First We'll Kill My Husband by Lyn Riddle

Author:Lyn Riddle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2012-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

The jury came back in and Bennett described the crime scene.

“After the photographic documentation was made of the body in the position that it was in, I had donned protective clothing to enter the scene without contaminating the area. At that point, I was able to make a closer external examination. The victim was found to be resting upon his knees, bent at the waist, with his head and shoulders leaning forward.

“Both hands were drawn up and underneath the victim’s chest and were unobserved at that time. The victim’s head was leaning forward with his forehead resting upon the ground. The right side of the victim’s neck and the side of his face was—the tissue was gone and a lot of this looked like it was due to what we call ‘insect and animal intervention,’ which wounds or open areas generally attract the scavengers of the woods more prominentlyto those areas. The jacket and shirt was pulled up slightly, exposing part of the back, and other than that, that’s, basically, the way the victim appeared.”

Hutchinson played the police videotape as jurors watched intently.

When the tape finished, Bennett described that he conducted an external examination of the victim to see if he could tell how the man died.

“With the darkness setting in of the evening, it was a little difficult to get a clear view of the whole body. So we proceeded—we removed a wallet from the victim’s right hip pocket and I turned that over to the police at the scene in hopes that we would be able to get a positive ID, or identification,of who the victim was at that time.”

“Did you see any identifying information inside of that wallet, sir?”

“Yes, sir, there was. There was cards, video cards, letters—or notes, driver’s license, and these items that were in there was—they had been tucked way inside the wallet.”

“Let me show you what’s been marked for the purpose of identification, sir, as state’s exhibit number thirty-five and ask if you can identify that.”

“This appears to be the wallet that I removed from the victim’s right hip pocket. It’s black nylon with the number three on it. I guess it’s Dale Earnhardt,if you’re a race fan.”

“Is it in substantially the same condition now as it was at the time you found it on the body of the victim?”

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“Investigator Bennett, looking into the wallet, sir, whose identifying information is contained within that wallet?”

“Primarily, the key piece here was the victim’s driver’s license identifying him as Douglas M. Gissendaner, with the address and date of birth and a photo ID.”

Hutchinson wanted the jury to hear all the grisly details of Doug’s death. He wanted to drive home the point that not only was he murdered, but his body was left in the woods, exposed to the elements and to every living thing in the woods for days.

“A moment ago, sir, in describing the conditionof the body at the time that you found it, you mentioned the term ‘animal intervention.’ What is that?” Hutchinson asked.

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