Opelika, Ala. -- The man accused in the March 4, 2008, killing of Marietta native Lauren Burk had her iPod in his possession at the time of his arrest. A handgun believed to be the murder weapon was also found along a route that he took when fleeing police.
Twenty-six-year-old Courtney Lockhart of Smith Station, Ala., is charged with robbery and capital murder of Burk, a 2007 Walton High School graduate. Burk was an Auburn University freshman when she was found shot and nude along a rural section of Ala. Highway 147, less than four miles from the Auburn campus.
Phenix City Police Officer Greg Lahr testified Monday that he found the iPod in a pat down of Lockhart, who he led police on a high-speed chase after initially being stopped on a routine traffic stop.
Other officers from the Phenix City, Ala., Police Department testified about the traffic stop on March, 7, 2008. After Lockhart sped off, Officer Dale Richards testified that Lockhart opened his door, hitting the officer’s motorcycle and causing an accident. According to Richards, Lockhart then fled into the woods with other officers giving chase on foot.
Lahr said he worked with a K-9 unit to go back along the chase route and also located a handgun that was found to contain two spent rounds and several live rounds.
Burk’s older sister struggled to keep her composure when she was called on to identify the iPod.
Fighting back tears, Jaklyn Semones, Burks' sister, testified that she had given Lauren an iPod for Christmas and identified the evidentiary photo of the one taken from Lockhart as the one Burk owned.
“She spent all day on the computer, downloading music to it,” Semones recalled, wiping tears from her eyes. “She had downloaded every CD she had on it.”
The defense may have scored one point in Monday’s testimony.
Phenix City Police Officer Darryl Williams made the initial traffic stop and said after an ensuing scuffle he heard Lockhart apologize when hewas subdued.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry, but no one would help me when I got back from Iraq,” Williams testified.
Lockhart pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. In opening statements, defense attorney Jeremy Armstrong said evidence of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, stemming back to Lockhart's time served with the military in Iraq, will be a part of the defense.
Alabama State Fire Marshal Stan Ross testified that in the search of Burk’s burned out Honda Civic, a spent lead bullet was found.
It was also learned Monday that Burk died from a gunshot wound fired at point-blank range. Dr. John A. Daniels, the former Alabama Chief Medical Examiner, testified on the results of an autopsy he performed the March 5, 2008.
Burk’s mother, Vivian Guerchon, cried openly in the front row of the gallery as the jury was shown graphic autopsy photos of the injuries her daughter sustained on the night of her death.
Daniels said the fatal shot came from a distance of than six inches away, entering the left shoulder, passing through the chest, piercing both lungs and exiting the outside of her right arm.
“She was shot in the back,” Daniels said. “... With injuries of this type, it is unlikely that she couldn’t have survived more than two or three minutes.”
Sean McQuade , Burk’s boyfriend since high school, testified that he and Lauren had argued about an outfit she was wearing before she left his dorm at about 8 p.m. on the night of her death.
He said he called to see if she made it to a study group, but there was no answer.
McQuade, who left Auburn for Kennesaw State a short time after Burk’s death, said he gave police permission to search his apartment, but only learned something was wrong when Burk’s mother called to tell him that her car was found burning.
Marietta’s Michael De St. Aubin, a friend of Burk's since fifth grade, was supposed to study with her that night, but phoned her when she didn’t show up.
“She said she had to go to birthday dinner for a friend,” De St. Aubin. “I asked her about going to the study group the next night and she just said ‘I don’t know.’”
De St. Aubin said she sounded as if she were in a vehicle and very rushed and tried to end the conversation quickly. He said looking back, he should have known something was wrong.
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