Waring murder trial focuses on evidence

Jurors watch police video of remains found in woods By Glenn Smith

Prosecutors expect to wrap up their case in the Kate Waring murder trial today following much testimony about the police hunt for evidence and details of a gruesome discovery.

Charleston police Detective David Osborne is scheduled to complete his testimony about his findings, followed by a pathologist who examined Waring's remains. Then, it will be up to Ethan Mack's defense team to make their case as to why he should be acquitted of murder in Waring's June 2009 slaying.

Mack, 30, is accused of killing Waring with help from his then-girlfriend, Heather Kamp, in their James Island home. Kamp, 31, has testified that Mack jolted Waring with a stun gun, bashed her head with a wine bottle and dumped her in a water-filled bathtub to die. Kamp also is charged with murder, but her trial date has not been set.

Jurors on Monday watched a disturbing video shot by police at the Wadmalaw Island woods where Waring's skeletal remains were found on Oct. 10, 2009. A few people in the courtroom gasped as the camera focused on a skull, a spinal column and other bones wrapped in a tangle of vines and brush off Polly Point Road.

Tom Waring, the victim's father, sat close to his wife, Janice, and softly placed his hand on her shoulder as the video played.

Jeff Miller, a Charleston police crime scene technician, testified that the bones were spread about, indicative of animal activity in the area. A hair band was found near the skeleton, along with a lone earring, he said.

Bobby Minter, a private investigator hired by Waring's family, told the jury he discovered the remains after Kamp told his team exactly where to look.

Joanne Goodhope formerly worked with Mack for a homebuilder who developed sites in Polly Point Plantation. Goodhope testified that Mack was very familiar with the property and had walked the area where Waring's remains were found. He also knew the entry code for the gate, she said.

On cross-examination by Mack's attorney David Aylor, Goodhope acknowledged that many workers were involved in the construction of Polly Point and likely knew the gate code.

After the discovery, Charleston police painstakingly searched Mack and Kamp's Riley Road apartment looking for evidence of the killing.

Mike Sherman, supervisor of the Charleston police crime scene unit, said he tested 93 different stains in the apartment and all tested negative for blood. Crime scene technicians also looked for hair, broken glass and wine residue but again came up empty, he said.

Aylor, Mack's attorney, questioned Sherman about the lack of evidence and whether he found the presence of cleaning supplies that would indicate someone tried to clean up a crime scene, as Kamp claimed. Sherman said it would be difficult to say, as any home that has been cleaned would show the presence of those cleaners.

"It was obvious this was an apartment that had been cleaned up pretty well," Sherman said.

Under re-direct by prosecutors, Sherman pointed out the search occurred four months after the killing, and someone could clean a space so well as to eliminate all traces of evidence. He also noted that investigators could find no physical evidence linking Mack and Kamp to the apartment, even though they lived there.

Police crime scene technician Randal Unterbrink testified that he recovered a bulldog key chain from the apartment. Kamp has testified that Mack took the key chain from Waring's purse after the killing. Osborne noted that a private investigator hired by Waring's family found the key chain behind a chest of drawers and alerted police to its presence.

Osborne testified that police also recovered sunglasses, identified as Waring's, from Mack's mother's car. Police also seized a ring, said to be Waring's, that Mack pawned shortly after the killing. Kamp testified that she stole a ring from Waring's hand after her death. Defense lawyers have questioned that account and contested suggestions that the pawned ring is the ring Kamp was referring to.

The reported locations of the crime and where the body was found .

Late Monday, Osborne testified that Mack seemed genuinely concerned when Waring disappeared. But when investigators continued to focus their questions on him, Mack grew agitated, angry and annoyed, he said.

Mack told police he dropped Waring at her Murray Boulevard home after dinner on June 12, 2009. He and then-girlfriend Kamp then supposedly went to James Island to buy chips and a soda before driving to North Charleston to spend the night with Mack's father, Osborne said. Osborne said it made no sense for someone to take such a long route, and police later discovered he never stayed with his father that night.

Mack also told police that Waring and Kamp had argued about $4,500 Kamp had lent Waring for jewelry, and Waring's plan to rent a home Kamp owned in downtown Charleston, Osborne said. Mack stated that Waring frequently borrowed money from people and often disappeared for days. He showed Osborne a text message Waring supposedly sent him on the night of her disappearance announcing plans to go to Greenville, Osborne said.

Police, however, found Waring seldom took off unannounced and that Kamp owned no property in Charleston, Osborne said. What's more, police learned that Mack was lying about where he lived. He claimed he was staying with his mother on Johns Island when he was really living on Riley Road, he said.

Also on Monday, private investigators said they placed Mack's home under video surveillance and attached a GPS monitor to his car to track his movements in the months after Waring's disappearance.

Mack's jailhouse plot to pin Waring murder on wife ruined by snitch , published 10/09/10

Bill Capps, a computer forensics expert and former Charleston police officer, said investigators set up a motion-activated video camera outside the couple's Riley Road home. The camera was in place for about two months but found nothing incriminating, Capps said.

"There was a lot of video of trees moving in the wind, but not much else," he said.

The GPS unit on his car showed Mack primarily drove around James Island, Folly Beach and Johns Island, Capps said. It did not track him going near the Wadmalaw Island woods where Waring's remains were found, he said.

Also, a bank teller testified that Mack tried to cash a $4,500 check from Waring's bank account two days after Waring disappeared.

Linda Jackson Reed of Bank of America said the signature on the check didn't match the one the bank had on file from Waring. The account also didn't have enough money to cover the check, which was made out to Mack for "repayment of jewelry loan," she said.

Reed said Mack grew upset when she told him she could not cash the check.

Brenda Gail Heath, a forensic document examiner with the State Law Enforcement Division, said she examined that check along with two others -- one for $2,000 and another for $550 -- that had been written to Mack from Waring's account in June 2009. Comparing the checks to known handwriting samples, Heath said she determined there is a "strong probability" that Kamp forged the checks and that it is "probable" that Mack endorsed them.

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