Day two of the trial of Joshua Ward in Boone County delved into a video of the defendant telling police he twice drove from Ohio to Union, Kentucky to try and catch a glimpse of victim Kelli Kramer's son after he broke up with her.
Witness testimony included the lead investigator and Kramer's boyfriend at the time she was killed who called 911 to report finding her body.
Kramer's drug use and the sex life lawyers from both sides described Monday as "alternative" was also the subject of defense attorney questioning and witness testimony.
The specific descriptions of the sexual relationship between Kramer and her boyfriend were sometimes graphic when put in context with the murder allegations against Ward. Kramer, 31, and her son Aiden Kramer, 9, were both found shot multiple times on March 21, 2018, in their Burlington apartment.
Opening statements by defense and prosecuting attorneys and the first witness happened on Monday in Boone Circuit Court.
Defense attorney Ashley Graham said on Monday that 51-year-old Ward was at home, reading and trying to figure out a treasure quest during the murder.
Ward, of Forest Park, was charged with two counts of murder in May 2018.
Tuesday's testimony began with gunshot wound analysis from Dr. Jeffrey Springer, a Kentucky medical examiner who conducted autopsies on the mother and child.
Autopsy details
Springer and prosecutors, using photos, showed Kramer was shot once in the back of the head, three times in the side of the head behind her right ear, above the right eyelid, and on her right thigh.
Her son was shot in the right temple at his scalp, below his right eye near his nose, and in his upper right torso near the left shoulder.
Kramer had methamphetamine and amfetamine drugs in her blood system at the time of her death, which meant she was intoxicated when killed, Springer said.
Springer said there were trace amounts of meth in her 9-year-old's urine, which meant at some point he had it in his system. Sullivan said it was possible the child could have ingested meth by touching it and sticking a finger in his mouth.
Her boyfriend
The third witness in the trial was 55-year-old David Sullivan, Kramer's boyfriend at the time she was killed.
Sullivan, of Cincinnati, said he and Kramer had been messaging less than six hours before he went to her apartment. Sullivan said he wanted to check on her as she didn't fulfill a promise to message him back when she drove back home through the snow. Sullivan said she told him she was coming back from a friend's house in Crittenden.
After not hearing from his girlfriend since about 10 p.m., Sullivan said he drove to her apartment to check on her. He said he found her door unlocked. Sullivan said he initially thought Kramer and Aiden were each sleeping on the living room floor. He said she was face down, and he rolled her over and saw blood. He called 911.
Prosecutors showed video from inside Sullivan's house from his own camera system of him in his apartment and leaving to go to Burlington.
'Silly daddy promises'
Ward's attorney Daniel Schubert questioned Sullivan extensively about the relationship the witness said started in November 2017.
Sullivan called the website they met through, Fetlife.com, a social media alternative for kinky people.
He said he was dominant and Kramer was his submissive in a nod to their shared alternative sexual roles.
Schubert questioned Sullivan about how he identified Ward to police as Kramer's previous dominant and boyfriend.
Sullivan said Ward was the only person he knew of that Kramer was worried about because she thought he stalked her.
The defense attorney quizzed Sullivan about his ex-girlfriend before Kramer, who he also told police about. Sullivan agreed that his ex-girlfriend was unpredictable.
Schubert said police determined that Kramer and Sullivan's ex-girlfriend had friended each other on Fetlife, and had been messaging each other. Schubert said Sullivan's ex-girlfriend had also befriended Ward and had been to Ward's house.
Commonwealth's Attorney Louis Kelly asked the third witness of the day, lead police investigator Jason Keipert to confirm if any other suspects discussed were among those Kramer had sexual or friend relationships.
Keipert, who works for the Boone County Sheriff's Department, said no one else has ever been charged.
The investigator said .22 caliber shell casings were pulled from the ground by officers at a farm in Hamersville, Ohio, where Ward was known to conduct target practice. Keipert said a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab confirmed a match between two of the shell casings and of the nine shell casings found at the crime scene in Kramer's apartment.
In a video of Ward's first interview with police played during Keipert's testimony, Ward said he was doing stalking-type behavior by driving from his home, then in Middletown, Ohio, to Union, Kentucky, to try and get a look at Aiden after he broke up with Kramer. The distance between the two cities is about 50 miles.
Ward told the detective interviewing him in the video that he forgot to bring his phone to the interview. Ward's phone was eventually examined by investigators after he gave consent for them to search it.
Ward talked in the video of being dominant and Kramer his submissive. Ward said he wanted to build a family of multiple romantic partners of his wife Karen Ward, Kramer, and a third woman. Ward said he found evidence of Kramer's ongoing sex history after reading through the about 7,000 emails in the account he said Kramer had given him the passwords to use when they were dating.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
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