Day 8: Anthony Sowell trial

CLEVELAND - Follow along with NewsChannel5 web producer Jen Steer during the trial of Anthony Sowell, the man accused of killing 11 women and keeping their bodies in and around his home on Cleveland's east side. Check @WEWScourt for more updates. WARNING: Testimony is graphic and may not be appropriate for everyone.

4:22 p.m.: Miller leaves the stand and the attorneys gather around the judge's bench. The judge agrees to dismiss the proceedings for the weekend because of the expected length of testimony of the next witness. There will be no Sowell court proceedings on Monday.

3:42 p.m.: The best DNA to use in cases of severe decomposition is to extract DNA from the root of the tooth or from the femur bones, Miller said.

3:31 p.m.: Cadaver dogs were brought in to help search the property and hit on an area near the cement pad in Sowell's backyard.

"There was a second strike when we went back again," Miller said. He said he supervised the backhoe operator as he removed thin layers of dirt until they reached plastic, which most of the time indicated a body.

"They would all be characterized as fairly shallow," Miller said.

3:25 p.m.: Next on the stand is former Cuyahoga County coroner Dr. Frank Miller, who was removed from the position after the coroner was abolished as an elected office earlier this year. Miller is now the chief deputy coroner in Lorain County and a deputy coroner in Stark County.

Miller was called to 12205 Imperial Ave. in the evening of Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 after two badly decomposed bodies were found. When they returned on Friday, personnel from the coroner's office shifted their attention to the basement stairs.

"There was wood and debris. And even the night before, we wondered if there was a body under there," Miller said.

"To my embarrassment, there was a black, plastic bag in the room with two bodies," Miller said, about a trash bag held more remains in a third-floor room.

2:59 p.m.: "You can tell she met her death through violent means? This isn't rocket science," assistant prosecutor Rick Bombik said during redirect. Bombik infers that even though some of the remains did not have any ligatures around their neck, the doctor could rule on cause of death. "You can tell with a degree of certainty that Miss Smith died in a violent nature."

2:52 p.m.: While reviewing the reports form one of the bodies, Pekarski admits that she originally believed one woman had died from manual strangulation, but she crossed that out. She said she guessed it was because of a reflex.

2:24 p.m.: Defense attorney John Parker continues to ask the doctor if she saw certain items collected or a particular test performed. When she answers no, she adds "But that doesn't mean it didn't happen."

2:03 p.m.: "Did they have any policy for excavating bodies from shallow graves?" Parker asked. Parker specifically wants to know about the medical examiner's office policy on using a backhoe and Pekarski is not aware of any.

"After the body had been significantly or adequately exposed, a sheet had been put under the body," Pekarski said. She said the sheets were used to pull the bodies from the graves, without losing evidence.

1:52 p.m.: Parker asked the doctor if it's necessary for her to read the police report, instead of determining the cause of death just by the remains.

"In this situation, the degree of decomposition is a factor," Pekarski said. Without remaining tissue, Pekarski said the ligatures, conditions of the crime scene and the demographic were taken into consideration for the cause of death.

1:45 p.m.: Pekarski said the body had partial mummification. She also said there was a prosthetic eye and a projectile consistent with a bullet. Mason's family testified earlier that she had been shot in the right eye. Sowell's attorney John Parker begins his cross-examination by asking about Pekarski's training. At the time of the autopsies, Pekarski was not yet a forensic pathologist, she said.

1:27 p.m.: Dr. Pekarski is still on the stand, as the court returns from lunch. Pekarski said Michelle Mason's remains weighed 58.5 pounds when they were brought to the medical examiner's office. The body was wrapped in black plastic bags, a black comforter, orange carpet padding and a discolored orange comforter.

12:12 p.m.: While there was no evidence of injuries, Pekarski determined that the cause of death for Kim Smith was homicidal violence. Before moving onto to the next autopsy, the court breaks for lunch and will resume at 1:15 p.m.

12:03 p.m.: Bombik walks over to a TV monitor and points to the screen, as he speaks to the forensic pathologist. While her explanations are scientific, they are easy to understand. Dr. Pekarski said 43-year-old Kim Smith weighed 105 pounds and was in a shallow grave. The remains were wrapped in plastic, and her wrists and ankles were bound. The body had been buried for at least three months, Pekarski said.

Sowell's attorney, Rufus Sims, is visibly uncomfortable, playing with his

beard or taking sips of water while autopsy photos flash on the screen.

