Testimony Describes Chaotic Crime Scene
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON -- A crime scene in disarray, missing evidence and conflicting testimony were what jurors heard Wednesday when they settled in for day three of the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murder case.
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON -- A crime scene in disarray, missing evidence and conflicting testimony were what jurors heard Wednesday when they settled in for day three of the infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murder case.
Romeo Pinkerton’s defense team of Jeff Haas and David Griffith continued planting a seed of doubt Wednesday when, during cross-examination, a crime scene specialist said a substance on a shelf located in the Kilgore KFC did not especially interest him.
The state prosecution team, led by Texas Attorney General prosecutor Lisa Tanner, contends a blood-splattered receipt tape box sat on the shelf. Blood the prosecution says holds DNA proof that Pinkerton and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield abducted and killed Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Their bodies were found Sept. 24, 1983 in a rural Rusk County oilfield. Each had been shot at least twice — “execution style.”
Doug Collard, former Tyler Police Department Crime Unit team leader, said that when he arrived at the KFC in Kilgore, he found a scene he almost refused to work.
“I saw fingerprint dust. I learned evidence had been removed from the scene, and there were so many footprints that we were either dealing with 15 suspects or everybody that came to the scene walked in the restaurant,” he said. “I almost cancelled us and turned around and walked away, but I went ahead and worked it,” he said.
Collard said he took pictures of a stain under the front counter of the business, but he didn’t think it was blood.
Tanner asked if he knew it wasn’t blood or, because the collection of blood in 1983 played no vital role in crime scene investigation, he skipped the process.
“I don’t know if it was blood,” he said.
Griffith asked Collard about the stain again and why he didn’t collect samples.
“Let’s put it this way. Something turned me off of it and I wasn’t interested in it,” Collard said.
The longtime police officer also testified he never saw a bloody napkin or a blood-covered box in the KFC.
Former Kilgore Police Detective Danny Pirtle testified earlier in the morning that he surveyed the crime scene and never saw a napkin or a box, but that he had picked up other evidence to be processed about 3 a.m. the morning after the victims were reported missing.
Pirtle also testified that a breakdown in communications with all of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation hurt the case from the beginning.
“Someone had to take control, so that is why I took it upon myself to do what I did,” Pirtle answered.
And one thing he did was to create a separate evidence log and locker for the KFC case. Pirtle said the locker remained intact until he left the Kilgore Police Department in 1991.
Haas asked if he knew if the evidence was still in the locker.
“It has come to my attention that all of the evidence files and logs have been moved, and no one has been able to find it to my knowledge,” Pirtle said.
Tanner called Star Spagano to testify that she and a former husband dined at the KFC the evening of the murders and she overheard a conversation about a large amount of money in the store. She also said she saw two black men in the restaurant in line and that she saw them walk in the direction of a white van parked in the parking lot.
Ms. Spagano told the jury she called her brother, a former police officer, to tell him what she saw that night after she learned of the murders.
She testified that a man identifying himself as Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott came to her house and showed her some photos of three black males and three white males to see if she recognized anyone. She picked out Pinkerton and Hartsfield.
Haas and Griffith questioned whether her testimony Wednesday conflicted with statements in 2004 in regard to when she was shown the photos and when she told Elliott the people she saw was African-American.
Haas told Ms. Spagano, “I hate to keep bringing this up, but I think this shows some problems with memory.”
Tanner rebuffed the memory jab by asking if it had been a long time since Ms. Spagano had seen the two men in the KFC.
“Yes it has,” came the short reply.
Elliott is scheduled to take the stand Thursday morning when the trial resumes at 9 a.m in the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston.
The state prosecution team, led by Texas Attorney General prosecutor Lisa Tanner, contends a blood-splattered receipt tape box sat on the shelf. Blood the prosecution says holds DNA proof that Pinkerton and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield abducted and killed Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Their bodies were found Sept. 24, 1983 in a rural Rusk County oilfield. Each had been shot at least twice — “execution style.”
Doug Collard, former Tyler Police Department Crime Unit team leader, said that when he arrived at the KFC in Kilgore, he found a scene he almost refused to work.
“I saw fingerprint dust. I learned evidence had been removed from the scene, and there were so many footprints that we were either dealing with 15 suspects or everybody that came to the scene walked in the restaurant,” he said. “I almost cancelled us and turned around and walked away, but I went ahead and worked it,” he said.
Collard said he took pictures of a stain under the front counter of the business, but he didn’t think it was blood.
Tanner asked if he knew it wasn’t blood or, because the collection of blood in 1983 played no vital role in crime scene investigation, he skipped the process.
“I don’t know if it was blood,” he said.
Griffith asked Collard about the stain again and why he didn’t collect samples.
“Let’s put it this way. Something turned me off of it and I wasn’t interested in it,” Collard said.
The longtime police officer also testified he never saw a bloody napkin or a blood-covered box in the KFC.
Former Kilgore Police Detective Danny Pirtle testified earlier in the morning that he surveyed the crime scene and never saw a napkin or a box, but that he had picked up other evidence to be processed about 3 a.m. the morning after the victims were reported missing.
Pirtle also testified that a breakdown in communications with all of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation hurt the case from the beginning.
“Someone had to take control, so that is why I took it upon myself to do what I did,” Pirtle answered.
And one thing he did was to create a separate evidence log and locker for the KFC case. Pirtle said the locker remained intact until he left the Kilgore Police Department in 1991.
Haas asked if he knew if the evidence was still in the locker.
“It has come to my attention that all of the evidence files and logs have been moved, and no one has been able to find it to my knowledge,” Pirtle said.
Tanner called Star Spagano to testify that she and a former husband dined at the KFC the evening of the murders and she overheard a conversation about a large amount of money in the store. She also said she saw two black men in the restaurant in line and that she saw them walk in the direction of a white van parked in the parking lot.
Ms. Spagano told the jury she called her brother, a former police officer, to tell him what she saw that night after she learned of the murders.
She testified that a man identifying himself as Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott came to her house and showed her some photos of three black males and three white males to see if she recognized anyone. She picked out Pinkerton and Hartsfield.
Haas and Griffith questioned whether her testimony Wednesday conflicted with statements in 2004 in regard to when she was shown the photos and when she told Elliott the people she saw was African-American.
Haas told Ms. Spagano, “I hate to keep bringing this up, but I think this shows some problems with memory.”
Tanner rebuffed the memory jab by asking if it had been a long time since Ms. Spagano had seen the two men in the KFC.
“Yes it has,” came the short reply.
Elliott is scheduled to take the stand Thursday morning when the trial resumes at 9 a.m in the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston.
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