The jury heard testimony Wednesday in the capital murder trial of James Tench that his mother, Mary, possibly was run over by her own vehicle.
Special Agent George Edward Staley Jr. of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation described suspected blood stains on the Ford SUV where Mary Tench’s body was found and several other areas during his testimony in the third day of James Tench’s trial.
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Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman and defense attorney Kerry O’Brien listen as Special Agent George Edward Stanley Jr. describes a photo of the Ford Escape where police discovered Mary Tench’s body.
Tench, 30, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and evidence tampering in the November 2013 death of his mother. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Since 2014, Tench has been serving a five-year sentence at Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield on a robbery conviction in Cuyahoga County.
Mary Tench’s body was found face down in the trunk of her SUV off Carquest Drive, not far from the Camden Lane home she shared with James, according to several witness accounts so far in the case.
Staley said the location of Mary Tench’s body in the SUV had the heaviest concentration of suspected blood stains, but several other areas throughout the Ford also tested positive for blood.
Staley testified the back hatch door, the front driver’s seat, the front bumper, the radiator and the undercarriage also tested positive. The front license plate frame and bumper were slightly cracked, Staley said.
A red fabric fiber also was found attached to the undercarriage of the car, Staley said. Mary Tench was found wearing a red jacket, which had several tears and abrasions, testified another witness for the prosecution, Lisa Przepyszny. She is a forensic scientist with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office.
“For that blood to transfer to underneath the vehicle, the person would have to be under the car,” county Prosecutor Dean Holman said in court.
Staley agreed that Holman’s statement would be consistent with a person being run over.
Tench’s defense attorney Kerry O’Brien objected on several bases, including whether Staley — who is assigned to the crime scene unit at BCI — had the credentials to reconstruct an accident.
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Defense attorneys Rhonda Kotnik and Kerry O’Brien discuss the trial while defendant James Tench sits nearby.
“I don’t think it takes accident recreation,” Holman said. “You got multiple substances on the underneath of the bumper that is determined to be blood.”
Staley said it can happen on rare occasions that the field test that determines if a substance is blood will give false positives. The same test also does not differentiate between animal and human blood, he said.
“At this point we don’t know whose blood this is,” O’Brien said.
More lab and forensic testimony is expected later in trial.
Staley also testified he performed a different test on one stain in the car — the radiator stain — and the test came back positive for human blood. A blood stain on a pair of boots, delivered to Staley by the Brunswick Police Department, also tested positive for human blood. It was unclear in court Wednesday where the police department found the boots.
O’Brien said without tests, the blood on the front bumper easily could belong to a deer that was run over, which Staley agreed was a possibility. The defense attorney applied a similar argument to blood spots found in the bed of James Tench’s Ford F-150.
“Hunters or people who deal with the meat of animals might use the bed of the truck,” O’Brien said.
The date of the blood stains or damage to the SUV’s front bumper cannot be determined, Staley said.
Staley also described several other spots in the areas he investigated that tested positive for blood. He described suspicious stains on the sidewalk and porch leading to the Tench home, on the washing machine and kitchen sink inside the home and on the inside panel of the Ford truck’s driver-side door.
He said the doors and windows of the Camden Lane home showed no sign of forced entry. Staley also said he was unable to get prints from smudges on the Ford Escape windows despite the smooth surface, which makes lifting prints easier.
“Water can keep us from getting good prints,” Staley said. “The vehicle was outside for an extended period of time.”
Mary Tench’s purse was found in a retention pond near the Ford Explorer with her credit cards and about $90 inside, Staley said.
The trial continues Friday before Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler.