Murder trial continues with ongoing police testimony

<p>The jury trial for a woman who is charged with killing her aunt more than 13 years ago continued Wednesday with the lead detective on the 2006 homicide testifying for two days straight.</p><p>Stephanie Ann Bryant, 58, is accused of killing Stella Morgan sometime in the days leading up to Christmas 2006 at Morgan’s home on Main Street in downtown Greenwood.</p><p>Biologically, Morgan was Bryant’s aunt, but those involved in the case say Morgan raised Bryant and Bryant called her “mom.” Bryant was charged with Morgan’s murder in late 2006, but was deemed incompetent to stand trial in early 2007. She was released from an Indianapolis psychiatric hospital in late 2018, after hospital officials said Bryant’s competency had been restored.</p><p>The lead detective on the case took the stand Tuesday afternoon at the Johnson County Circuit Court as the third witness from the Greenwood Police Department to testify on behalf of the prosecution. She was still answering questions from both prosecutors and the defense Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>The witness, a detective in Greenwood for decades before her retirement last year, gave jurors information about the autopsy. She also answered questions about her initial interview with Bryant on Christmas morning 2006, and Morgan’s phone records the day of and in the days leading up to when her body was found in a shed on her property.</p><p>Deputy prosecutor Megan Smither kicked off Wednesday morning by asking the detective about the blood on Bryant’s clothes when police found her at an Indianapolis bus station about six hours after Morgan’s body was discovered. Concerned family and friends asked police to do a welfare check on Morgan that evening. Johnson County Prosecutor Joe Villanueva is also working the case.</p><p>Bryant is defended by Jennifer Wilson Reagan and John P. Wilson, of the Wilson and Wilson law firm in Whiteland.</p><p>The detective told jurors she asked Bryant if she could have gotten into a red liquid that resembled blood. Bryant told the detective she had not, but the blood on her clothing was likely from sitting somewhere in downtown Indianapolis, the detective said.</p><p>Smither asked the detective to open evidence packages which contained the jeans, shoes and jacket Bryant was wearing when police found her at the bus station.</p><p>She also told jurors trash, food bags and cigarette butts were in a suitcase Bryant was carrying around when they found her. Prosecutors then played a recording of the more than hour-long interview between the detective and Bryant on Christmas morning.</p><p>Jurors were given a transcript of the interview which allowed them to follow along with the recording, which was at times garbled and was difficult to understand.</p><p>The detective testified that Bryant seemed to know where she was and what she was doing during the interview. She also told jurors she attended Morgan’s autopsy on Dec. 26.</p><p>Smither showed jurors multiple photos of the autopsy that highlighted the injuries, dirt and grime on her body. Morgan had injuries on her limbs and feet, but most of her injuries were on her head. Her manner of death was blunt force trauma by homicide. John P. Wilson, Bryant’s defense attorney, objected to some of the photos, arguing they were causing prejudice and were repetitive. Those objections were overruled by Judge Andrew S. Roesener, who is presiding over the case.</p><p>The detective told jurors a hammer was likely used as the murder weapon. Morgan’s family had also reported a hammer missing from Morgan’s belongings. During a later search of the home, a hammer with blood or hair on it was found stuffed in the back of a kitchen drawer, the detective said.</p><p>Wilson cross examined the detective and pointed out Bryant laughed at odd times during the interview, and Bryant’s accounting of the last time she saw Morgan and other details Bryant shared have never changed.</p><p>The detective told jurors she believed Bryant’s laughing and refusal to answer some questions were an avoidance tactic. Smither later cross-examined the detective, who said she had interviewed hundreds of suspects during her career and it is typical for people she interviews to be nervous, laugh and consistently lie.</p><p>The detective told jurors she believes Morgan exited through the home’s back door and was running along the side of the house when she was chased down and grabbed.</p><p>Wilson also asked the witness to detail the calls that came into Morgan’s home on Christmas Eve. An answering machine recording from Morgan’s home phone on Christmas Eve 2006 included several collect calls from Bryant. Morgan’s call records detail multiple calls from Bryant from pay phones throughout Indianapolis, starting Christmas Eve morning and lasting until early evening.</p><p>Smither also questioned the detective, asking if the evidence was enough to prove Bryant had a routine, and highlighting that Morgan’s call records from the days before Christmas Eve did not include calls from Bryant.</p><p>The last time anyone spoke to Morgan was the evening of Dec. 22.</p><p>Bryant’s trial is scheduled to continue today and Friday.</p>