MINNEAPOLIS — The state rested its case on Thursday in the trial of Demetrius Wynne, who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection to Susan Spiller's death.
In July 2015, police found Spiller's body inside her home while doing a welfare check. The 68-year-old artist and community activist was brutally stabbed and strangled to death, according to prosecutors, but the person responsible for Spiller's death remained a mystery.
For four years, the case went unsolved — that was, until Wynne's fingerprints made their way into the police database.
During the trial, prosecutors say Wynne's fingerprints were lifted from the window where the intruder entered the home, in addition to another window on Spiller's home that had been tampered with. The DNA found under Spiller's fingernails can also be narrowed down to a male in Wynne's family.
On Thursday, Wynne's mother was the first witness for the defense, saying that the family held a barbeque that day, adding that Demetrius, who was 14 at the time, went to bed that night. She said that she believes there is no way he could have snuck out of the house.
During cross examination, Wynne's mother denied telling others that the two families had a difficult relationship, and also denied telling a Brooklyn Center officials "I'm afraid my son has issues."
According to KARE 11's Lou Raguse, the case could be in the jury's hands by Friday, March 25 or Monday, March 28.
