GUILTY GA - Eight family members brutally murdered in Brunswick home, 29 Aug 2009

[Soulmagent]

I was giving some background- not making excuses or pointing fingers. The backlogs at GBI, FBI and contracted labs are well publicized and documented online.

I posted that because of the statements in court today about how many pieces of evidence they did not submit and the direct comment about "not being overwhelmed " on one court date when they where not handing over discovery verses the "at times overwhelming " in court today when talking about deciding what evidence to collect ,not test ,but just secure .

Also ,did LE really throw away stuff from the bathroom floor? I thought if they didn't take it ,they left it . So did LE throw away items taken and really put items in the trash?

 

[momrids6]

RSBM:
the direct comment about "not being overwhelmed " on one court date when they where not handing over discovery verses the "at times overwhelming " in court today when talking about deciding what evidence to collect ,not test ,but just secure

** I wonder if that is simply bad word choice- or scene was mentally overwhelming type thing?

Also ,did LE really throw away stuff from the bathroom floor? I thought if they didn't take it ,they left it . So did LE throw away items taken and really put items in the trash?

***I will ask my LE neighbor and see if he knows.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I too remember seeing that on an article this week while reading different news outlets on this.

It did state the FBI offered to help.

Morning Queen and everyone!:seeya:

By Terry Dickson

Editor's note: Our live blog coverage will resume Saturday morning once court is back in session.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...igator-he-could-not-have-killed#ixzz2iAgVkIaT

I have searched everywhere for that information and the only thing I found is when the defense attorney asked the detective about calling the FBI in. I don't think the FBI ever offered to assist in this case since all lab testing and all autopsies were being handled by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The FBI does not offer to assist. They must be called and asked to assist by the local police jurisdiction since they have no jurisdiction in state cases.

But if you can remember the link where you read that I certainly would be interested in reading it. I sure could have missed it in my google search of all the articles since the trial began jury selection.

IMO

 

[Soulmagent]

Morning Queen and everyone!:seeya:

By Terry Dickson

Editor's note: Our live blog coverage will resume Saturday morning once court is back in session.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...igator-he-could-not-have-killed#ixzz2iAgVkIaT

I have searched everywhere for that information and the only thing I found is when the defense attorney asked the detective about calling the FBI in. I don't think the FBI ever offered to assist in this case since all lab testing and all autopsies were being handled by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The FBI does not offer to assist. They must be called and asked to assist by the local police jurisdiction since they have no jurisdiction in state cases.

But if you can remember the link where you read that I certainly would be interested in reading it. I sure could have missed it in my google search of all the articles since the trial began jury selection.

IMO

The FBI stuff was in the first 3 days on the case first breaking. I had thought it was actualy one of the first Headlines. I thought it was titled " FBI and GBI to help in slayings'' or something of that nature. it would have been an article from 2009. I am also sure they do offer to help out in cases. Some cases they can take over and other they cannot but they often help local LE .

I reread threads one and two and searched for the FBI information and it seems to have come from a live presser .I also saw something about the U.S marshalls from one of your post.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The FBI stuff was in the first 3 days on the case first breaking. I had thought it was actualy one of the first Headlines. I thought it was titled " FBI and GBI to help in slayings'' or something of that nature. it would have been an article from 2009. I am also sure they do offer to help out in cases. Some cases they can take over and other they cannot but they often help local LE .

I reread threads one and two and searched for the FBI information and it seems to have come from a live presser .I also saw something about the U.S marshalls from one of your post.

Thank you Soul. The only way the FBI can take over is if the crime happened on federal property or if the suspect took the victim over state lines or if the victim or suspect was in the military and in many of those cases they only assist the state. This case always remained in control of the local police jurisdiction where the crime occurred. It is totally up to them and they asked the GBI to assist instead.

Here is the latest.

By Terry Dickson




10:20 a.m.

Defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. had lead investigator Lt. William Darris examine photos of officers at the mobile home where Guy Heinze Jr. is accused of brutally beating his father and seven others to death four years ago.

The photos showed officers, some of whom were not in Tyvek suits, working or walking through the crime scene.

Investigators gathering evidence wear the thin, white suits to prevent contaminating crime scenes with their own clothing, hair or other material.

