Testimony disputes Vashon Walker's claim intruder killed girlfriend

Prosecutors spent much of Wednesday picking apart Vashon Walker’s account of how girlfriend Jessica Osborne fatally was shot in the head in the couple’s Forrest Road home on June 17, 2014.

Walker claimed an intruder killed Osborne during a break-in, but authorities say the evidence shows he was the culprit who concocted the burglary story to deflect the blame.

According to Walker, he and Osborne had just returned to their new home at 4304 Forrest Road that day when Osborne went inside as he retrieved his cell phone from the car. He heard her scream during a commotion inside, and ran in after her, he said.

Inside a gunman stood over Osborne, who was on the living room floor. The burglar said something like, “You know what this is. Give it up!” The intruder fired a shot at Osborne before he and Walker fought for the gun, during which Walker broke free and ran to a back tool room.

The gunman then ran out the back door with Walker, armed with a hammer, in pursuit, Walker told police.

On Wednesday, prosecutors called witnesses to dispute that account.

One was a girl who lived in the neighborhood. Now 12 years old, she was 10 when the shooting happened. She recalled seeing Walker and Osborne arguing as they moved into the home the Friday before the Tuesday shooting, saying she heard Walker complaining that Osborne wasn’t helping enough.

Then on the following Tuesday, she heard them arguing again, and saw Walker get something from his car before he went into the house, after which the girl heard a gunshot, she said. She never saw anyone else leave or enter the home, she said.

Another neighbor who lived across the street testified that after hearing a gunshot, she saw Walker run out the back door into the backyard, then come back and kick the back door in.

Investigators later found a Ruger .45-caliber pistol hidden under vegetation in the backyard.

A former police officer now working for the GBI testified Wednesday that he retrieved a spent bullet from underneath the floor below the spot where Osborne was shot through the head. A crime-lab technician said Osborne’s DNA was on the bullet.

Then a GBI technician specializing in “footwear impressions” testified police gave him the Adidas shoes Walker was wearing that day, and he compared the right shoe to the shoe print left on the back door.

The shoe matched the pattern on the door by its size and the design on its underside, the expert said, but he could not say for certain it was the same shoe, as such shoes are not unique.

Next GBI firearms examiner Catherine Jordan testified ballistics tests matched the bullet that killed Osborne to the gun police found in the backyard. Two more spent bullets and seven cartridge casings police collected at the crime scene also matched the Ruger .45, she said.

No witness yet has corroborated Walker’s account of an intruder who ran from the house after the gunshot.

Police Lt. Greg Touchberry, who questioned Walker the night of the shooting, said Walker described the gunman as 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8 and wearing a gray shirt, dark jeans and baseball-type gloves.

Touchberry said Walker told him the intruder hit him with the gun, choked him and slammed a knee into his face, striking an eye, yet Walker had no corresponding injuries. Walker also said he saw a gray pickup speed away from his home afterward, but no other witness reported seeing the vehicle.

A courtroom dispute erupted later Wednesday when Walker’s ex-girlfriend Keyana Nicholson, who said she’s still in contact with him, refused to answer questions on the witness stand, invoking her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

Nicholson was to testify about Walker’s having abused her in incidents she reported to Columbus police. Because she recanted her allegations in one of those cases, she was charged with falsely reporting a crime. She said she feared being charged with perjury if she testified.

After Judge Frank Jordan Jr. said she had to testify, Nicholson told prosecutor Don Kelly she could not remember what happened on May 28 2012, when she called police to her apartment at 5600 Hunter Road, or on Sept. 13, 2013, when she summoned officers to Walker’s home on Rolling Ridge Drive.

So Kelly called a police officer to the stand to recount Nicholson’s telling him in 2013 that Walker punched her in the eye, threatened to strangle her with a trash bag he wrapped around her neck, threw her on the couch and shot a bullet into it, then later fired another round inside the residence. The officer had photos depicting Nicholson’s swollen face and eye where Walker allegedly hit her.

Walker is charged with murder and aggravated assault. His trial resumes today in Jordan’s courtroom on the Columbus Government Center’s 10th floor.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Testimony disputes Vashon Walker's claim intruder killed girlfriend ."