Jury Sees Police Interviews Of Murder Suspect Joseph Thomas

Jurors heard audio of one police interview with murder suspect Joseph Thomas and saw video of another Monday morning in Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Thomas, 28, is accused of killing and raping Mentor woman Annie McSween, whose body was found in a wooded area behind Mario's Lakeway Lounge in Mentor-on-the-Lake on Nov. 26, 2010.

McSween, 49, was tending bar the night beforehand at the lounge and closed the bar by herself.

Thomas' answers to police contrasted with testimony that jurors already heard from bar patron Matt Miller.

Miller played pool with Thomas at Mario's the night McSween was murdered.

Miller testified that Thomas asked McSween to dance that night. However, she declined. Miller also said that Thomas was carrying a knife that evening and talked about how he and his girlfriend had had a fight. Finally, Miller testified that he left the bar before Thomas.

Thomas told police that none of these things were true.

"I don't dance," Thomas told Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Sgt. Scott Daubenmire. "I hardly ever talk to barmaids except to order a drink."

During the second interview, which occurred in January 2011, Thomas told Daubenmire that he used to carry a small knife for work but he had not carried one "for months."

Thomas claimed that he hadn't asked anyone to dance that evening, also contradicting the testimony of bar patron Lynette Brown-Keba.

"Your recollection of the night is different from three or four other people's recollection of the night," Daubenmire told Thomas at the time.

Thomas told police that he left the bar at about 2 a.m. and walked directly to the home where he was living on Marine Parkway. He stayed up until about 5 a.m. playing Farmville and other games on his computer, Thomas said.

DNA evidence

Shawn Weiss -- an associate technical director for the forensic identification department of the Laboratory Corporation of America -- also testified Monday morning regarding DNA evidence that was collected from the crime scene.

Weiss performed a DNA analysis on tissue from McSween's vagina, as well as her underwear.

He used a test, a YSTR test, that is done specifically when comparing male DNA.

Ideally, YSTR tests use 17 different markers on the Y chromosome, which only men have, to see if a man could be a possible DNA contributor in a situation.

These tests are not used to match a person with 100-percent certainty to a DNA sample. Instead, if they don't match, they can be excluded as a possible contributor, Weiss testified.

In this specific case, Weiss was not able to find all 17 identifiers in the provided samples. He testified that he found three signifiers in the underwear sample and six in the vaginal sample.

He compared those samples to those provided by Thomas. Weiss concluded that Thomas could not be excluded as a DNA contributor because he matched on all available identifiers.

Weiss explained that about one in every 10 men would match the three of 17 identifiers found in the underwear sample and one in 926 men would match the six of 17 identifiers found in the vaginal sample.

Weiss noted that this did not necessarily mean that Thomas' DNA was found on McSween's body and her underwear. However, it did not exclude him either.

"The Y chromosome is better for exclusionary tests," Weiss said. "Joseph Thomas can't be excluded as a possible contributor."

Weiss added that men in the same family -- brothers, fathers, first cousins on the father's side -- have the same identifiers.

Weiss also ran tests on five other potential male suspects, including bar patrons Allen Heise Jr. and Matt Miller and the lounge's owner Mario Cacaic.

All of them were excluded as potential contributors of the found DNA, Weiss testified.

Thomas has been indicted on charges of rape, tampering with evidence, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and aggravated murder.

The prosecution will call more witnesses to the stand today in Lake County Common Pleas Judge Richard Collins Jr.'s courtroom.

More trial coverage:

Jury Begins Hearing Evidence in Joseph Thomas Murder Trial

Prosecutor: Clothes of Murder Victim Annie McSween Found in Suspect's Backyard

Patrons of Mario's Lakeway Lounge Testify About the Night Annie McSween was Murdered

Suspect's Neighbor Recalls Burn Barrel Incident Hours After Annie McSween Was Murdered