A detective testified Wednesday that when he called Christopher Padgett shortly after the shooting of taxi driver Nathan Deere that Padgett blurted, "I lent my phone away today."
Matthew Puglise said he called Padgett because someone using his phone telephoned the cab driver just before he was shot in the head on Ocoee Street on the late afternoon of April 18, 2012.
The witness, who said he left the homicide division to go back on patrol three weeks ago, said the call from the Padgett phone to the cab driver came at 5:27 p.m.
He said three minutes later that Mr. Deere spoke with dispatcher Tameka Kirk, saying he was going to Brainerd for a "special fare" - when the customer calls directly to the driver and not to the office.
Detective Puglise said the victim's phone was not in the taxi. He said coordinates were used to locate it along a nearby woodland trail not too far away.
He said he and Detective Chris Blackwell went to the home of Padgett's parents shortly after the shooting. He said they found a pair of black and gray Jordan tennis shoes as well as his cell phone in his room. He said a witness said the shooter was wearing a pair of gray Jordans.
On the phone call to Padgett, he said he had not asked anything to prompt the statement about the phone. He said he had just stated that he was an investigator and wanted to talk to him. He said Padgett got off the phone a short time later.
Sgt. J. Daniel Francis said he went to Millennium Taxi and asked to see the log book. He said there was no entry for the call from the Padgett phone since it had gone straight to the driver.
He said he went to the hospital to check on the tax driver, who died hours after the shooting.
He said he asked for the girlfriend of Mr. Deere "and two people responded. It was a unique situation. Apparently they didn't know each other."
He said one was the dispatcher Ms. Kirk and the other was Tonya Harris. He said both were interviewed.
Padgett was held in jail since his arrest, but he made a $350,000 bond last Friday.
A jury in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz is hearing the case in which Padgett is charged with first-degree murder.