Jurors saw a video of the scene where Jill Phillips' body was found and heard testimony from four more witnesses Thursday in the Jason Ryan murder trial.

Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department Lt. Sam Whitaker, Kelly Gawthrop, Chasidy Bertman and Dianne Luke took the stand in Thursday's installment of the trial.

Whitaker, who took the stand first and was questioned the longest, explained that he was in charge of the investigation of Phillips' murder from June 10, 2001, until January 2002, when he became the work release director for Kosciusko County.

After explaining an aerial map of Syracuse and the surrounding area, Whitaker showed the jury the whereabouts of Phillips' apartment, Turkey Creek, the location where Phillips' body was found, the pay telephone Phillips used on the day of her disappearance and road and highways relevant to locations in the case.

Once the map was explained, a CD made from the crime scene video was shown to the jury and those present in the courtroom. The video, which was filmed the night of June 10, 2001, started at a bridge on CR 300E and proceeded to where the mud-covered body was found in debris in a logjam in Turkey Creek. The footage documented that the partially decomposed body was found clad only in a pair of plaid boxer shorts, a fanny pack and one shoe and sock. The video also showed officers removing the body from the creek and opening the fanny pack to find Phillips' driver's license.

The coroner removed the body and took it to Fort Wayne for an autopsy while officers secured the scene until a complete sweep could be made the next morning.

On the morning of June 11, officers started searching Turkey Creek at CR 250E and combed the area for evidence.

The first piece of evidence found was a hair pick, the second was a shoe. The white tennis shoe matched the one found on Phillips' body. As officers continued their search, they reached the bridge at CR 300E, where a white T-shirt, a black jacket, sunglasses and a hair clip were found.

The body was discovered .16 miles from the bridge, while the hair pick and the shoe were found .45 miles from the bridge. All the items were labeled and taken as evidence. The items were identified and shown to jurors during Whitaker's testimony Thursday morning.

All the items found in Turkey Creek were given presumptive tests for blood, which were positive, but upon further analysis, there was not enough quality DNA to do more testing.

When the fanny pack's contents were emptied and examined, police found the driver's license, keys, four calling cards, a piece of paper with the address 1004 Osceola and three customer receipts for photos taken to be developed at Wal-Mart.

After the calling cards were found, Whitaker contacted NCS to find out what numbers were called at what date and time.

Two of the cards contained no information relevant to the case, while one contained calls from April 1, 2001, and another contained calls from Feb. 23-26, 2001.

On April 1, 2001, phone records show that Phillips made six calls between 6:31 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. Two calls were to friends in Fort Wayne, two calls were to Brandy's Gentleman's Club in Fort Wayne, one was to Evelyn Phillips (Jill's grandmother) and one was to Jason Ryan's sister-in-law Rachel Ryan. All the calls were made from a pay phone near Syracuse Rubber.

The other phone card contained a Feb. 25, 2001, call to Jason Ryan's residence.

Further investigation in the case uncovered information that Phillips had a prepaid cellular telephone. Once Whitaker obtained records for that phone, he discovered five calls to Jason Ryan on March 18, 2001.

During Defense Attorney Mike Miner's cross examination, Whitaker said that during the investigation, usually only investigations that turned up significant information were documented and ended up in reports.

After Whitaker's time on the stand, the prosecution called Kelly Gawthrop, one of Phillips' former neighbors, to the stand.

Gawthrop said she lived one apartment away from Phillips in Syracuse. Gawthrop testified that she saw a red Geo Tracker with yellow graphics from the door panel to the rear parked outside Phillips' apartment within a few months of the disappearance. She also remembered seeing a man near the vehicle. She could not remember if she saw the vehicle on more than one occasion.

After Gawthrop testified, Jason Ryan's former girlfriend Chasidy Bertman was called to the witness stand. Bertman dated Ryan for approximately two months beginning in July 2002. She said Ryan told her he was a suspect in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, but said he could not have done it because he was working on his ex-wife's salon at their house during that time. Bertman also said Ryan told her he would not have been able to get to where the ex-girlfriend (Phillips) lived and back to his house before his wife got home.

Ryan also told Bertman that the ex-girlfriend had showed up at his house with a child and said he thought it was best for everyone if they got a paternity test. He then told Bertman that nothing happened with the paternity test after that. He never told Bertman the ex-girlfriend's name.

Thursday's final witness was Dianne Luke, the former owner of Lakeview Auto Sales where Ryan purchased a red Geo Tracker. Luke explained that Lakeview Auto Sales sold the vehicle to Ryan on a buy here-pay here contract. She explained that Ryan sometimes made payments to her and sometimes the payments were made to other people working in the office.

Luke then explained that Ryan returned the vehicle in April 2002, saying there was a fire in it. She remembered the vehicle because the business would not normally take back a vehicle, but an inexperienced worker performed the transaction. The vehicle was inspected, and no evidence of a fire was found.

Luke also remembers thinking that it was strange that Ryan returned the Tracker, owing only $1,318 of the $3,597.75 he financed for the vehicle.

Later in her testimony, Luke said Ryan came into the business with a "really cute blonde" several times to make his payments. Luke identified the girl as Phillips when speaking with officers in 2004. Luke saw a photo of Phillips in a binder with paperwork and said that the girl in the photo was the girl who was with Ryan when he made some of his payments.

Once Luke's testimony was finished, court adjourned for the day. The trial reconvened at 9 a.m. today. [[In-content Ad]]