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Details of killings revealed: 'I hope not,' detective tells courtroom when asked if mother saw children harmedOct 25, 2008 (The Paducah Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. -- -- Investigators found what they believe is blood on Kevin Wayne Dunlap's shoes, in his truck and in his home but are awaiting tests to determine whether it belongs to any of three Trigg County children killed last week or their seriously injured mother. They also found a white-handled, Pampered Chef paring knife in Dunlap's garbage, state police Detective Jerry Jones testified Friday in Dunlap's preliminary hearing. Jones, the lead investigator, testified roughly 45 minutes in the hearing, which was moved to Hopkinsville because of court officials' security concerns. Dunlap, handcuffed, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit and rubber sandals, sat motionless throughout the hearing. He showed no sign of emotion. He either watched whoever was speaking or looked at the floor and said only a few muffled words to his court-appointed attorney, Jim Gibson. Dunlap, 36, of Hopkinsville is charged with three counts of capital murder, four counts of kidnapping, three counts of tampering with evidence and one count each of attempted murder, rape and burglary. Trigg District Judge Jamus R. Redd III forwarded the charges to a Trigg County grand jury after hearing Jones' testimony. Emergency responders discovered Kayla Williams, 17, Kortney Frensley, 14, Ethan Frensley, 5, and their mother, Kristy L. Frensley, 36, Oct. 15 after responding to a fire at their home at 169 Military Road in Roaring Spring, located about a mile from the Fort Campbell military post in southeastern Trigg County. Autopsies showed Williams died of a cut to her neck. Kortney and Ethan died of multiple stab wounds. Jones answered questions from Gibson and Trigg County Attorney H.B. Quinn. In four hours of questioning, Dunlap denied having been to Roaring Spring. "He denied and denied he'd ever been there, and then finally said he did have a service call down there approximately two weeks before that," Jones said. Dunlap also denied any involvement in the killings. State police arrested Dunlap on Oct. 18. Kristy Frensley could not positively identify him as the man who attacked her and her children after seeing a lineup of six photographs, although she said Dunlap resembled her attacker, Jones said. She was not sure because of his hairstyle and attempted to cover his hair with her hand when looking at the picture. "She was in the back yard, doing lawn work, when a man came up to her wearing a blue, short-sleeved Polo shirt," Jones said. The man also wore blue jeans and white Reebok athletic shoes and carried white plastic cable ties and a black handgun, Jones said Frensley told police. She had seen him once before, when he stopped at her home to ask directions while installing DirecTV satellite television service a week or two before the attacks. He had asked her then about her home, which was for sale. Police began investigating Dunlap after talking to Williams' friend, 18-year-old Matt Ledford. Jones said Ledford told police that he stopped at the Frensley family's home the afternoon of Oct. 15, but nobody answered the door when he knocked and called out. Kristy Frensley's Jeep was in the garage, he said, and he parked behind a champagne-colored 2004 to 2006 model extended cab Chevrolet Silverado truck with a trailer hitch and the letters HEY in the license plate. State police could tell what county the license plate was issued in using those letters, Jones said. They used vehicle registration records to determine that Dunlap drives a truck matching the description. Employment records verified he worked for Bruister and Associates, a DirecTV installer. Cadiz Police Chief Hollis Alexander and Detective Michelle Kent interviewed Frensley two days after the attacks. "She actually made unexpected progress," Jones said, adding that he is unsure if she realized at the time that she had been stabbed. She remains hospitalized, he said. Frensley told police that when she was approached by the man in her back yard he said was with DirecTV, he was going inside to get some things and no one had to get hurt, said Jones. He forced her into the home, Jones said. She tried to escape once, but failed. The man also asked her what time the children got home, and she told him, Jones said. The man bound her hands behind her back with a cable tie. When the children arrived home, Frensley saw him similarly bind Williams' hands. Although they were separated, Frensley later saw Ethan lying still. When Gibson asked if Frensley saw her children being wounded, Jones answered, "I hope not." Frensley said her attacker left her in the burning home but that she ran outside and into the swimming pool. Passersby who saw the house on fire pulled Williams out, Jones said. Her hands were bound behind her, and her mouth appeared gagged with pantyhose. Ethan's and Kortney's bodies were not recovered until after the fire was extinguished, Jones said. Although a plastic cable tie would have melted, the bodies' positions indicated they had been bound, he said. State police crime lab technicians took 21 swabs of suspected blood from Dunlap's home on Cox Mill Road in Hopkinsville. They also found what they believed to be dried blood on his truck's door handle and the inside of a seat belt, Jones said. "We've taken a pair of white Reebok tennis shoes that appear to have blood on them and perhaps some ash or soot," Jones said. Police also seized rope, cable ties, several blue Polo-style shirts bearing DirecTV logos, two handguns and copies of DirecTV work orders for Oct. 15 that were in the trash, Jones said. Redd sealed the search warrants, so they were not open to reporters' inspection. Shelley Byrne can be contacted at 575-8667. To see more of The Paducah Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.paducahsun.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Paducah Sun, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |