HAMBURG — Defense lawyers on Wednesday produced witnesses who say they saw a sports utility vehicle stopped along a southeast Arkansas highway long before prosecutors say a 17-year-old girl called her family the night she ran out of gas and then disappeared.
Kenneth Osburn, 47, is on trial for capital murder in the Aug. 27, 2006, slaying of Casey Crowder of Pine Bluff. Crowder vanished after her SUV ran out of gas on U.S. Highway 65 near Dumas while on the way home from visiting her boyfriend in Pickens.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The defense brought 10 witnesses to the stand who say they saw an SUV parked on the side of the highway between 2 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. the morning Casey disappeared. Before the prosecution rested Tuesday, the state introduced evidence that Casey called her mother at 5:30 a.m.
The defense also produced witnesses from a cookout the morning after Casey disappeared, who said Osburn was present about 10 a.m., that he acted normally and that they didn't notice any scratches on his arms or face.
Casey's mother, Melinda Crowder, said during a break that motorists must have seen a different SUV on the roadside. She said her daughter would not have waited hours to phone her to say she had run out of gas.
Melinda Crowder told Little Rock television station KTHV: "I believe she (Casey) is looking down right now saying, 'Get him (Osburn), Mama, before he gets someone else."'
Jurors on Tuesday watched a videotape of a statement Osburn made to investigators. Osburn told the officers he had circled Casey Crowder's neck with wire ties in an effort to control her.
A medical examiner has testified that Crowder was strangled with a wire tie.
Osburn's defense lawyer says Osburn had nothing to do with the teen's death.
The trial in Hamburg is expected to continue into Friday.