BARTOW, Fla. — During Day Seven of the Cheyanne Jessie double murder trial, jurors heard from a DNA analyst, the lead detective who investigated the murders, and a detective who analyzed the phones in evidence. They also heard the 911 call where the defendant reported her father and daughter missing.
- Cheyanne Jessie accused of killing daughter, father in 2015
- Jurors will see video of detectives interviewing Jessie in 2015 on Friday
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“They sent me a text saying they were going to Georgia. I don’t know where they’re at," jurors heard Jessie say to the 911 dispatcher during the recorded call. "They haven’t called me or contact me at all.”
Lead detective Jeff Clark with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office testified that he responded to Jessie’s father’s house the night of the 911 call and interviewed Jessie early the following morning for four hours. He conducted that interview while search warrants were being conducted on the property.
The detective said investigators found both Jessie’s father’s body and her daughter Meredith's body in a neighbor’s shed.
“Inside the utility shed there had been two utility totes, one stacked on top of each other. The top one had what appeared to be a male adult in a state of decomposition and the lower one had what appeared to be a child in an extensive state of decomposition,” said Clark.
DNA analyst Evelyn Bigord then testified that she found DNA from both victims on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Meredith’s blood was found on tennis shoes, gloves, and a pistol.
Clark told jurors these items were found at Jessie’s boyfriend’s parent’s property, some of them months after the bodies were found.
While jurors heard from these witnesses to the case, Jessie kept her head down, writing notes.
On Friday, jurors will hear more from the detective who analyzed phones collected as evidence. In the afternoon, jurors will watch a recording of the four-hour interview with Jessie that Clark referenced in his testimony.
The trial is expected to end the week of July 15.