Hamilton characterized the photos as showing officers "traipsing all over the murder scene with a Tyvek suit."

"I have no evidence there was any cross-contamination of this scene. Is it possible? Yes,'' Darris said.

"Does it concern you at all that the crime scene specialists that you are relying on to process the scene'' are not telling people entering the scene to put on Tyvek suits, Hamilton asked.

Darris said it does concern him, but he refused to say that it was an indication the scene was contaminated.

"I don't know that the crime scene was contaminated by his not wearing a Tyvek suit,'' Darris said.

Tyvek suits are meant to prevent the contamination, but the lack of them does not mean that contamination occurred, he said.

Hamilton noted that some officers wore the suits but without the shoe coverings that, Hamilton said, would prevent transferring evidence such as blood from one room to another.

Darris said that evidence can be tracked from one place to another even with Tyvek shoe coverings.

He also questioned Darris about a steak knife found at the scene that had victim Russell Toler Jr.'s blood on it. Medical examiner Edmund Donoghue had testified Wednesday that Toler Jr. was stabbed several times, but that he was likely stabbed after he already had died from massive head injuries.

GBI analysts testified that only Toler Jr.'s blood was found on the knife.

"Is there anything on that knife that links it to Mr. Heinze?" Hamilton asked. "Is there any evidence Mr. Heinze used that knife to stab Russell Toler Jr.?"

Darris said he had other evidence that convinced him Heinze had slain Toler Jr. and the other victims.

When he was arrested the morning of Aug. 29, 2009, Heinze's gym shorts were spotted with the blood of Russell Toler Sr. and two of his slain children, Chrissy and Michael, Darris testified.

There was a big blood smear on khaki shorts he wore over the gym shorts, and in the car Heinze was driving police found Michelle Toler's cell phone with the blood of Chrissy Toler's slain boyfriend, Joseph West, on it, Darris testified.

A victim's blood was also found on a shotgun Heinze readily admitted he had taken from the house and hidden in the car. He took time to get the shotgun even though seven people lay dead, an eighth lay dying and another, Chrissy Toler's young son, was gravely injured, according to Heinze statement in a videotaped interview the jurors saw.

"I belive he killed those people,'' Darris said. "The object that was used was long and cylindrical, like the barrel of the missing shotgun."

The bloody butt of a shotgun was found lying beside the body of Russell Toler Sr. The barrel was not there and has never been located.

Heinze told police there had been another shotgun in the house: A 20-gauge shotgun.

8:55 a.m.

BRUNSWICK | Guy Heinze Jr.'s defense attorney questioned the lead investigator Saturday morning in the beating deaths of eight people if he had ensured subordinates had documented every piece of critical evidence seized.

Newell Hamilton Jr. was in the second day of his cross-examination of Lt. William Darris, the Glynn County Police Department's lead investigator in the four-year-old case. Heinze is accused of beating his father and seven others to death in August 2009.

For the second straight day, Darris acknowledged that when some officers had entered the crime scene - a cramped single-wide mobile home where 10 people live - not all had worn white Tyvek suits and shoe coverings to prevent contaminating the scene. He also said that he wishes officers had retained some clothing with what appeared to be blood spots on it. The clothes were photographed in a bathroom where none of the victims were found but not taken as evidence to be analyzed.

"The Tyvek suits, the blood in the bathroom, I think that's fair,'' Darris testified.

But Darris stood firm on another item, a fan shown in a photograph to have reddish spots on its blades.

Hamilton has tried repeatedly to get Darris to admit that the substance was blood and that it should have been taken as evidence and appears to not like Darris' answers.

Darris said he couldn't tell what the spots were from the photograph showed but that if it had been bloody fingerprints, as Hamilton has insisted, officers would have taken them for analysis.

Hamilton repeatedly has asked Darris what he did to ensure that policies were followed in every piece of critical evidence seized.

"I work with these guys, I know how they do things ... I have the faith that when they're bagging up evidence, they're doing it properly,'' he said.

Police seized 400 pieces of evidence including beer cars found in the yard, pieces of the mobile home walls, clothing and blood samples.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...ation-procedures-guy-heinze-jrs#ixzz2iB6PXslF

 

[Soulmagent]

Just to make sure you know I was not trying to say the FBI was trying to take over . I was not I only remember they offered to help. That was all. And Glynn County then made an arrest.

