A murder trial is under way in Baltimore for a US Marine who prosecutors say tied up, beat and stabbed to death his former prom date, leaving her bloodied body to be discovered in a high school’s bleachers.
Prosecutors presented evidence on Tuesday they say proves Christopher Rather, 23, killed his ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old Jasmine Pierce-Morris, last June.
Rather’s defense attorney, Paul Batchelor, maintains he is innocent. He says investigators mishandled evidence and set out to blame the ex-boyfriend for the slaying.
Christopher Rather, 23 (left), is on trial for the June 2018 murder of his ex-girlfriend Jasmine Pierce-Morris, 20 (right), in Baltimore
Pierce-Morris’ body was found in a kneeling position, with her head resting in a pool of blood on, the bleachers at Reginald F Lewis School of Business and Law High School
A woman walking her dogs came upon the body and alerted the authorities
But prosecutors accused Rather of killing Pierce-Morris because she was seeing someone new.
They revealed her last text message to a friend, saying she was meeting Rather, who was her junior prom date, at the football field.
It said: ‘Soooo, Chris wanted to talk to me today right. I’m meeting him at this football field. I think this goin be our last conversation. He told me he was leaving, might be going to California or Hawaii. Imma find out when he get here but ain’t that good news?!?’
Pierce-Morris left home to go work a night shift at an Amazon warehouse on June 11, 2018, but never made it.
Her mother filed a missing person report when Pierce-Morris failed to come home.
On June 12, 2018, at around 11.30am, Dana Keller was walking her dogs by the bleachers at Reginald F Lewis School of Business and Law High School when something caught the animals’ attention.
Prosecutors revealed Pierce-Morris’ last text message to a friend (right), saying she was meeting Rather, who was her junior prom date, at the football field
Keller testified on Tuesday that when she approached the sitting area at the football field, she found Pierce-Morris’ lifeless body in a kneeling position, with her hands restrained and her face resting in a pool of her own blood, reported The Baltimore Sun.
Prosecutors played for the jury Keller’s emotional 911 call reporting the grisly find.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this. What is wrong with this world?’ she tells a dispatcher on the call.
Police who were called to the scene found next to the victim’s body a photo from her junior prom showing her posing with her date, Christopher Rather.
A friend and the victim’s mother told investigators Rather had become ‘obsessed’ with the 20-year-old aspiring model and singer.
Two days after the discovery of Pierce-Morris’ body, a SWAT team descended on Rather’s home, located less than half-a-mile from the football field, and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Rather told police he had two alibi witnesses, but one of them later admitted that the Marine had asked him to lie for him, police wrote in charging documents.
Prior to his arrest, Rather wrote two messages on Facebook expressing his anguish at Pierce-Morris’ death, reported WMAR.
A friend and the victim’s mother told investigators Rather had become ‘obsessed’ with the 20-year-old aspiring model and singer
‘Hell no you! Noooooo,’ the first post dated June 13 read. ‘Noooooo I’m not trying to believe it! RIT Too Pretty Jazzy!
‘I never ever ever thought I’d be making one of these for you! I don’t want to believe this at all! who would take my best friend away from us like this. I can’t believe it, please let this be a lie or a mistake.’
On the morning of June 14 – just hours before his arrest – the ex-boyfriend posted on Facebook: ‘I am in complete and utter shock, and disbelief.
‘I really cannot believe she’s gone. My Best friend, Ex-Lover, my calm, my happiness, my therapist, my motivator just gone. She was too young and it was not her time to go. Rest easy baby girl! I will always love you and have you in my heart.’