Nona Dirksmeyer
The first witness called Wednesday is Tony Siegal with the Russellville Fire Department. Siegal is a firefighter and an EMT.
On the day Dirksmeyer died, Siegal was one of the first responders to the scene. Siegal testified that he told Kevin Jones, Dirksmeyer's boyfriend at the time of her death, to get off her body.
Siegal says he knew she was dead because her body was in rigamortis. He testifies the thermostat was turned off in the 60 degree position.
Siegal testified that Jones had dried blood on his arm and face, and in most cases, people are "losing it," and Siegal said Jones shed a few tears but other than that he was acting normal.
State attorney Jack McQuary cross-examined Siegal. McQuary asked Siegal how long he had been with the fire department at the time of the murder; Siegal replied one year, and this was his first murder scene.
McQuary asked Siegal how he can know if Jones was acting like a normal griever if he had never met Jones. After his reponse, Siegal was dismissed just after 9 a.m.
Next witness called was a Russellville police officer. This officer had been with the department 18 years at the time of the murder. He testified that Jones kicked the wall, and told officers he was going to ask Dirksmeyer to marry her that night, Dec. 15, 2005.
The officer also testified that when another officer was patting down Jones, he tried to explain why, and Jones replied that he "watched a lot of CSI."
The next witness was another Russellville police officer who patted down Jones and he repeated Jones' statement the previous officer testified, and he said he thought Jones' statement was unusual.
Next on the stand was the property manager of Dirksmeyer's apartment complex. She testified that Gary Dunn's wife, Jennifer, told her she thought Dirksmeyer's "old man" did it.
After the property manager testified, Stacey Roads with the Arkansas State Police took the stand. She interviewed Jones' mother Janice, and she also spoke with someone named Evan. She testified that when she interviewed Evan at the time of Dirksmeyer's death, he said Dunn's wife came to his work and talked about having Gary killed.
However, Roads went back to Evan recently and he said Roads got it wrong in her original report. Evan said he wasn't talking about Jennifer Dunn when he mentioned someone wanting Dunn killed, but he was talking about Brandi, a name introduced earlier in the trial.
Next on the stand was Donna Atkins, an intermediate school secretary. She had known Janice Jones for 12 years and known Kevin Jones since he was in the sixth grade and used to go to church with the family.
There had been some dispute over Jones heading out to dinner the night of the murder with his mother was a planned event, or if the tale was developed at the spur of the moment. Atkins testified that she had called Kevin's school principal to get permission for Janice to take her son to a school party.
She testified that if school employees who didn't have a date for a couple's event, they didn't go.
When the prosecuting attorney cross examined Atkins, he asked if Janice Jones spoke English. When Atkins asked what he meant by that, he said she testified in Jones' trial that Janice said "naw" when told to bring Kevin. Atkins replied you have to know Janice to understand.
Attorney Bill James said you wouldn't have lied during Jones' trial and she replied "I'm not going to lie here," and James replied "Well that's for the jury to decide."
Our team on the scene says the defense is challenging her testimony that Janice Jones gave her advanced notice she wanted to take Jones to the school dinner in place of her husband who was out of town.
The last witness on the stand before the court broke for lunch is Michael Rome. Rome's wife is Dirksmeyer's aunt. He went to Dirksmeyer's apartment to find a dress for her to be buried in.
He testified that Jones was looking from room to room for something. Jones said he was looking for a DVD that needed to be returned, but even after family members found the DVD, Jones kept looking.
Rome said he later took Jones to the police station, where he was comfortable talking to police about his and Dirksmeyer's sexual relationship. Rome said that even though he'd never been around Jones before, he thought this was strange behavior.
The defense rests Wednesday. They asked the judge to throw out the testimony of Jennifer Dunn because of prejudice. The judge denied their request.
Defense attorneys told our team at the courthouse they have agreed to save closing arguments for Thursday.