The fourth and what was supposed to be the final day of the Bill E. Warren trial concluded with testimony from Warren and the remaining defense witnesses. The trial was initially scheduled for three days, but the judge has again issued a continuance. Defense attorney Alan J. Zimmerman concluded his case a little after 5 p.m. Friday. Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge Duane Huffer gave the jury a choice to either continue with the trial Friday or resume today and finish. The jury decided to finish the trial today with closing arguments and deliberation. During direct examination of Warren by Zimmerman Friday, Warren described the nature of his relationship with the alleged victim, Kossandra Wood Weathers, as close. He then described what happened the night before the incident. He said that on Aug. 28 they went for a long drive to Wabash, North Manchester and Liberty Mills, eventually arriving at an abandoned railroad right of way. He met up with the victim again the next night because she wanted to talk to him about something, he said. “This is going to be the rough part for me, I have to stand up here and I have to break my pride,” Warren said. “I feel like I am telling on somebody and I have never told on somebody in my life.” When Warren and the victim got to the intersection of Ind. 13 and Ind. 14, Warren said he got in her vehicle to talk. “She wanted me to buy supplies and ingredients to make meth,” Warren said. “I know batteries were mentioned, Coleman was mentioned. I told her don’t ask me to ever do that. I’ll ride with you and I’ll die for you, but I won’t kill you.” Warren then stated that the victim wanted to get out of North Manchester and go to Tennessee, because her ex-husband was getting out of jail. He testified that he argued with the victim over the safety of her daughter. He did not want her to go over to her friend’s house who was a meth cook and have her daughter around meth. He said it got to the point where he snapped at the victim. “You’ve been calling me for months and months and months, ‘Help me, help me, help me.’ I’ve never asked you for one single solitary thing,” he recounted. “You call your people and you make it where I can take your daughter to a safe place.” Zimmerman asked Warren if he put anyone in the trunk of the car and he said no. Warren did admit that he told the victim to drive,and they went to the Liberty Mills cemetery. Warren said that a county cop passed by and she became agitated and said “We gotta get out of here.” They went from the cemetery to the abandoned railroad right of way, Warren said. While at the right of way Warren alleged that the victim pulled a two-liter pop bottle out of the car and a black gym bag out of the trunk that contained meth making ingredients. Warren said she walked into the woods and began to make meth. Warren also testified that the victim came back to the vehicle twice for a clean shirt because she spilled something on hers. Later Warren said that the victim spilled some white powder on the inside of the vehicle, which he began to clean up. After a while Warren said he went to the restroom and when he got back the victim’s daughter was no longer in the vehicle, but he later found the girl asleep in the trunk. After the sun came up Warren alleged that the victim drove back to his house in North Manchester where she slept and ate. Warren finally testified that he took the victim back to the intersection of Ind. 13 and Ind. 14 and kept the bag of meth ingredients that was in the back seat. “She said that they will come after you,” Warren said, referring to the meth cooks that the victim allegedly hung out with. “She said that they would come after your 13-year-old boy.” He said he tried to give back the bag of ingredients but she instead went to a friend’s house in Sidney. Warren said he then drove around and eventually ended up in Logansport to pawn his stereo amplifier for gas money. After he got back to his home in North Manchester he said he called a man from Alcoholics Anonymous and then he drove to South Whitley to talk to him. He said he then followed him and went to the Eel River and the Collamer Dam and threw the bag of meth ingredients in the river. In his cross-examination, Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel H. Hampton pointed out what he saw as inaccuracies in Warrens’ testimony about his time at the abandoned railroad right of way. “You testified that she made and used meth out in the woods,” Hampton said. “Yes sir,” Warren replied. “You’re so upset about (the daughter) being around the product, why didn’t you just leave? You had the keys to the car,” Hampton said. “I have no answer for that,” Warren said. Hampton later questioned Warren’s recollection of what was in the trunk of his car, such as his statement that Spangle didn’t bother to open a little black bag in his trunk that had box cutters in it. “You’re telling me that a CSI trained detective missed four or five box cutters in your trunk,” Hampton said. “Yes I am,” said Warren. After Warren’s testimony Zimmerman called four witnesses to testify about the morning Warren allegedly had the victim in his home. The first witness, Dale Pickens Sr., 62, Lagro, testified that he stayed with Warren’s mother on the weekends and that he remembered the door being cracked to Warren’s room, where Warren said the victim slept. Pickens additionally remembered Warren cooking breakfast for the victim, whom he later identified and said he knew, because she had been there before. Pickens additionally identified the victim’s vehicle in the back yard. Another man, Christopher Clark, 41, North Manchester, testified that he saw Warren and the victim leave the home on the morning of Aug. 30. The final witness, Melissa Eilts, 30, North Manchester, testified that she saw the victim and described her “as calm as could be” on the morning of Aug. 30. The jury will hear closing arguments this morning and go into deliberation later today as well.
