Jurors unable to reach verdict before Thanksgiving in Columbus murder case

Jurors in a Columbus murder trial for a man charged with kidnapping, rape and murder in the 2015 death of a Columbus woman will enter a third day of deliberations as no verdict was reached Wednesday, prior to Thanksgiving.

The jury will return Monday morning to resume deliberations. Jurors are deciding whether to convict Stacey Gray, 55, who’s accused of killing 25-year-old Renee Eldridge.

In his opening statements of the trial on Nov. 18, Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly said evidence would show Gray was waiting for Eldridge in her home, where he attacked, raped and killed Eldridge before taking her to Chambers 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, Nancy Gray, who shared no familial relation to the defendant, corroborated this in her court testimony the next day.

However, Nancy Gray testified that Stacey Gray didn’t have a key to the house after the locks were changed when Eldridge was allegedly raped in 2014.

Nancy Gray testified that she learned about Eldridge’s alleged 2014 rape the next morning, when she talked to her daughter at the hospital. Eldridge told her mother that, after the alleged sexual assault, the attacker pulled her to the end of the bed and douched her out, according to Nancy Gray’s testimony.

Nancy Gray testified she kept douches in the house. She answered, “Yes,” when Assistant District Attorney Anthony Pickett asked whether she recalled any missing after the incident.

Nancy Gray said Eldridge thought a man other than the defendant was responsible for her attack. When Pickett asked how many men would know she kept douches in the house, she responded, “Stacey.”

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation developed a DNA profile from the vaginal swabs and fingernail clippings taken from Eldridge’s body, which matched Stacey Gray, according to Kelly’s opening statements. Stacey Gray’s DNA also matched evidence from the time Edlridge was allegedly sexually assaulted in 2014.

Kelly said Stacey Gray also was caught with Eldridge’s gun, and his vehicle was seen on the bridge where her body was dumped in the creek.

Southwest Georgia Regional Public Defender Angela Dillon said she doesn’t disagree with a lot of the evidence Kelly told jurors they would hear.

However, Dillon asked jurors to be mindful of a few things when they listen to the evidence. These include when the investigation happened, when evidence was found, what the police know and when did they know.

She also asked jurors to be mindful of the location of the evidence.

Dillon said jurors will hear Stacey Gray was cooperative and consented to have his DNA taken. She told jurors they will hear about evidence collected and tested, as well as evidence collected and not tested.

One thing jurors wouldn’t hear during the trial, Dillon said, was about blood at the residence. She said jurors would find there was DNA from the residence, and they would hear who it belonged to.

Dillon said she wanted 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.