11:48 a.m.: Looking up on occasion from her report, Dr. Pekarski said the autopsy on 29-year-old Tishana Culver was performed on Oct. 31, 2009. She was wearing a t-shirt, dress, pants and socks, wrapped in several black bags. There was also dirt and white paint chips on the body, Pekarski said. She even described the remains as mummified.

11:39 a.m.: Anthony Sowell's face does not move as Bombik shows the jury a photo of Nancy Cobbs' remains, which were recovered from the third-floor crawlspace. This photo prompts a strong reaction from the media room.Cobbs, 43, was wearing a bracelet, a watch and a cross necklace, Pekarski said. She said the ligature, which she described as a rope and a dark-colored sock, were wrapped around the neck. The body was in three black, plastic bags and a comforter.

Pekarski said they could not determine the height of the remains.

11:28 a.m.: Pekarski said she also performed the autopsy of 38-year-old Diane Turner on Oct. 30, 2009. Her remains weighed 67 pounds and there was a black, plastic bag wrapped around her ankles and calves.

"In my opinion, Miss Fortson was dead for a longer time than Miss Turner," Pekarski said. Turner's cause of death was homicidal violence, but the type was undetermined, she said.

11:15 a.m.: Assistant prosecutor Rick Bombik asked the cause of death of the first body, which Pekarski said is asphyxia by cervical compression. She goes on to explain that this is where the two arteries in the neck are constricted, stopping blood flow to the brain. It's not the same of dying from a lack of oxygen. Pekarski said it takes about 10 to 30 seconds to lose consciousness and 3 to 5 minutes to death, by strangulation.

"Her decompositional changes are consistent with a warm, dry environment… For a periods of at least months," she said, while facing the jury.

11:05 a.m.: Pekarski performed the autopsy on 31-year-old Telacia Fortson on Oct. 30, 2009. At the time of the exam, Fortson's body was 66 inches long and weighed only 46 pounds, Pekarski said. Fortson was wearing a sleeveless shirt and was naked from the waist down. She was also wearing a ring and a necklace, which was embedded into the remains. Pekarski said they removed a ligature from around her neck. There was also a white-handled kitchen knife at her trunk.

10:56 a.m.: Pekarski said temperature is the biggest factor in determining the speed of decomposition. A person's health is also a contributing factor. She said hot condition will speed up the decomposition, so bodies that are buried decomposed a lot slower.

10:49 a.m.: Forensic pathologist with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's office Dr. Krista Pekarski is second on the stand this morning. Her answers are clear, and she spends some time explaining her medical background. The first day Pekarski was on the scene was Oct. 30, 2009 and she is seen in several of the photos taken by police.

"As soon as the heart stops pumping, the decompositional changes begin," Pekarski said.

10:40 a.m.: "We collected two swabs of suspected blood from the stairwell," Rayburn said. "There were two swabs taken from the basement… There was a shovel taken from a southeast bedroom… There were also a pair of shorts with suspected blood on them from the northeast bedroom."

10:32 a.m.: After nearly more than two hours on the stand, crime scene detective Kristine Rayburn is still on the stand. Sowell's attorney John Parker walks over to the podium and begins to question the woman who took photos of the house on Imperial Avenue.

10:15 a.m.: The photos range from piles of women's clothing and jewelry to crews removing bodies from Sowell's backyard. In the backyard photos, it is difficult to determine if there are human remains mixed with the dirt and plastic. That's why you will find very few photos of the yard on our site.

9:33 a.m.: For some of the photos taken at Sowell's home at 12205 Imperial Ave. on Oct. 29, 2009 and the days that followed, click here http://5.wews.com/HBd

There are no family members in the courtroom, the pool photographer told the media room.

9:24 a.m.: The courtroom sits in silence as all the crime scene photos play on two monitors. Sowell, who faces 85 counts including rape, murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and assault, does not react to some of the gruesome photos of a badly decomposed body on the third floor.

8:46 a.m.: Rayburn said she took 673 of the crime scene. The pictures of the basement show bright blue walls and a narrow wooden staircase. The basement is full of random items, like stacks of furniture, trash bags, an old bathroom sink, an unrolled sleeping bag and an electrical cord.

8:21 a.m.: Crime scene detective Kristine Rayburn takes the stand this morning. Rayburn has worked as a detective for almost six years. Rayburn said she was working the night of Oct. 29, 2009, when police discovered two bodies at 51-year-old Anthony Sowell's Imperial Avenue