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St. Paul man's trial may hang on DNA from a shoelace: Zachery Matthews is accused of setting his ex-girlfriend on fire after strangling her. The defense says Matthews found her in his apartment, already dead.
Oct 17, 2008 (Star Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Zachery Matthews panicked after he found his ex-girlfriend strangled in a closet at his St. Paul apartment, but he didn't kill her, defense lawyer Michael Colich argued in his opening statement Thursday for his client's Hennepin County District Court murder trial.
Colich said Matthews made "horrific, cruel, unthinkable" decisions when he drove 19-year-old Kristine Larson's body to Minneapolis on Dec. 19, leaving their young son behind in his apartment while he got rid of the body. Colich explained that Matthews panicked because of a history of domestic abuse and his fear that he would be blamed for the murder. Larson's body was found on fire in a car parked in the 2200 block of 24th Avenue S.
Colich urged jurors to keep an open mind. The case was featured earlier this year on the cable show "First 48" in which cameras followed Minneapolis detectives Rick Zimmerman and Tammy Diedrich as they worked to solve the killing.
According to court documents, Larson, of St. Paul Park, was to meet Matthews at his apartment the night of her murder to pick up their 2-year-old son, Darion.
In the days after Larson's death, Matthews spent time grieving with her family. Relatives said he was constantly trying to restart their relationship, which had ended about six months before her death.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Steve Redding said Larson's decision to start dating someone new was "the final impetus" in an already rocky relationship that pushed Matthews to kill her. "He exercised the ultimate domination and control -- he murdered her," Redding said.
Redding said Matthews then drove Larson's body in her car to Minneapolis, parked it in an alley and lit her on fire. When two strangers found her, a shoelace was tied so tightly around her neck that it was embedded in her skin, Redding said.
Cell phone records will show his movements that night, the prosecutor said. After dumping her body, he walked back home to St. Paul, Redding said. Redding is a DNA specialist and prosecutors intend to show Matthews' DNA on the shoelace around Larson's neck.
The case is being heard in Judge Lloyd Zimmerman's courtroom and is expected to last a week. Testimony begins today.
Rochelle Olson --612-673-1747
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