CLEVELAND — Day two in the trial for Terrell Silver, the man accused of killing four people in Cleveland in 2019, wrapped up Tuesday after prosecutors spent hours questioning officers, detectives and a forensic scientist who worked on the case.
On Sept. 21, 2019, Mark Huff, a man who lived on the street where it happened, called police and reported there were possibly bodies inside a home at East 144th and Kinsman in Cleveland. He said he hadn’t seen the man who was living there in a week and heard some information from another friend that something had happened.
Officers responded and discovered an odor and then a room on the third floor with four dead bodies inside. A detective who processed the scene testified in court that there were maggots and flies all over the floor and bodies.
With the help of a forensic scientist and responding officers, prosecutors took the jury through every piece of evidence recovered—including clothing, gun casings, phones, drugs and a purse. Lisa Przepyszny, a forensic scientist with Cuyahoga County testified that the bodies were in advance stages of decomposition, including one body that had very little skin left on the torso.
CASE DETAILS
At some point between Sept. 7 and Sept. 21, 2019, Silver is alleged to have approached four victims, including two females (ages 18 and 19) and two males (ages 20 and 23) inside a residence near East 144th Street and Kinsman Road in Cleveland where they were staying at the time. It is alleged that Silver fatally shot all four victims multiple times as they were lying down on two mattresses on the floor before fleeing the scene, and officials believe their corpses had been inside for roughly two weeks before being found.
The 18-year-old female victim, identified as Euclid native Jazmyne Lawson, was 5 1/2 months pregnant at the time of her murder. The remaining three victims were as follows:
- 23-year-old Christopher Monroe, of Cleveland
- 20-year-old Dejuan Damar Willis, of Twinsburg
- 19-year-old Aiyanna Quitman, of Euclid
It is believed that Silver knew at least one of the victims and entered the residence with the intent to kill.
Court records show Silver has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2006, including prior convictions for aggravated robbery and weapons charges that saw him serve multiple years in prison. In fact, the Cleveland native is already incarcerated at the Trumbull Correctional Institution after pleading guilty to unrelated attempted robbery and weapons offenses in 2022.
An investigation linked Silver to the crime using DNA and gun tool mark evidence from the scene.
In April 2023—more than 3.5 years after the incident—Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley announced that Silver had been indicted on the following charges:
- 15 counts of Aggravated Murder
- One count of Aggravated Burglary
- One count of Aggravated Robbery
- One count of Having Weapons Under Disability
- One count of Tampering With Evidence
3News' Tyler Carey contributed to this report.