Witnesses detail abduction of Columbus woman, tracking her car and chasing suspects

Multiple witnesses were called during the second day of the trial of Jayvonn Phillips in Russell County.

Phillips is on trial for capital murder and kidnapping in the death of Tameka Skinner, who was killed after being abducted from Huckleberry Hill Apartments in Columbus, according to authorities.

The first witness called Tuesday was Martae Pettway, Skinner’s boyfriend at the time, who testified he was with Skinner when she was abducted.

Pettway told Russell County District Attorney Rick Chancey he and Skinner went to Huckleberry Hill Apartments after getting food from Burger King. Pettway said he saw two men with COVID masks on when they pulled into the apartment complex.

Pettway testified that he was attacked outside the door to the apartment of Skinner’s godsister, for whom they were house-sitting.

Pettway said he was hit from behind and two men attacked him from the front and pulled his shirt above his head, poked him in the back with something and told him to start counting.

Pettway testified he thinks it was a gun his attackers put to his back. However, a video of an interview investigators conducted with Pettway was shown to the jury. In the video, Pettway says what his attackers poked him with in his back could have been a finger.

Pettway told prosecutors the attackers took his wallet and phone. He said he eventually got up and searched the apartment for Skinner but didn’t find her.

Pettway testified that Tameka’s car wasn’t there when he got up and the keys were still in the door from when Skinner opened the door.

Pettway then ran from Huckleberry Hill Apartments to The Lodge Apartments in Columbus, where his mother lived, according to his testimony.

While running out of Huckleberry Hill Apartments, he saw who he believed were his attackers in a Mercedes SUV in the cemetery near the apartment, Pettway testified. Pettway said he jumped in the bushes as the SUV drove by.

Pettway described one attacker as being over 6 feet tall and the other attacker as being shorter with a huskier build. Phillips is shorter in height with a skinnier frame.

Pettway testified he didn’t see Phillips during the attack when asked by Chancey and defense attorney Jeremy Armstrong.

Tracking Skinner’s car

Joshua Bussey was called to the stand after Pettway. He told the court he is a cybersecurity hacker. Skinner’s sister is his daughter’s mother, he testified.

Bussey testified Skinner’s sister received a phone call about the attack on the night of July 26, 2020. He and Skinner’s sister met up with Pettway at Pettway’s mother’s apartment at The Lodge, where Pettway told them about the attack and Skinner’s abduction.

Bussey said he knew Skinner’s missing car had been bought from a “buy here, pay here” lot which he knew had a GPS tracker on the vehicle. Bussey said he contacted the guy Skinner bought the car from, who put him in contact with the tracking company.

The car’s location was pinged in Seale, Alabama, according to Bussey’s testimony. He then contacted law enforcement and headed to Seale, where he met them at a Dollar General, according to Bussey’s testimony.

Before heading to the Dollar General, he drove to the area where the car last had been pinged but didn’t find the car and headed back to the Dollar General, he testified. While driving, he saw a red Mercedes and said a guy in the passenger seat of that car looked at him.

Mercedes is the same brand of vehicle Pettway saw leaving the cemetery near the apartment. He met up with law enforcement and got in an unmarked vehicle with them, according to Bussey’s testimony.

While in the vehicle with law enforcement, the red Mercedes was spotted again on a dirt road and an officer stated no one should be on that road that late at night. Bussey testified he saw a woman and three other people, including the man who previously had looked at him.

The pursuit

Sgt. Christy Pritchard of the Russell County Sheriff’s Office testified she was dispatched to the Dollar General that night. Pritchard testified she received a call of a suspicious vehicle on Porter Road within five minutes of the other law enforcement personnel at the Dollar General leaving to search for Skinner’s car.

She later was advised the 2002 Mercedes was fleeing in her direction, Pritchard testified. Pritchard said the fleeing car got on Highway 169, where she activated her blue lights and siren.

Pritchard chased the car from Highway 169 until the chase ended over an hour later in Wetumpka, Alabama, according to her testimony.

A video of the chase was shown to the court. In the video, the vehicle is traveling fast, going into an oncoming lane, running a red light, passing a tractor trailer on the shoulder of the road and colliding with a law enforcement vehicle. Pritchard said she apprehended Phillips from the vehicle after the chase.