A detective testified Tuesday that the cellphone of strangling victim JoAnne Moore Desha was found to have been used four times in the direct vicinity of the nearby home of suspect Reginald Mapp.
Detective James Tate said experts at Verizon Wireless said it was narrowed down to the home of Mapp and three other houses on the day it was believed she was strangled using the cord of her vacuum cleaner. The victim lived at at 2302 Marco Circle and Mapp on the same street a half mile away.
Following a preliminary hearing, charges of felony murder, aggravated robbery, and especially aggravated robbery were bound to the Grand Jury against Mapp. He is held under $600,000 bond. He recently pleaded guilty to burglary, and General Sessions Court Judge Christie Sell ordered that 11 month and 29-day sentence into execution.
Detective Tate said Mapp quickly became a suspect because he had been convicted of burglary and was suspected of stealing items in the neighborhood. A black male was seen near the Desha house that day carrying either a Bible or a portfolio.
Police obtained a search warrant and found the keys and owner's manual to an older Cadillac that belonged to Ms. Desha in a shoebox in Mapp's bedroom at his parents' home. The Cadillac had not been operated for five years or more.
Kimberly Crowder, the victim's daughter, noted that the door to the old car was partway open at the time the body was discovered. She said that was very unusual.
Ms. Crowder said she went over to check on her mother after her brother told her that his calls to her were going directly to voice mail. She said she and her husband found the front door partially open and they soon spotted her lying in the floor with the cord around her neck. The vacuum cleaner were leaning against her lifeless body.
The daughter said she began flailing her arms and directed her husband to get the cord from around her mother's neck. She said he did so.
She said two rings had been taken off her mother's fingers and it was evident that an intruder had rummaged throughout the house.
Detective Tate said the rings and cellphone have not been recovered.
He said no fingerprints were found in the house, but a number of items are being sent off to check for DNA.
Mapp said he was at the house and paid $200-$250 for the Cadillac, but he denied harming her. He said she had not been able to find the title at the time. Ms. Crowder said her mother would not have sold the Cadillac without first checking with her son.