Jason Page has been with the Indiana State Police for 24 years and has worked as a detective and member of the SWAT team. He’s been a crime scene investigator for 16 years and estimated he’d been at between 950 and 1,000 crime scenes as a CSI and many more as a detective.
He arrived at the area around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 14 and met with other crime scene investigators. Page took several photos and walked the jury through each one shown in court.
He described the area where the girls were found as “ground zero”—an approximately 30- to 40 -foot area containing most of the physical evidence.
The terrain is “pretty rough and steep,” he told the court. He showed the jury a map of the area and walked them through the topography. He described how investigators carefully marked the area near ground zero and the path leading to the girls’ bodies. He said investigators searched the scene with metal detectors and recalled a dive team conducting another search.
Page showed photos from the crime scene and described what each one showed.
One photo showed what appeared to be black marks on Libby’s body. Another showed an aerial view of the bodies with Deer Creek in the background. Jurors also saw photos of blood on Libby’s right hand and another of her left hand. Another photo showed a closeup of Libby’s face.
As Giancola had suggested, Page said the area was “saturated” with a large amount of blood on the ground.
Blood was also on nearby trees; investigators used a chemical to check trees for additional traces. He also recalled that Abby’s clothes were wet.
“Her clothes were damp. I just remembered the clothes seemed damp,” he recalled.
Notes from the media pool described Page’s testimony as “calm” and almost “mechanical” as he explained what was contained within each image.
Page spoke for about 90 minutes before the court took a break. He resumed his testimony around 1 p.m
drive.google.com
www.carrollcountycomet.com
