Prosecutor Paul Moyle displays suitcase in which murder victim Jasmine Pace’s body was found along the Tennessee River. Crime Scene Investigator Michele Johnson was on the witness stand in the Jason Chen trial.
Nashville jurors in the Jason Chen murder trial on Wednesday were shown a disturbing photo of a shackled Jasmine Pace at the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Judge Boyd Patterson warned the audience of the upcoming evidence, and the Law and Crime livestream did not display it as directed by the judge.
The jury was told that the body of the 22-year-old Ms. Pace as it was lifted from the suitcase by Medical Examiner Dr. Steven Cogswell was wrapped in three different black garbage bags.
Each was removed until the body of the murder victim emerged. Ms. Pace’s right hand was handcuffed to her right ankle. Her left arm was shackled to her left ankle. The handcuffs had a key with them. The shackle included a metal chain.
Prosecutors said earlier that Ms. Pace had been stabbed 60 times.
The jury was shown the tip of the knife that broke off in her body. Crime Scene Investigator Michele Johnson said a knife that was on a bed in the Chen apartment was not the one used in the killing. She said that knife was smaller and was still intact.
One of the wounds was “a through and through,” it was stated.
The jury was told that after detectives located the suitcase below Suck Creek Road that the medical examiner’s office went to the scene and retrieved it. One detective had determined it was a body, but had not taken it out of the bags.
A witness said blood splatters on the bathroom wall of the Chen apartment at 110 Tremont St. were indicative of having risen from the floor area. The jury was told earlier that the major attack on the victim appeared to have been while she was in the bathroom floor.
Investigator Michele Johnson told of the Blue Star agent being used to try to detect blood in the small apartment. She said, “It was everywhere from the living room to the bathroom. The whole floor just lit up. There was blood through the entire apartment.”
At the apartment, she said there were two rolls left of a six-pack of paper towels. There was also a 16-ounce bottle of rubbing alcohol. Detectives located video from the Walgreens on North Market and the Walmart on Signal Mountain Road, where Chen had gone to buy cleaning supplies and other items.
It was stated that during the self checkout that Chen ran a couple of more expensive items through as “asparagus.” Walmart was notified, but said it would not prosecute for theft, knowing that he faces much more serious charges – first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.
Ms. Johnson told of going back later to the Chen apartment after workmen spotted additional blood. She said it had been in a location under the bed. Photos showed that the bed had been recently moved.
Ms. Johnson said she went to several locations soon after Chen was identified as the suspect, including his parents’ home at Nolensville in Williamson County. She said during a three-day period she was awake 51 hours.
She said there was little in Chen’s Toyota Camry, but there was an impression in the back that she believed could have been made by the wheels of a suitcase.
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