Andrew Compton Update: New Details Revealed in Case of Slain Sullivan University Student
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CBS/WLKY/AP) Gregory O'Bryan, the man accused of killing 18-year-old Sullivan University student Andrew Compton, described the teen as "one of the most innocent, sweetest kids" in a videotaped confession released by prosecutors Thursday.
O'Bryan, 40, faces the death penalty in the murder of Compton who was last seen on Oct. 28. A week later, O'Bryan was arrested and charged with Compton's slaying after he confessed to police that Compton died during sex and he put his body inside a cardboard box he threw into a Dumpster, reports CBS affiliate WLKY.
In the video, O'Bryan recounts what supposedly happened the night Compton, of Indiana, died inside his apartment.
He told investigators that he met Compton on a gay dating website, and that Compton was trying to hide their relationship, according to local Fox affiliate WDRB.
O'Bryan said the two consumed alcohol and drugs and became intoxicated. He then told police that he tied Compton's hands behind his back with telephone wire, and then had sex with him on the couch.
"It was a strange position," O'Bryan said. "I looked up and he was dead."
O'Bryan told detectives for a time he thought Compton was in a coma, but then realized his neck was broken, reports WLKY.
Hours later he folded the body and placed it in a box, he said. However, a 10-day search of a southern Indiana landfill turned up no sign of Compton and court records released Monday say police detected that blood had been cleaned up in O'Bryan's apartment.
O'Bryan is charged with murder, sodomy, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
O'Bryan will face the death penalty during his trial, which is set to begin January 2012, but not having a body poses a challenge for prosecutors. They said there has only been one other capital case prosecuted in the 1990s without a body.