We are back in court this morning. Detective Abbott will return to the bench. Jury hasn't been brought out yet. Catch up here:
A star witness for the state, Johnathan Quiles’s brother Joseph Quiles, took the stand late Wednesday afternoon. Joseph Quiles detailed conversations he had with his brother in which he said he described how he murdered his niece and disposed of her body.
www.news4jax.com
Updated: September 20, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Abbott is reading more messages. One message says "Just making it so easy for me to leave you alone, good bye Yana". (Yana is a nickname for Sawyer). They are showing a pic of I.S. in Quiles phone with the caption 'the face of a cheater’.
Another message says 'I don't like nobody hurting you but me...I'm sorry I forgot you are carrying our child and are oversensitive....but we have plans’.
Here's what detective Abbott is reading out loud in court. Read the message below.
Another message says "I'm just so in love with you. I'll kill you and cry".
Another message says "you're stuck with me until you die. I love you way to much to let you go.”
Now we are looking at a Google map of where police placed Quiles's location on 12-19-18 around 11:43, he was at a parts place on Duval Place Dr. North of Ace Pick-a-Park. From here to Terry Parker High School, Abbott says it’s about 18min one way. Roundtrip: 35min
The defense is starting cross examination for Detective Abbott.
Abbott tells the defense through his investigation he found Quiles and Sawyer were having a relationship. Within the first 9 days of the investigation he knew from Quiles's brother and the wire.
Abbott says S.S. lied to him, led them on a chase for about 10 days. When she finally told the truth, she says IS told her she was going to her grandmother in GA for 2 weeks then she would tell her mother that Quiles was the father of her child.
Abbott says he believes Sawyer is dead based on Quiles implicating himself twice. Abbott agrees there is no body and no blood because he says Quiles manipulated the scene where we claims he shot her, and that he scooped up the blood on the ground, tampering with the scene.
Defense clarifies with Abbott that it was Quiles wife who said Sawyer took her 'most prized possessions', meaning her Victoria Secret bra's and panties. Then Quiles gave an amount (38 pieces). Defense reminds Abbott both I.S. and S.S. spent a lot of time at Quiles house.
Abbott tells the defense they brought the police K9 to Ace Pick-a-Part on Jan 8th and 10th, 2019. He says the wire came in on the 9th.
Abbott tells defense they found Quiles's DNA in the crotch of Sawyers underware. Abbott says they don't know if it was skin cell or serology because the information from FDLE was inconclusive. He also says he can't be sure how the DNA got there.
Abbott says he can't say definitively if the underware recovered from landfill belonged to Sawyer. He says the same about the book from Terry Parker High, even after calling the school to check.
The state calls Naomi Mobley, Quiles's ex-wife.
Naomi says her nieces I.S. and S.S. would come to her house to help with her 3yr old daughter or spend time with her. She learned she was pregnant in June 2018.
Naomi says she found out about I.S. being pregnant on Dec 3. On a group text with sisters and Quiles, an older sister said 'Jose' was Quiles, and he was I.S. unborn baby's father. Naomi told her sisters they don't have to wait for the baby to be born, and he could be tested now.
Naomi says after her sister alleged Quiles was the father, she told Quiles to stop speaking to her nieces and distance himself from their family. She said he told her he would stop, but later learned he kept talking to them.
after I.S. was reported missing she says Quiles slept like a baby.
Naomi says Quiles was very upset about the fact her family was happy I.S. was having baby. She says his words were 'this is just going to ruin her future'. She said right before I.S. went missing, Quiles was nervous about not being able to hear from his brother…
Naomi tells the court after Quiles was arrested he called her and she asked him to tell her the truth. His response was 'I want to tell you the truth but the people listening will take it the wrong way'. She says from this point she no longer believed him.
Naomi says in 2019 she realized the Google location had been erased all the way up until Dec 20th. This is when she was trying to figure out how I.S. could've got from Terry Parker HS to Ace Pick-a-Part. The defense is starting cross examination.
Naomi says when I.S. was reported missing she was estranged from the family. She says she would get updates from one of her sisters but could not assist in the search. But she says she, Quiles, and their daughter did drive around Arlington looking for I.S.
Naomi says she asked her nieces if anything inappropriate happened between them and Quiles. They told her no. This was early 2018. She also says she never suspected anything was going on.
Judge is talking about options for jurors of either starting closing arguments this week or next week. He wants the information to be fresh in their minds. He also asked if they can stay later today. Judge believes they can get closing arguments by tomorrow afternoon.
State says it’s possible they will rest this afternoon. They plan to play the 2-hour long wire and call a few more witnesses. On break until 1:45.
The state calls Damian Hatch. A Bay County Inmate. He was previously at Duval County Jail where he met Quiles.
and he said she went down and he pulled his gun out and shot her." Hatch says Quiles told him he called his brother right after he did it. He says Quiles also told him he had sex with I.S. sister.
Hatch says Quiles told him he had sex with his niece and became pregnant. Hatch says Quiles wanted her to get rid of baby. "He was like she was going to run away and she call him that morning and he told her were to meet him at. When they met up he started chocking her…
Hatch says about a month later he was moved out of the dorm where Quiles was. He came forward because he said 'I just felt like it was wrong, and it was the right thing to do'. He told the court he was not promised anything in return for his testimony. Cross starting.
The defense is questioning Hatch about the timing of their conversation. Hatch says he's confident the conversation happened after a group bible study in Feb 2022.
Hatch tells the defense he got information about cooperating with the SAO from someone who had cooperated with them before. But Hatch says he never told him if he would get something off of doing it but instead what the other inmate got from it.
State calls JSO detective Robert Buidlik.
Buidlik says there was a decision to introduce a wire into jail before Quiles arrived at jail. He put a wire on Morris McClendon who has since passed away.
The state calls George Jackson. He is cousins with M. McClendon who wore a wire in this case. Jackson did not wear the wire.
On the recording, Jackson says you can hear himself, McClendon, and Quiles. It was a conversation about Quiles's niece.
Jackson says he is seeking assistance with his probation. We are about to hear the wire recording.
(last post 27 minutes ago)
www.courttv.com
