UPDATE (5:31 pm)--
Court is done for the day but before the jurors were dismissed, one of the jurors alerted the court that his notebook had notes on it from the Jimmy Rodger trial.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Juror said he did not read the notes.
The #MarkSieversTrial will resume tomorrow morning.
UPDATE (1:55 PM) -- The 2nd witness on the stand is Kimberly Van Waus, crime scene technician with Lee County Sheriff's Office, who photographed the Teresa Sievers murder scene.
Van Waus is now going through those documents.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Side note: The defense has been objecting a lot of the evidence that the prosecution has been introducing.
Other evidence collected at the crime scene includes an iPhone, receipts, and a shredded document, says Van Waus.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Van Waus says the hammer also had hair that she removed and submitted for analysis.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Using a forensic vacuum, Van Waus says she also collected trace evidence from the crime scene.
Van Waus says she swabbed the hammer for DNA.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
She says those swabs were submitted for analysis and came back as a DNA match with Teresa Sievers.
Van Waus is walking the jury through photographs of Teresa Sievers's luggage still in the garage.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Van Waus says this is how she found the belongings when she was documenting the scene.
Van Waus says when she arrived at the Sievers's home, her first step was to meet with the detective on the scene to get pieces of information that she might need for her documentation purposes.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
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UPDATE (1:15 PM) -- The first state witness is taking the stand is Det. Jamie Nolen, an investigator from the LCSO.
He became involved in the Teresa Sievers murder investigation as the lead investigator.
Mark Sievers also told detectives the home had an alarm system, says Det. Nolen.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Adding, that Mark Sievers said he didn't know why anyone would want to kill his wife.
Det. Nolen says Teresa was deceased lying face down on the kitchen floor when he arrived.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
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UPDATE (1 PM) -- Opening statements concluded at 11:30 a.m. Judge Kyle called for a lunch break, with witness questioning to begin this afternoon.
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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Opening statements in the trial of Mark Sievers for the murder of his wife Teresa began Wednesday morning.
Mark Sievers is accused of hiring two men to kill Teresa Sievers in their Bonita Springs home in 2015.
Side note: Mark Sievers appeared to be crying when the defense was describing how his wife was murdered.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Defense tells jurors Wright will tell them that he lied on several statements to detectives but never took a lie detector test to find out what was truly a lie and what is not.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Adding that the State will not show the videos of his previous statements where Wright lied.
Defense says jurors will hear from Curtis Wright, who will be testifying as part of his plea deal.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
"Mark Sievers's wife is dead. He [Mark Sievers] wants to know 'why' just like any other person," says defense.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Prosecution says Wright told detective Mark Sievers had told him he would be willing to pay over $100,000 for Teresa's murder, and he would get the money from Teresa's life insurance that was worth 5 million dollars.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Detectives were looking for two particular area codes, Georgia and California. From the cellphone tower dumps and cell phone records, the prosecution says the burner phone traced back to Sievers and Wright.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Prosecution says detectives used a program to upload those numbers and where they were assorted in different categories, including into area codes.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
When Teresa Sievers was driving home from the airport to her home, 10 hours before her body was found, her cell phone signal pinged off a Cell tower. 98,000 other numbers also pinged off that tower dump within that time frame.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
The prosecution is explaining the important role cellphone tower dumps played in the investigation, how detectives used the records from the dumps to allegedly trace burner phones to Mark Sievers and Curtis Wright.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
From that call, detectives learned of the name Curtis Wayne Wright, who wasn't even on their radar.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Ultimately leading them to get a search warrant to search Wright's home, where detectives found evidence.
Once the murder committed, detectives had no leads until July 9th, 12 days after the murder, when a call came from Illinois.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
The prosecution says evidence will establish that Mark Sievers, Teresa's husband, arranged the murder and arranged to pay for the murder with her life insurance.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
Prosecution starts opening statements by telling the jurors that Teresa Sievers was found on her kitchen floor dead, and a pool of blood surrounded her head that had 17 impact wounds, some so severe brain was "oozing out."
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 20, 2019
RELATED COVERAGE:
Jury selection begins in the murder trial for Mark Sievers
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Jury finds Jimmy Rodgers guilty of 2nd Degree Murder
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Sievers children caught in the middle of a murder trial
Neighborhood was on edge in eight months before arrest of Mark Sievers
Sievers murder: New audio and video released
Curtis Wright takes the stand in trial of alleged accomplice Jimmy Rodgers
