Day 2 in the George Burch Trial for the murder of Nicole VanderHeyden took place today.
Witness testimony began this morning with Sargent Loppnow of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office when he described the scene where Nicole’s body was found on May 21 2016. He explained that her body was found in a field’s vegetation wearing only socks and a wristband.
Yet, the majority of the morning was dedicated to Medical Examiner Dr. Rogalska’s testimony of the autopsy.
Dr. Rogalska said, while VanderHeyden’s facial injuries did not completely obscure her identity,
it did make it difficult to quickly say it was Nicole’s body.
According to Dr. Rogalska, among other injuries, VanderHeyden suffered there were 20 abrasions, 8 contusions, 8 lacerations, a hemorrhaged tongue, fractured skull, and bleeding around the brain.
Many of VanderHeyden’s injuries occurred before her death, while others happened after. However, there were also other injuries that are not exactly clear if they occurred before or after her death.
Dr. Rogalska determined VanderHeyden died from strangulation and blunt force injury.
Also on the stand was the Brown County Sheriff’s Office Deputy who said he discovered VanderHeyden’s clothes on Highway 172 while on his way home.
The officer who secured the much-discussed Burch cell phone data, Lieutenant James Valley, took the stand as well today. Valley testified that Doug Detrie, VanderHeyden’s live-in boyfriend, was at the police department when he executed a search warrant at the VanderHeyden-Detrie home.
Lt. Valley said, in September he followed Burch from his residence and eventually conducted a traffic stop. It was during that stop where he confiscated Burch’s phone. Lt. Valley then obtained a search warrant to search Burch’s home. It was at Burch’s residence that Lt. Valley found and subsequently turned in a blood stained jersey and a box of cigarettes.
Also on the witness stand today was Dallas Kennedy, a co-worker of Vanderheyden’s who babysat Nicole’s youngest son the night she was killed.
Kennedy said she was sleeping when Doug Detrie returned home with his friend Greg around 2:40 in the morning
Kennedy said Detrie seemed concerned that he didn’t know where Nicole was after calling her several times and then told Kennedy to also call Nicole and try to locate her.
He shared with Kennedy that the two had gotten in a fight that evening and Nicole had threatened to walk home.
During the defense cross examination, Kennedy said she wasn’t best friends with Nicole and that Nicole didn’t indulge her with details about her life. She also said that she only interacted with Detrie a few times in passing
When the defense asked what kind of father Detrie was and what prior babysitting arrangements looked like.
The prosecution objected to such questions, which the judge sustained, but not before sending out Kennedy and the jury while discussing the questions relevance to the case.
When brought back into the courtroom, Judge Zakowski asserted that Kennedy be only asked questions about what she observed the night Detrie came home without Nicole.
(Photo is of Detrie wearing his Fitbit during Sgt. Tracy Holschbach’s interview with him)
In the final moments of the day, Sgt. Tracy Holschbach was called as the last witness to the stand.
Holshbach explained that she visited Detrie’s house after Nicole went missing and that she recorded her conversation with Detrie without his knowing.
She says he looked hungover, but didn’t see any scratches/marks on his arms/hands.
Holschbach explained that Detrie was wearing the well-reported Fitbit at the time of her interview. She also explained that Detrie consented for the sheriff’s office to download data from his phone.
Sgt. Holschbach closed the day by saying the Detire told her he never abused Nicole.
Stay tuned to Local 5 for more on this story as it develops.