Since this crime the FBI has spent a lot of time with this area's LE ,even arresting some of them. It has always made me wonder if the arrest was made as fast as it was because no one wanted to U.S marshalls or the FBI or the GBI really around.

Doerings PR's were so weird ,kinda like when bush had to give the first PR after 911. I cant explain . I dunno. I just hope Guys trial is fair and if he is guilty I hope they prove it .

To me the phone with JW blood on it in the cougar is the best submission. Yet even that he was high and said he found the house phone ,he could have been messed up and not realized which phone he grabbed after he found it . The problem with crack users is they lie even when they have no reason.
I hope to hear more about the phone ,its pings and all of that.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

By Terry Dickson




Defense lawyer Newell HamiltonJr. also showed lead investigator Lt. William Darris a photo of a crowbar or pry bar that Darris said was not taken into evidence.

"You have potential evidence found at the crime scene and you don't have a weapon and you don't take these into evidence,'' Hamilton said.

The crowbar was dirty, old and "appeared to have junk on it" and there was not reason to believe it had been used, Darris said.

The items had no evidentiary value and that is why they were not taken at the scene, Darris said.

Darris agreed that three investigators'reports did not mention the items that were not deemed to be evidence.

10:50 a.m.

In his long cross-examination of lead investigator Lt. William Darris, defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. has had Darris examine evidence logs and photo after photo. The photos are of individual pieces of evidence, materials that were not taken as evidence, of officers working and pictures of the cramped, bloody single wide mobile home.

Heinze also questioned Darris about methods used to test for blood at the crime scene.

Among the defense witnesses are an experth in crime scene investigation. That witness is likely to offer an opinion on Glynn County's investigation.

Referring to earlier testimony, Hamilton asked, "So you have no murder weapon...?"

"Correct," Darris said.

Hamilton asked why officers had not taken into evidence an ax that they photographed at the scene.

Darris said it was because GBI medical examiner Edmund Donoghue had already told police had said the victims died from being beaten with a long cyclindrical object. He testified Wednesday it could have been a pipe or shotgun barrel.

"Dr. Donoghue would have told us if there were ax or hatchet wounds,'' Darris said.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...ation-procedures-guy-heinze-jrs#ixzz2iBKM8eAO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Just to make sure you know I was not trying to say the FBI was trying to take over . I was not I only remember they offered to help. That was all. And Glynn County then made an arrest.

Since this crime the FBI has spent a lot of time with this area's LE ,even arresting some of them. It has always made me wonder if the arrest was made as fast as it was because no one wanted to U.S marshalls or the FBI or the GBI really around.

Doerings PR's were so weird ,kinda like when bush had to give the first PR after 911. I cant explain . I dunno. I just hope Guys trial is fair and if he is guilty I hope they prove it .

To me the phone with JW blood on it in the cougar is the best submission. Yet even that he was high and said he found the house phone ,he could have been messed up and not realized which phone he grabbed after he found it . The problem with crack users is they lie even when they have no reason.
I hope to hear more about the phone ,its pings and all of that.

I agree and they lie when they are cornered and have a big reason to lie also.

I am even beginning to believe that Rusty Toler Sr. never gave him permission to drive the Cougar that night. I think he took any drugs that were in the house after he killed them all and left in Rusty's car because he knew he couldn't stop him.

IMO

 

[popsicle]

11:10

Defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. also showed lead investigator Lt. William Darris a photo of a crowbar or pry bar that Darris said was not taken into evidence.

"You have potential evidence found at the crime scene and you don't have a weapon and you don't take these into evidence,'' Hamilton said.

The crowbar was dirty, old and "appeared to have junk on it" and there was not reason to believe it had been used, Darris said.

The items had no evidentiary value and that is why they were not taken at the scene, Darris said.

Darris agreed that three investigators'reports did not mention the items that were not deemed to be evidence.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iBi41MES

 

[popsicle]

11:40 a.m.

About a year into the investigation, officers secured a charger so they could power up and examine a cell phone that was found in the car Guy Heinze Jr. was driving the morning he reported his father and seven others had been beaten to death. The phone belonged to victim Michelle Toler, 15, and had he blood of another victim, her sister Chrissy's boyfriend, Joseph West, 30, witnesses have said.

