CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — From DNA evidence to a missing persons report, we’re learning more about the investigation into last summer’s triple murder in Sioux Falls.
Monday, jurors heard from the lead detective and a forensic scientist.
Justin Rackley faces 3 counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
He’s accused of shooting and killing Daniel Kemnitz, Kellie Reaves and Michael Thompson.
A man and woman survived the incident.
Monday, we learned that one of the survivor’s DNA was found on the murder weapon, but he wasn’t the only one.
Less than a minute before he was shot and killed outside a home on Drexel Drive, security video shows Michael Thompson holding his phone. That’s according to the lead detective in the case.
She says Thompson’s phone showed up again when police took Justin Rackley into custody.
When authorities searched the defendant, she says they found two phones – one belonged to Rackley and the other belonged to Thompson.
Monday, jurors also learned in the hours after the shooting, a woman called police saying that her husband was missing. The detective says that woman was Rackley’s wife. When police went and searched the couple’s home, they found an empty gun box containing the same serial number that was on the gun responsible for the deadly crime.
That gun was sent in for forensic testing. Monday, a forensic scientist told jurors the weapon had Rackley’s DNA on it, along with DNA from the man who prosecutors say Rackley “pistol-whipped.”
The prosecution suggests the DNA could have gotten on the gun when he was hit or when he was trying to wrestle it away from Rackley.
However, police body cam video played last week in court shows Rackley blaming that same man for the shooting. Monday, the defense said it was no surprise Rackley’s DNA was on the gun because the two men had been fighting.
When the two survivors took the stand last week, they both said that Rackley was the gunman.
Defense attorneys argue that Rackley had no motive, and that everyone involved in the case had been drinking, so no one can reliably recall exactly what happened. Monday, they pointed out discrepancies between what one of the witnesses told police and what really happened.
The judge said in court today that it could go to the jury as soon as Tuesday. We will be in the courtroom and will let you know when the case goes to the jury and when there’s a verdict.
