Opening statements begin at Columbus trial of murder suspect in Renee Eldridge’s death
A Muscogee County jury heard opening statements Tuesday at the trial of a suspect charged with kidnapping, rape and murder in the death of a Columbus woman 10 years ago.
Stacey Gray, 55, is on trial in connection with the death of 25-year-old Renee Eldridge. Her body was found July 7, 2015, in Osanippa Creek off Hopewell Church Road in Valley, Alabama.
Prosecutor’s opening statements
Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly told jurors the evidence will show Gray was waiting for Eldridge in her home, where he attacked, raped and killed Eldridge and took her body to Chamber’s County, where he threw her body, tied to a cinder block, into Osanippa Creek.
Kelly said Gray had been dating Eldridge’s mother and at one point had a key to the home Eldridge shared with her mother.
Eldridge’s mother returned home July 4, 2015, and saw a window screen in the grass beside the carport area, Kelly said. The window was always kept slightly cracked due to moisture problems, he told the jury.
Kelly said Gray knew that because he had been to the house many times. Eldridge’s mother witnessed other uncharacteristic things in the house, including Eldridge’s dog still in its kennel, a broken mirror on the floor in a bedroom, and prescription pill bottles Eldridge kept in her purse were on the ground, according to Kelly.
Eldridge’s purse also was missing, along with the .38 caliber revolver she kept inside the purse, and the back door was wide open, according to Kelly.
Kelly said Eldridge’s mother called the police, who responded and started working the case. A sergeant with the Valley Police Department found Renee’s body, Kelly said, and it was sent to the medical examiner’s office for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation in Montgomery, Alabama, where a vaginal swab was done.
The ABI developed a DNA profile from the vaginal swabs and fingernail clippings taken from Eldridge’s body, which matched Stacey Gray, according to Kelly. Gray’s DNA also matched a 2014 sexual assault case in which Eldridge allegedly was raped, Kelly said.
Kelly said Gray also was caught with Eldridge’s gun and his vehicle was seen on the bridge where her body was dumped in the creek.
“At the end of this case, we’re going to come back, and we’re going to ask you to find Mr. Gray guilty of all of these charges because he is, in fact, beyond all doubt, guilty of committing these crimes,” Kelly told the jury.
Defense’s opening statements
Southwest Georgia Regional Public Defender Angela Dillon, Gray’s attorney, said, “Any structure needs a good foundation.”
Dillon said she likes to think of trials as the construction of a house, and the bricks are the facts of the case, but those facts depend on a good foundation. That foundation is the investigation, she said.
Kelly laid out a lot of facts, Dillon said, and she doesn’t disagree with a lot of the evidence Kelly told jurors they would hear.
“It’s taken us 10 long years to get to this point,” she said.
Dillon said she wants jurors to be mindful of a few things when they listen to the evidence. These include when the investigation happens, when evidence was found, whether the police know and when did they know.
She told jurors they will hear testimony about evidence in Muscogee County, Chambers County and Russell County. She asked the jury to be mindful of the location of the evidence, which she said will become relevant when she makes her arguments.
Dillon said jurors will hear Gray was cooperative and consented to have his DNA taken. She told jurors they will hear about evidence collected and tested and evidence collected and not tested.
One thing jurors won’t hear, Dillon said, is about blood at the residence. She said jurors will find there was DNA from the residence and who it belonged to.
Dillon said she wants jurors to keep in mind the burden of proof and presumption of innocence as they listen to the evidence. She said the state has the burden to prove to the jury each and every element of the crimes charged.
Dillon asked jurors to keep an open mind until they have heard all the evidence and look at the foundation of the case.
“I’m gonna come back, argue the facts, along with the law, and ask you to find Mr. Gray not guilty on all counts,” she said.