Darris said he took photos of what he found of the cell phone's screen just recently.
Darris testified he didn't know if the readout on the screen from a 7-second was an attempt to access voice mail.

"I'm not agreeing this is a code,'' Darris said.

The calls were made about 3:45 a.m., just over four hours be Heinze told police he came home and found all the bodies.

"What's the motive for Mr. Heinze killing his loved ones, sir?" Hamilton asked.

"I believe he came back to that trailer sometime that night, wanted those pills from Michael Toler. He got into a confrontation with Rusty Toler Sr. He was going to get those pills,'' Darris said.

He returned, killed the victims, took Michael Toler's pills "and every bit of money in that house,'' and he left, Darris said.

The only person found to have money was the $61 in Russell Toler Jr.'s pockets, witnesses have said.

Also, the car Heinze was driving contained a generic form of Darvocet, the narcotic pain medication that had been prescribed for Michael Toler.

Asked how he knew others had money, Darris testified that victim Joseph West had money because he was seen making purchases at a convenience store.

The fact that nobody in the house worked was no indication that they didn't have money, Darris said.

"I'm saying people have ways of coming across money. People survive. They do odd jobs. They sell stuff,'' Darris testified.

West, who his family called Little Joe, worked on a shrimp boat that he owned with his father, also a Joe West, his family told the Times-Union shortly after his death. Russell Toler Jr. also had worked on the boat at times.

Victim Brenda Gail Falagan, who was Russell Toler Sr.'s sister, had suffered a stroke and was disabled.

Having been paid $490, Heinze still had $391 on him in spite of buying crack cocaine - Heinze said $100 worth, some on credit - lunch and other items when he was taken into custody. He gave his brother $20, spent $15 at Bubba Garcia's, spending like that, Darris said.

Also, a witness said that on the night before the slayings, Heinze tried to buy cocaine at Fort King George Motel in Darien and had only $50.

Darris said he initially didn't believe Heinze had killed anyone, but the evidence added up.
The blood on outer khaki pants didn't match the blood of three victims found on gym shorts he had under the khaki shorts, he had a cell phone with a victim's blood in the car he was driving and yet had no blood on his hands, Darris said.

Heinze told officers he touched some of the victims and perhaps bed clothes in the very bloody crime scene.

"If he goes back and forth to every room, how did he have no blood on the bottom of his shoes?" Darris said.

Under cross-examination, Darris said that he believed Heinze beat Michael Toler as he lay on the bed.

"He was probably looking up at him saying, 'What are you doing?'" Darris said.

Darris persisted in his assertion that the victims were slain with a shotgun barrel that is still missing.

Of Russell Toler Jr., Darris said he things it was logical he put up a fight and was among the first killed.

"At this point we're speculating ... You asked me for motive,'' he said.

"It's your theory that Guy Heinze Jr. committed these murders [alone] with a weapon you have not found,'' Hamilton said.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iBiLm97r

 

[popsicle]

1:08 p.m.

Lt. William Darris, the lead investigator in the murder case against Guy Heinze Jr., acknowledged when court resumed after lunch, that investigators had not fully researched the source a a handprint found on a bloody headboard at a mobile home where eight people were beaten to death. Heinze is on trial for his life in their slayings.

At the time, "We had so much evidence against Mr. Heinze,'' it was deemed unnecessary to have the handprint analyzed, Darris testified.

Darris said detectives photographed the boot soles of EMTs who had come to the scene to remove the two surviving victims, one of whom died the next day.

Had investigators found boot impressions at the scene, they could have compared them to those of the EMTs to ascertain if they belonged to the EMTs or a possible suspect, he said.

Hamilton also tried again for laying a basis that police didn't fully investigate tips on other suspects including one that said an Andy Anderson - who was in jail during the slayings - and someone named Dwayne.

The caller to a tip line said that someone named Dwayne had threatened Russell Toler Sr.'s family by saying "I'll wipe out the whole ____ scenario," Darris said of what was on the tip lines.

Hamilton read more into the record.

"Y'all go four or five trailers down the line and you'll be amazed at what you find,'' he said.

An investigator who checked out the caller said his calls to the tip line appeared to be prompted by heavy drinking.

