JG-TC.com > News > Warner's body displayed like McNamara's

TODAY'S HEADLINES

SPECIAL SECTION

ONLINE POLL

ONLINE EXTRAS

SITE TOOLS

OTHER LINKS

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 11:19 PM CST
Warner's body displayed like McNamara's

CHARLESTON -- Amy Warner was "exposed" for "shock value" after she was killed, just as Shannon McNamara was when she was murdered, a police officer who investigated both cases said Wednesday.

Joe Siefferman, an Illinois State Police crime scene investigator, testified about that and other similarities between Warner's June 1999 killing and the June 2001 murder of Eastern Illinois University student Shannon McNamara where Anthony B. Mertz has been convicted.

Siefferman's account was part of the prosecution's continued attempt to show a jury that Mertz might have also killed Warner. The prosecution wants to portray Mertz, 26, as someone who is a continued threat and deserves the death penalty for killing McNamara.

Last week, the jury convicted Mertz of first-degree murder and other offenses for strangling McNamara and slashing her body in her apartment at 1125 Fourth St., Charleston, on June 12, 2001.

Witnesses who testified Tuesday said Mertz told them he killed Warner and also admitted he set fire to an apartment building under construction at Fourth Street and Buchanan Avenue on Feb. 13, 2000.

During the guilt phase of the trial, the jury heard testimony from Richard Caudell, another state police crime scene technician, who said he thought McNamara's body was "put on display" after she was killed because she was found in her living room while most of the blood and signs of a struggle were in other rooms.

For more on this story, see Thursday's Journal Gazette/Times-Courier.

Add your comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Not already registered?
Then click Here.

Comment policy:

JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.

In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.

We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.

No comment may contain:

* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.

If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.