Prosecutors: Suspect Exchanged Facebook Messages With Girlfriend Before Her Death
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The trial for a man accused in the stabbing death of his estranged girlfriend in Washington County continued Tuesday with the jury seeing social media messages between the two and testimony from the Washington County Coroner.
The jury continued to follow the timeline of events, according the prosecution, that led to the discovery of Karissa Kunco's body in a rural area of Washington county three years ago.
Prosecutors say on the day before Kunco's body was discovered, she and Clemons communicated via Facebook about meeting again.
It was a month after she had filed a Protection from Abuse Order against him. He was facing a number of his own legal problems and sounding suicidal.
"Will you see me today after work I wanna turn myself in but I'm not till I see you," he writes.
"Why do you put this all on me?" she asks. "I had plans with Hayley like I keep telling you how hard it's gonna be for me to see you yet you can't understand that for me. I don't wanna disrespect my dad like that at all." [Knowing her father would disapprove.] "He's been through enough."
But Clemons replies, "Well I'm at the worst I been if I don't see you I'm killing my self period so you can make that decisiion I bought the burner and everything sorry but you're the only person who can help. I know it sucks and I'm sorry. If you can live with my blood on your hands then ok let me know so I ain't suffering anymore and I can just do it now."
Kunco agreed to meet with Clemons. But the next day her car was found slammed against a tree with a lot of blood in the back seat.
And in another wooded area, some skid marks and women's clothing were found; and then under a tree stump and a pile of leaves, the nude body of a woman, which was eventually identified as Kunco.
The coroner paid attention to the clothing that was found.
"Actually, they were markers exposing that something of not a natural event occurred here," said Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco.
And he noticed something else.
"We uncovered the body of the female with a deep laceration of the neck," he said.
Warco said he determined the wound was ear to ear and caused her death, which was ruled homicide.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty against Clemons. The defense says drug and alcohol abuse is to blame.
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