When Hamilton asked if the caller was cooperative, Darris noted that he made derogatory remarks toward the police department.

The information on lead sheets is never discarded, but when it is found to not have any evidentiary value, it is set aside and resources used on productive tasks, Darris said.

"You don't spend resources on tips with no evidentiary value or nothing you can follow up on,'' he said.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iBo6QWrV

 

[popsicle]

1:39 p.m.

Defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. asked Lt. Mike Darris about a former subordinante, Mike Owens, who questioned Guy Heinze Jr. in the deaths of Heinze's father and seven others. Owens is among the witnesses Hamilton plans to call in Heinze's ongoing death penalty murder trial.

Hamiton asked Darris if he knew of any major mistakes that Owens made in the investigation.

"I'd say he didn't follow protocol as opposed to major mistakes," Darris said.

Hamilton asked why he had followed up on other information and why he hadn't ensured detectives were fully investigating leads.

Darris said he had faith in the other officers and knew they were following procedures.

"By that time you know that all the evidence points to Mr. Heinze and you know what the murder weapons are,'' Darris said.

"Based on what you said by Sept. 3, 2009, all the evidence pointed to Mr. Heinze."

"I knew by that time he was more than likely involved,'' Darris said. "I was convinced we were looking in the right direction."

His office never got any evidence pointing to another possiblity, he testified.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iByZyXCQ

 

[popsicle]

Lt. William Darris said that when he sent items for fingerprint analysis to Albert Rowland of the GBI, he mentioned Heinze as a possible suspect. Darris said he never told Rowland to concentrate on Heinze alone.

"At that time the investigation was still underway. We were under the assumption that other people could be involved,'' he said.

"Let me be clear: I believe that Mr. Heinze killed these people,'' he said.

Judge Stephen Scarlett called a recess.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iC3QxZyj

 

[Soulmagent]

I am a little shocked that they are trying to seriously get people to believe he killed his family over Darvocet.
Why didn't they say for money ? or for crack. Really Darvocet? I mean ,maybe they mean other pills ,they haven't talked about yet.


Also weird Rusty J was not robbed. I also wonder if someone else did commit the murders if the fact that Rusty still had his money ,Rusty worked with Joe and Rusty drove the car ..that wasn't home that night might mean anything..

If Guy didn't do it.

 

[popsicle]

3:05 p.m.

Lt. William Daras, who had been under cross-examination several hours, testified that Guy Heinze Jr. was allowed to wear to the Glynn County jail the same shorts he had worn the day he reported and seven others beaten to death.

He also acknowledged that investigator Marc Neu testified that he saw no blood on the shorts.

Other investigators have said, however, that the shorts were reversible and gray on the other side where blood was apparent.

"Who put these items into evidence at the Glynn County Detention Center, the black shorts?''defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. asked.

Former investigator Mike Owens picked the shorts up at the jail Sept. 1. Hamilton asked if there was any record of anything being done with the shorts and how he stored them before the turned them over to Daras the next day.

"For at least 24 hours detective Mike Owens had them in his personal possession, isn't that right?'' Hamilton asked.

"How do you know if he sealed them before you got them?" Hamilton asked.
"Because I would have freaked out if he hadn't,'' Daras said.

He added, "The thing about these shorts, they were dark. You couldn't see the blood on them."

The blood on the shorts was also dry, he said, a reference to Hamilton's assertion the clothes were bagged with other clothes and could have been contaminated.

Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson asked Daras about the weapons known to be in the house where the victims had lived.

Daras said, two, the one with the butt beside one of the victims and the other that
"Did he have a chance to go back in the trailer,'' once he was in custody, Johnson asked.
"Did I hear y'all say it would be impossible to walk through this scene without getting blood on your shoes?" Johnson asked.

That was true, Daras said.

GBI analysts have said Daras had no blood on the soles of his shoes.

Addressing Hamilton's assertions that the Glynn County police did not get help from other agencies, Johnson had Daras verify the department had gotten assistance from a GBI crime scene speicalist, limited help from the FBI, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center personnel and others.



Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iCInV6VM

 

[popsicle]

3:25 p.m.

Testifying in Guy Heinze Jr.'s death penalty murder trial Saturday, Zachary Matjazic said that Heinze worked with him and his father building houses.

