Until now, it's been a black box, an unknown. Today, the prosecutor lifted the veil on the hard drive of the Harper Family computer. Computer specialist testified Sgt. Allan Abney said he scanned the files and found a Mapquest search for directions. The directions charted the way from Melvin Brother's House in Columbus, Ohio to the home of Vincent and Melvin's mother in Elizabeth City. Vincent Brothers says he was visiting Melvin in Ohio during the murders. The prosecutor says he used a rental car to drive back to Bakersfield. But Abney didn't mention whether anyone 'Mapquested' directions from Columbus to Bakersfield. So what does this mean? Well, at face value not much. The defense says Melvin and Vincent took a trip to their mother's house toward the end of the Ohio trip. But the defense also says Vincent Brothers has a psychological condition that causes him to get lost. They said without directions, he would get lost. Well, it appears Vincent did use the computer to find directions. And it does show Brothers was thinking about where he would go during his trip to Ohio. But once again...there's no smoking gun. No concrete evidence that Brothers was thinking ahead of time about how he would drive to Bakersfield.
Today's testimony was both gruesome and grueling. Dr. Armond Dollinger who originally performed the autopsies died in 2005. Pathologist Dr. Debra Hanks analyzed his work and took the stand instead. Dr. Dollinger determined that most of the Harper family died within a matter of seconds. Marshall Harper, the youngest member at just 6-weeks, lingered on for several minutes. He had been shot in the chest, which is a fatal wound. But the bullet didn't strike the more vital organs. It lacerated his liver. He bled out slowly into his chest. Dr. Hanks says all of the family members were shot within an intermediate range...as close as 6 inches or as far as 3 feet. She can tell by gunpowder stippling around the wounds. Earnestine Harper had been shot in the head twice. One bullet lodged in the temporal bone of the skull. Another bullet rested near the foramen magnum...the base of the skull.
Marshall Harper had been shot in the back. The bullet exited his chest. Lyndsey Harper was also shot in the back. The bullet traversed vital organs and her spine. Her lungs filled with blood. Marques Harper had been shot at close range in the head. All of the bodies had begun to decompose. But there was still food in their stomachs. Dr. Abney said a light meal can pass through the stomach in between 1 and 2 hours. Slightly heavier meals move on in 3-4 hours. And a meal with a lot of meat or heavy fatty foods can take up to 6 hours to empty. The family reportedly ate at Black Angus the day of the murders. The food indicates the family died in the afternoon or late evening of July 6, 2003.
