DERIDDER — Law enforcement officials testified Thursday in 36th Judicial District Court that traces of blood were found throughout the room of a DeRidder man accused of killing a woman at a motel last year.
Chief of Detectives Mark Herford said that on the evening of March 24, 2016, he sprayed a mixture in the motel room rented to Jackie L. Pruitt, 60, to detect blood residue.
Herford said the mixture would glow bright blue when it came into contact with blood. “When I began spraying it, you could immediately start seeing stuff glow,” he said.
Areas that Herford said “activated” the mixture included a dresser near the entrance of Pruitt’s room, a section of carpet at the foot of the bed, the outer edge of the room’s shower stall, and the bathroom sink drain and soap dish.
There were also two stained towels on the floor of Pruitt’s bathroom that Herford said indicated the presence of blood as well.
Dr. Terry Welke, who did the autopsy of 28-year-old Sonya Ortego, said the victim suffered stab wounds to her back, and he noted several cuts to her extremities that could be defensive wounds.
In photos of Pruitt taken by deputies,Welke observed superficial cuts and bruising to Pruitt’s chest that he said appeared recent and could be consistent with scratches from fingernails.
When asked by the defense if the scratches could have come from an item such as barbed wire, Welke said were “absolutely not consistent” with such an item.
According to Herford, just after 11:30 a.m. March 24, 2016, detectives responded to Dee’s Motel on U.S. 171 just south of DeRidder in response to a 911 call of an unconscious woman found in a pool of blood in her motel room.
Herford said that after detectives arrived they realized Ortego was dead and began to secure the area.
He said he was told Pruitt, who had stayed the night in the room next door to Ortego, had left the scene in a rush before officials had arrived. Pruitt was later found nearby at his mother’s residence.
The trial will reconvene at 10 a.m. today in the courtroom of Judge Martha Ann O’Neal.
from American Press: Your Best News And Advertising Source - Home http://www.americanpress.com/20170519-Beauregard-Blood
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