They had picked Heinze up at New Hope Mobile Home Park and driven to Eulonia in McIntosh County to work on a house.

They quit work early on Aug. 29, 2009, because it was raining, met the contractor at Longhorn Steakhouse, got paid and went to cash the check.

By noon or 1 p.m., he, Guy and his girlfriend went to nearby Bubba Garcia's and had lunch.
"We had plans to go out. We were just going to go to a couple of bars,'' Matjazic said.
Still in his work clothes, Heinze said he would go to a nearby store to buy clothes, but he left there walking at 5 or 5:30 p.m. and never came back.

He spoke later with both Heinze's brother Tyler and his father, Guy Heinze Sr., Matjazic said.

He and Guy had talked about shaving their heads, which, Heinze told police, he did later that day at the mobile home.

Under cross-examination from defense lawyer Rachel Herbert, Matjazic said he and Heinze were friends as well as co-workers.

Matjazic said he was excited that he and has father were working on a mobile home of their own so they live the one where they lived with Russell Toler Sr., his estended family of seven and the boyfriend of Toler's oldest daughter.

Matjazic said Heinze had babysat his young son and that Heinze was a close friends.
At one point after the deaths, "They asked me if I helped Guy kill his family,'' Matjazic said.
Never saw Heinze act violently or display weird behavior and he seemed to enjoy being around his family, Matjazic said.

District Attorney Jackie Johnson asked, "Were you aware of Mr. Heinze's drug use?"
"Yes ma'am,'' he said.

On Aug. 29, 2009, Jessica Pollard said she was working as a cashier at the Parker's store in the village area of St. Simons Island when Heinze came in just before dawn.

"Did he seem like he was looking over his shoulder?'' defense lawyer Newell Hamilton asked.

She saw him come and go twice and didn't see any blood on him or anything out of the ordinary.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iCNDBgYy

 

[popsicle]

4:08 p.m.

Jonathan Carmichael said he went to Best Western hotel on St. Simons Island with Tyler Heinze, Guy Heinze Jr.'s younger brother, to party. There was another young man and several girls in the room.

Someone knocked on the door, but nobody opened it. About 5:30 a.m., Heinze called, said it was him at the door earlier so Carmichael said he let him in and went back to sleep.

On Friday, jurors saw a videotaped interview in which Heinze told police he had gotten to the island about 4 a.m.

Carmichael said he saw no blood on Heinze and didn't see anything unusual.

Heinze told police he had gotten there earlier.

"Did he appear freaked out,'' or afraid, defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. asked.
"No sir,'' Carmichael said.

James Adam "Pee Wee" Davis Sr. testified that he is the half-brother of Russell Toler Jr., who was beaten to death Aug. 29, 2009, along with his father, two sisters and brother. Russell Toler Sr. had been his stepfather at one time, Davis said.

On Aug. 28, 2009, Russell Toler Jr. and Guy Heinze Jr. brought him a pair of pliers at Fort King George Motel in Darien so he could work on his car.

"They were driving Home Boy's Mercury,'' he said using Toler Jr.'s nickname
"He never let nobody drive it. He never let me drive it,'' Davis said.

Russell Toler Jr. was driving that night, and he once gave him a ride to a store a mile away rather than loaning him the car, Davis said.

Heinze told police after his father and seven others were killed that Toler Jr. had loaned him the car. He also claimed to have driven around in it smoking crack, had gone to St. Simons to see Tyler and then come home to the mobile home about 8 a.m. only to find his family dead.

Toler Jr. seemed fidgety, and "You could tell he was ready to go,'' he testified.

Guy who had always talked to him said only a few words but, "Guy did ask me if I could get him some cocaine. He had $50 to spend on it. I told him, 'No. I got my son now, and I don't do that."

Davis said he had some marijuana and the three of them smoked "a joint" as he worked on his car.

He and Russell Toler Jr. had the same mother which made them half brothers, Davis said.
Although not related to the Tolers by blood, Guy Heinze Jr. regarded them as family, Davis said under Hamilton's cross-examination.

"We were all right there together,'' Davis said of the relationship.

Heinze and Michael Toler got along well and Heinze was kind to Michael, Davis testified.

