Testimony tells of murder scene similarities

Joe Siefferman, an Illinois State Police crime scene investigator, testified about that and other similarities between Warner's June 1999 killing and the June 2001 murder of Eastern Illinois University student Shannon McNamara.Anthony B. Mertz was convicted last week of McNamara's murder. Siefferman's account was part of the prosecution's continued attempt to show a jury that Mertz may have killed Warner. The prosecution wants to portray Mertz, 26, as someone who is a continued threat and deserves the death penalty for killing McNamara.Witnesses who testified Tuesday said Mertz told them he killed Warner and also admitted he set fire to an apartment building under construction at Fourth Street and Buchanan Avenue on Feb. 13, 2000.During the trial, Richard Caudell, another State Police crime scene technician, testified he thought McNamara's body was "put on display" after she was killed because she was found in her living room, while most of the blood and signs of a struggle were in other rooms.On Wednesday, Siefferman said police found Warner on the couch in her home with her throat slashed. The large amount of blood found on the couch indicated Warner was probably face down when she was killed and then turned over, he explained."The injury was exposed," Siefferman said. "She was turned over for what I can only call shock value. The killer wanted to see what he had done."Siefferman also noted other similarities between the two crimes, including both involved knife wounds, both women were killed at their homes, both were in their early 20s and both crimes took place on a Tuesday in June. There was also a washcloth found near Warner's body, and McNamara died because a washcloth was stuffed into her mouth, he said.During cross-examination by defense attorney David Williams, Siefferman admitted to differences in the cases, such as Warner's cause of death being stabbing and McNamara's being strangulation.Also Wednesday, Charleston police Detective Kevin Paddock testified that a neighbor of Warner's saw a car parked outside her residence resembling one belonging to Mertz's then-girlfriend, which Mertz sometimes drove.In other testimony Wednesday, Jerry Taylor, a State Police computer evidence recovery specialist, said he examined Mertz's computer and found his e-mail address was "cereal_kilr_2000." The prosecution might have been trying to show that was a spelling of "serial killer" that Mertz's Internet provider would allow.The prosecution indicated it will rest its part for the sentencing phase today, and the defense will then begin its presentation, expected to last until early next week. The prosecution's presentation will include McNamara's mother, Cindy McNamara, reading a statement about how the death has affected the family.Dave Fopay can be reached at 345-7085.