Day three of the trial of Joseph McAlpin, accused of murdering two people at Cleveland car dealership Mr. Cars back in 2017, began with the showing of surveillance footage from the night in question.
The footage showed a figure exiting the dealership around 6:40 p.m. on that Good Friday, beginning a period where he continuously walks back in and out of the building. Prosecutors believe this was McAlpin, and they accuse him of changing the license plates on a BMW and Mercedes that were stolen from the parking lot. A second individual can also be seen before getting into one of the cars and driving off, with McAlpin allegedly driving the other.
Nearly four hours later, another man can be seen pulling up to the dealership and going inside. Officials say this was the son of murder victim Trina Tomola (and stepson of fellow victim Mike Kuznik), who called 911 after discovering the bodies.
McAlpin, who is representing himself, then offered a cross examination. He argued that there was no way to surely identify the individuals in the lot, and that there may have been more people in the store other than the victims.
Following cross, Deputy Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Erika Armstrong took the stand. She performed both autopsies of Tomola and Kuznik, and ruled both had died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head.
During Armstrong's testimony, multiple photos of the victims' bodies and there wounds were shown, along with images of several bullet fragments extracted from the victims. Jurors were visibly shaken upon viewing the photographs.
The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Friday.