LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Officers from the Lima Police Department took the stand on day two of the trial against a Lima man who is charged with the murder of a former girlfriend.
The prosecution continued to present their case against 31-year-old Melvin Boothe, who is facing charges of aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, and possessing criminal tools. He is accused of killing 25-year-old McKenzie Butler, who Boothe had a dating history with.
The officers who responded to a tip of a possible murder on June 13th of 2020 took the stand. They explained what they found in Boothe's apartment and the fact that he tried to escape through a window at his apartment when they arrived. Plus they talked about the evidence that was discovered in a small wooded area in Martin Luther King Junior Park that led them to where Butler's body was buried.
"This is a slightly elevated compared to the grassy area so it's like a slight hill up to the tree line, at one point I stepped up there and just inside the tree line, somewhere around this area, I couldn't tell you exactly where, I located two shovels that were just inside the tree line," explained Sgt. Bryce Garman, Lima Police Department.
The state presented the jury with pictures of the grave site where Butler was found and the suitcase that she was found in. They will continue to present their case when the trial resumes on Wednesday.
