remains of riasia Terrell yes I was how did you become aware of that I received a phone call I believe that night asking me to be out of the kunau area the next morning to do scene security because of remains that were found in the area okay then did you respond out to that location on March 23rd of 2021 yes were you present then throughout the day as that area was processed and skeletal remains were recovered yes I was all right um by virtue of the development of that circumstance were there news stories that were going out over TV or even social media platforms identifying what had developed out there at kunau Implement I believe so yes okay now because of that then were you I'm tasked with interviewing a gentleman that had reached out to the Davenport Police Department with information that he felt was relevant to provide concerning that area where the body was recovered yes explain we actually got information from a major Cundiff of the Clinton County Sheriff's Department who said that he had someone contact him in regards to information that might be pertinent to the investigation of brieza Trail a major conduff was able to give us that his name and information phone number who was later identified as Jared Brink I contacted Mr Brink via phone and set up an interview for him that day did Mr Brink then come down to the Davenport Police Department to be interviewed yes he did do you know what date Mr Brink was interviewed at the Davenport Police Department it would have been March 23rd or March 24th give me a second I can confirm that sure would it help to refresh a recollection by revealing a narrative that you prepared of that interview yeah could you please well your honor May the witness do so amen the exact date was March 24th and then what time did that interview start I happened around 10 o'clock in the morning okay where did that interview take place the Davenport Police Department where specifically within the department it happened in a one of our criminal investigation division interview rooms on the second floor of the PD okay are the interview rooms at the Davenport Police Department equipment yes they are okay and whenever an individual is interviewed within those rooms is that interview recorded yes it is in this particular instance when you met with Mr Brink was there a recording made of your conversation with Mr Brink yes there was have you had an opportunity to review that recording yes is that recording and a completely accurate well I guess complete and accurate as to the topics of conversations that you had with Mr Brink yes it is all right so let's just set forth a structure for the interview and then once we've done that we'll turn to the video itself but explain to us how it was structured uh I asked Mr Brink to start off and tell me everything that he remembers from the day in question what do you use that or talk about he ran through everything that he could remember and then I began asking general questions more detailed questions about uh things that he did and where he went and uh stuff like that okay um does Mr Brink live in an area near kunau Implement yeah I believe it would be to the northeast of where kuna was all right let me direct your attention if I could the state's exhibit 38 . thank you are you familiar with States exhibit 38 yes as you look at that geographical map do you see the location of where Kunal Implement is located yes I do could you take the pointer and show us where on that particular exhibit it's located foreign and then detective Johnson in your conversations with Jared Brink what was your understanding of where his residence would have been located relative to that area it would have been further up to the north and east of here so probably somewhere I've been not pictured on this map certainly thank you go ahead and take your seat in the course of your conversations with Mr Brink was there a discussion with him about where he was employed uh yes there was all right now I'll give you a moment it looks like things fell off where was Mr Brink employed Lynnwood mining here in Davenport are you familiar with that particular entity yes I am okay what community is Lynnwood mining actually located in I believe it's in the border of Southwest Davenport in Buffalo Iowa all right as we look at that map then can you give us um or show us where on the map Buffalo Iowa is at yes all right go ahead and take your seat was there a discussion with Mr Brink about what highway he would take um to travel into Scott County he said he would take the four-lane South uh which is commonly known as Highway 61. all right and then if you come South on Highway 61 what would be the most obvious route of travel that an individual would take to get down there to the area of Buffalo where Linwood mining is located uh probably 80 to 280 and then back down to 61 to get down to Illinois mining all right and then if you're traveling on 61 going south will that also take you down to the area of River Drive yes it would all right did you have an understanding of what time he would have to be at work yes I did and what time Jared said that he usually asked me to work around five o'clock in the morning and so then by virtue of that is there going to be a bit of a drive time from where he lived to get down to Lynnwood mine yes there is all right and what was your understanding of typically how much um what time he would leave his home Jared stated it was around 4 30 in the morning every morning all right and so was that the path of travel that he would always take yes okay by a virtue of his traveling south on Highway 61 then was there a discussion of him having an encounter with an individual yes there was how was that individual physically described he stayed them as a bigly big stocky black male all right and then in the course of conversations that you had with him did he describe a particular article of clothing yes the shorts all right was his description relative to shorts that that subject was wearing something then um that resonated with you based on other video surveillance footage or still images that had been collected that you had seen yes I did all right and then would you have taken a still image that had been collected from video surveillance footage and showed to him yes I did all right and we'll talk about that and then relative to that description and did he describe with you what occurred during his contact with this black male subject yeah he did and very simply what was the nature of the discussion um that he the black male stopped him he was stuck in a ditch and asked Jared if he'd be able to pull him out of the ditch okay Matt did you talk with Mr Brink about the location where this subject had a vehicle that was stuck yes I did okay did that bear any relation to the location of where Raja Terrell's remains were found very much so explain uh the location of where the car was stuck at was approximately 75 to 100 yards south of the entrance to the pond behind Kunal Implement okay during those discussions then did you generate any type of aerial images of that area and have him mark on those images the location of where the septic's vehicle was stuck at yes I did and then did he provide you a description of that vehicle yes he did and what was the description of the vehicle that was provided he said it was a maroon Impala that was very clean inside it had tannish interior and he did make a make a note of a white aux cord that was plugged into the cigarette lighter okay did he also explain to you what had prompted him to reach out to law enforcement yes he did and basically what's the nature of the discussion that we're going to hear about there it was a conversation that he had with a friend of his um about telling him about pulling a guy out of that ditch area where the remains were found okay does the name Joseph Adams sound familiar to you yes it does how I believe that is the subject who Mr Brink was talking with okay and what was it during the nature of his contact with Joseph Adams that prompted this conversation I believe the news article is about finding the body down there and then Mr Brink was a belief showing a flyer of the maroon Impala okay one additional question that I want to ask about you about before we watch this video did Mr Brink describe for you anything that he noted as far as a feature on the face of the black male subject he had helped I believe so yes all right and is that something that we will hear about in the video I believe so yes Joanna made the record reflect that I'm showing counsel it's remarked estate since it 123. and your honor for purposes of the record there is downtime but before the officer comes in and meets with Jared Bree and then detective Johnson will leave and go get some items and come back in and then he takes the phone and he leaves and he comes back comes back in so for purposes of our record we're just going to focus on the time where those War where there were those conversations and here's what we have for a time stamp will start at 27 minutes and play to 46 minutes and 22 seconds we'll start at 59 minutes and 24 seconds and play until one hour and five minutes and then we will start back up at one hour and nine minutes and we'll play until one hour and 10 minutes let's go judge we won't have enough time today so it probably is a good time to break that's what I was wondering Miss Cunningham and I apologize for that um and I believe you all know but I'm very cognizant yes of all of the people that helped me through the trial and they um you know oftentimes have commitments outside the hours of the courthouse and I do believe based on the timing of this it would be best to start this up at tomorrow morning at nine o'clock thank you your honor can I just continue to complete the laying of the foundation and make it break thank you all right detective Johnson I placed an exhibit out there before you what is the exhibit number again the exhibit number is 487. oh no no no uh the state exhibit oh sorry 123. all right do you recognize State's exhibit number 123 yes I do how do you recognize States exhibit 123. uh this would be the DVD from my interview with Jared Brink okay you're honored time the state will move to introduce States exhibit 123. okay exhibit 123 will be admitted and we're being in German until nine o'clock tomorrow morning thank you your honor foreign

Channel: WQAD News 8

Views: 85,608

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Id: UY8cuiVrPKA

Length: 440min 13sec (26413 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 23 2023