The Missouri murder case of Doctor Teresa Sievers continues.
The Prosecution has linked important evidence in Jimmy Rodgers' murder trial to fibers found on the victim.
Evidence recovered from the leg of deceased Doctor Teresa Sievers matched fibers extracted from a blue jumpsuit recovered in Missouri, close to the home of suspect Jimmy Ray Rodgers, according to FBI analyst, Linda Otterstatter.
Linda Otterstatter, an expert witness from the FBI's trace evidence unit, said trace evidence is small debris and can include fibers, hair, glass or soil. Otterstatter was the first witness to testify in the Rodgers trial on the fourth day of testimony in the courtroom located in Fort Myers.
The trace evidence was taken from a blue jumpsuit recovered by investigators in Missouri and compared to the fibers recovered from the victim's dress, her left leg and the kitchen floor of her home.
When compared, the fibers contained the, "same microscopic characteristics and optical properties," Otterstatter testified.
"Fiber association is not a means of positive identification, but due to the variability, manufacturing, dying, consumer use and weathering of fibers, one would not expect to find a fiber at random that displays the same microscopic characteristics and optical properties as a particular source," Otterstatter said.
After investigators searched Rodgers" Missouri home in 2015, his live-in girlfriend, Taylor Shomaker, led investigators to the side of a highway where they found the blue jumpsuit, an investigator with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office testified Friday.
Certified Crime Scene Analyst, Kimberly Van Waus, presented jurors through her photographs as she documented the Sievers' home after police were called. Assistant State Attorney Cynthia Ross asked her to mark her photos on a diagram of the Sievers' house.
Jeffrey Conway, who was Rodgers' former boss, testified Monday that in 2015 Rodgers worked for a contracting company that supplied laborers to a mining and battery recycling business in Missouri, named Doe Run. He added, "Workers at Doe Run deal with many toxic chemicals and are provided jumpsuits to avoid exposure, Conway said.
During his testimony, Conway held up a clean blue jumpsuit from Doe Run, which showed it was the similar the blue jumpsuit found by investigators on the side of the Missouri highway.
During cross examination, from the defense Otterstatter said there is no way for her to tell when fibers got to a certain place or how they got there.
The jumpsuit was not examined for blood or duct tape residue, Otterstatter said when
asked by the defense.
Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted. Sievers will go to trial when Rodgers' ends.
Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor with severe head traumer which lead to death, inside her family’s home on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.
(photo: Jimmy Rodgers)
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