Jennifer Turner's blood was found on the pocketknife that, prosecutors say, her estranged husband, Dr. Kirk Alan Turner, used to kill her, according to testimony yesterday in his murder trial in Davie Superior Court.
Her blood was also on the tip and handle of the 7-foot Viking-type spear that defense attorneys have said she used to stab her husband.
Kirk Turner, who has a dental practice in Clemmons, is on trial on a charge of first-degree murder in his wife's death.
She was found dead Sept. 12, 2007, in a shop building at the couple's house at 627 Jack Booe Road, just north of Mocksville.
Her throat had been slashed.
Prosecutors have argued that Kirk Turner was so rattled by plans for a divorce and by a lawsuit that his wife had filed against his girlfriend, Tondja Woods Colvin, that he killed his wife with a pocketknife.
Defense attorneys have argued that Kirk Turner was defending himself after his wife attacked him with the spear, which Kirk Turner had bought, stabbing him twice in the left thigh near the groin.
Jennifer Leyn, a former agent for the State Bureau of Investigation, testified that blood found on the pocketknife matched Jennifer Turner's DNA.
The blood on the tip and handle of the spear had two distinct types of DNA, but the dominant type matched Jennifer Turner, Leyn said.
She said that Kirk Turner could not be excluded from having contributed to the other DNA found in the blood sample.
Blood found on Jennifer Turner's left and right leg, on the top of a box found near her body, and on a section of her shirt all matched Kirk Turner's DNA, Leyn testified. Kirk Turner's DNA also matched blood samples taken from the concrete floor near Jennifer Turner's feet and next to a Chevrolet Corvette that was parked in the first part of the shop building, Leyn said.
Karen Morrow, a special agent for the SBI, testified that the length and width of an impression found on Kirk Turner's shirt matched the blade of the pocketknife.
Under cross-examination, Morrow said that she couldn't say that the pocketknife definitely made that impression, only that it could have been made by the knife. She said that the length and width of the impression matches up with the length and width of the pocketknife.
In other testimony yesterday, Capt. J.D. Hartman of the Davie County Sheriff's Office said that Jennifer Turner had changed the locks and the security codes in the house before the time of her death.
Under direct examination by Assistant District Attorney Rob Taylor, Hartman also said that Jennifer Turner received a call to her cell phone at 4:42 p.m. on Sept. 12. Anne Gould, a friend, had called Jennifer Turner on her land line at 6:10 p.m. that day. Those were the only calls that Jennifer Turner received that day on either phone, Hartman said.
He said under cross-examination that Jennifer Turner had changed her e-mail to "hatekirk."
In a quick redirect, Taylor asked Hartman the name of Kirk Turner's computer-screen name.
"Daddyrat," Hartman replied.
Judge W. Erwin Spainhour dismissed the jury about 12:30 p.m.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Davie County Courthouse.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
Advertisement