County Medical Examiner Dr. James Metcalf testified Wednesday that suffocation was the cause of death of Franklin Bonner, but he had other injuries. Dr. Metcalf said there were abrasions and lacerations on his arm, and at least four blunt force wounds on the victim in the 2009 slaying at his Washington Hills home.
At least one on the injuries was on the victim’s head.
Mallory Vaughn and Angel Bumpass are standing trial for the murder in the "Cold Case" in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz.
Bonner was found bound to a table and with duct tape over his nose and mouth. It was later ruled that he suffocated to death. When investigators took fingerprints from the residence, no matches popped up. After his family asked recently for the case to be re-opened, a new test found a couple of matches for fingerprints. Those prints were found to belong to Angel Bumpass, who was 13 at the time of the slaying.
It also came to light that then-imprisoned Mallory Vaughn allegedly confessed to a fellow inmate named Nicholas Cheaton that he killed Franklin Bonner. Vaughn’s attorney claimed the inmate lied in order to get his prison time reduced. While the inmate did not testify, several others did.
The day started with the court looking at several dozen pictures a Chattanooga officer took when he first arrived at the scene of the crime. He said the residence smelled of marijuana, which could hardly be considered a surprise, as it was common knowledge the victim was a drug dealer. He also photographed guns found in the residence. The house was a mess, with the majority of shelves pulled out and cabinets opened in each room.
Shirley Bumpass, Angel’s grandmother, briefly took the stand. She remembered meeting with investigator Karl Fields, but could not recall what she said to the investigator. And while Angel did live with her at the time, she said she did not have custody of her granddaughter, and lost contact with her when she turned 16. Shirley Bumpass was allegedly the last person to call Mr. Bonner, according to the prosecution, and even met with him and purchased some marijuana from him.
Investigator Karl Fields recalled his actions during the 2009 investigation. He said Shirley Bumpass did buy drugs from Franklin Bonner. He also spoke with Cheaton, who told investigators that Vaughn confessed to killing Bonner. However, it was noted that detective Fields had previously destroyed all of his notes when he moved to Ohio in 2015. However, he did say that copies of the notes were in Hamilton County’s master case file. The former detective, who was fired for misconduct, did not remember every detail of the investigation.
“Today, I couldn’t be sure of it,” he said, “because I don’t know what my frame of mind was in 2009.”
Michael Ray, who works with the cold case unit in Hamilton County, is the one who requested the fingerprints from the scene be reprocessed. This time, one of the fingerprints on the tape matched Ms. Bumpass, who was 13 at the time of the crime. He also interviewed the man who claimed Vaughn confessed. As defense attorney Kevin Loper later noted, Cheaton’s story changed several times. He first said he did not recall anything about Vaughn having gloves. But in the second interview, he said he thought Vaughn had gloves, but lost them, and then retrieved them at a later time.
Elizabeth Reid, a TBI forensic scientist who found fingerprints on the duct tape used to bind Mr. Bonner, also took the witness stand. While she did not find any prints matching Vaughn’s, Ms. Reid did find one matching Ms. Bumpass’ fingerprints. However, it was at this point that the defense raised a lengthy objection over how the evidence was handled. According to the defense attorneys, they never received a record of the chain of custody. The attorneys said they did not know how many people handled the evidence, or who the last one to touch it was.
Agent Kendra Fleener verified many of the statements of Ms. Reid. She reiterated that none of the fingerprints matched Vaughn’s.
The trial will resume on Thursday at 9 a.m.