UPDATE (5:00 PM)--
Det. Downs is showing the jury the blue jumpsuit he and another detective recovered in Missouri.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
This is the jumpsuit that Rodgers allegedly used to murder Teresa Sievers. pic.twitter.com/IxAK4DpowZ
UPDATE (2:30 PM) -- Next witness on the stand is Adam Hughes, from the Bonita Springs Fire Department. He says he was a medic at the time he responded to the crime scene. Hughes says when they entered the home they found Teresa's body on the kitchen floor.
He was followed by Sgt. Jonathan Armato of the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
Sgt. Armato said he collected buccal swabs from Bonnie Sievers as a protocol to eliminate her DNA from the crime scene investigation. Bonnie had visited the home that weekend to care for the dogs.
Next on the stand was Det. Michael Downs from Lee County Sheriff's Office. He responded to the crime scene and was involved in the Teresa Sievers murder investigation.
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UPDATE (1:30 PM) -- Next state witness is Dr. Mark Petritis. He is the person who found Teresa's body in the home. He was also a close friend of hers.
Dr. Petritis says Mark left him a voicemail on the morning of June 29, 2015.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
He says Mark asked him to go to the Sievers home to check on Teresa.
He says she was cold to the touch and had a massive wound on her head.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
Dr. Petritis says he then walked out of the home he immediately called Mark Sievers to ask where the girls were.
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UPDATE (11:30 AM) -- Curtis Wright is off the stand. Next state witness is Ann Lisa, Teresa Sievers’s sister.
Ann Lisa says she was with her family celebrating her mother's birthday the weekend of the murder.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
She says the weekend celebration was planned sometime in March of that year.
*The murder happened in June 2015*
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UPDATE (9:15 AM) -- Curtis Wright returned to the stand Friday morning for cross examination by the defense.
Defense is bringing up how Wright lied to detectives during initial interviews, denying that he had been to Florida during the weekend of the murder.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
Defense asked Wright if one of the detectives had questioned him if he and Mark Sievers had been involved in a sexual relationship.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
Prosecution objected.
They went to sidebar, and moved on from the question.
"Did you ever ask Jimmy how many times he struck Teresa with the hammer?" asked Defense.
— Sandra Rodriguez (@SandraR_media) November 22, 2019
Wright said no, but that he saw it was a lot of times.
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FORT MYERS, Fla. – A long-time close friend of accused murderer Mark Sievers took the stand for hours of testimony Thursday that was very emotional at times.
The state called Curtis Wright to testify significantly earlier in this trial than in the trial of Jimmy Rodgers. This time he is one of their first witnesses.
And once he was on the stand, the state wasted no time in explaining to the jury why Wright was there.
Prosecutor: “Mr. Wright, who killed Dr. Teresa Sievers?”
Wright: “Jimmy Rodgers and I physically did it, but Mark Sievers was also involved in the planning."
In the hours-long testimony, they also focused in on several motives: infidelity, the safety of Mark's two daughters, and money.
“That she was leaving him. That he couldn’t let her take the kids away from him, and again said that they were in danger…without him there to be able to protect them,” said Wright. “He told me that really the only option that he had was for her to die. And he said that he needed to have her killed.”
“He said that there was a lot of insurance, that him and the kids would be well taken care of, and that he had at least $100,000 to offer to have it done.”
It got very emotional at points.
"I hit her. I hit her with the hammer."
Seeing Doctor Sievers’ mother and sister in tears was heartbreaking, but no surprise, given the circumstances.
The same wasn't necessarily true for Mark Sievers. We asked FGCU law professor Pam Seay about this as well. She said Mark Sievers could be faking it.
As for Wright's testimony, it was consistent with what he said during the Jimmy Rodgers trial, that Mark Sievers hired him to kill Doctor Sievers, and Mark was afraid Teresa was leaving him for another man and was going to take the children.
Now Wright is not done for this trial, as the defense has not gotten their chance to ask him any questions. That should happen once the trial starts up Friday morning.
Full video of the testimony, in two parts, below:
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