Davis also said he didn't know if $50 was all Heinze had that night.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iCX6Cefz

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I am a little shocked that they are trying to seriously get people to believe he killed his family over Darvocet.
Why didn't they say for money ? or for crack. Really Darvocet? I mean ,maybe they mean other pills ,they haven't talked about yet.


Also weird Rusty J was not robbed. I also wonder if someone else did commit the murders if the fact that Rusty still had his money ,Rusty worked with Joe and Rusty drove the car ..that wasn't home that night might mean anything..

If Guy didn't do it.

Well honestly as we know by reading here people can murder for the most nonsensical reasons. He may not have known that Rusty Jr had any money or he simply may have missed taking his money since he had many victims to rob.

And the detective did say he thought part of the motive was not only drugs but the money. I don't believe for one second Rusty Jr. gave him permission to drive his car anywhere. No one was allowed to drive his car but him. With them all being dead he could take the drugs, money, and the car and no one could say a thing.

I think GHJr. was the big drug user in that family and may have even been addicted. Even his younger brother eluded to his brother bringing drugs into the home when he spoke out at first. His co-worker friend even seem to know about his drug habits and I am sure others that knew him did also.

Once he killed one he knew he had to kill them all.

Imo, there is no 'if he did it'...not for me anyway. The state has proven this is the man that killed all of these people. No one else was there at the time but the man who has blood spatters on his underwear and shoes that belong to his victims along with the cell phone he took and the shotgun he hid in his trunk. The very shotgun he lied about and had belonged legally to Rusty Sr since September 1985 all along.

I don't' think West had crack. If he had it, according to GHjr he would let him get it, and not pay him... yet he was trying to make a crack deal for $50 just the night before this happened with someone else. None of the victims had crack in their toxicology reports. He could steal the narcotics and sell them to get his crack or trade them for the crack.

In the end it really doesn't matter what his motive may have been. The evidence points to him and him only as being the sole murderer, IMO.

IMO

 

[Soulmagent]

One witness said Rusty did not let anyone drive his car . I don't let certain people use my car but other people I do. Some people I would rather drive to the store then let them take my car and do it.

The only evidence present will point to him OBE. For now. The defence still has to go. I wish we could hear every bit of testimony as I feel we are missing a lot.

Did the store clerk say what he was wearing?
was the gun stock to the 20 gauge ? And is there record of who owns it?

Was Russel Jr was attacked first and Russel sr pulled out the other gun and then was beat with his own gun?

Which victim was found under the table? I forgot.

Does anyone else think the state proved their case? Just wondering.

 

[popsicle]

5:20 p.m.

Investigator Shawn Strohl testified he was a crime scene processor Aug. 29, 2009, when eight people were found beaten to death at New Hope Mobile Home Park.

He is now in charge of the evidence room at the Glynn County police department. It is secure with controlled access, he testified.

Strohl testified he processed and documented evidence at the mobile home and used distilled water to swab dried blood and sealed the swabs as evidence. Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson Strohl testified he took a number of items into evidence and sealed them.

In processing the scene, he used a substance that reacts with protein to reveal fingerprints, bloody footprints and other evidence. Luminol, a substance that reacts with the iron in blood, turned up blood on a bathroom faucet, he said.

The only money found in the house was $61 found on the body of Russell Toler Jr., he testified.

He also found two pills in the floor near Toler Jr. and a bag of pills on a counter, Strohl said.
He indentied the butt stock of a shotgun that he took as evidence from the master bedroom where Russell Toler Sr. lay dead near the door. The butt was lying next to his head.

Under cross-examination earlier Saturday, lead investigator Lt. William Daras testified that he believed the barrell of that weapon, a shotgun, was used to kill all eight victims.

In his opening statement to the jury, defense lawyer Newell Hamilton Jr. said police were indifferent in gathering evidence, that cross-contamination of the evidence occurred and that items were discarded that should have been kept.

Strohl testified that former investigator Garrett Hogue found and bagged a piece of paper in the master bedroom. The paper was later found to have Heinze's palm print made with the blood of Russell Toler Sr.

Hogue pointed out the print's detail and processed it into the evidence in the case, Strohl said.

Strohl said he started working on his report within days but wasn't satisfied with it until nine months later when he submitted it for approval.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...-7-others-because-he-wanted-one#ixzz2iCr37oSQ