A state medical examiner testified on Tuesday that Amber DeLoach was dead when the car where her body was found caught fire early Sept. 30, 2012.
And Dr. Edmund Donoghue with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told a Chatham County Superior Court jury the 18-year-old victim died of strangulation. A drug overdose was ruled out as the cause of death because while cocaine was present in the victim’s blood, drug levels were low, Donoghue said.
Testimony from Donoghue, who performed the autopsy on DeLoach on Oct. 1, 2012, came as prosecutors began presenting their case against Shan Demetrius Cheley, 37, who is charged with rape, murder, aggravated assault and arson in the DeLoach slaying.
The defendant has pleaded not guilty.
During opening statements Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Guyer told jurors the state would present physical evidence to speak for the victim and prove that Cheley was the assailant.
“Amber DeLoach is the most important person in this case,” Guyer told the jury. “You won’t hear from her.”
Assistant Public Defender Falen Cox conceded that what happened to the victim was “horrible,” but said there was “a doubt about who is responsible.”
She told jurors that Cheley met the victim downtown that night and that the victim decided to go to his house and have sex with him.
“But the last time Shan saw Amber she was alive,” Cox said.
DeLoach, a former St. Vincent’s Academy student and Islands High School alumna, was found slain in the trunk of a burning rented black Dodge Avenger early Sept. 30, 2012, in an area behind 1253 Yamacraw Village. Her body was wrapped in a charred blue comforter.
Savannah Fire Rescue & Emergency Services Capt. Marvin Thomas testified Tuesday that firefighters arrived about 6:40 a.m. to find the car ablaze, with flames shooting 10-15 feet into the air. He found parts of a body in the trunk and called police.
James Brandon Price, 23, testified DeLoach picked him up in the Dodge Avenger about 10 p.m. and they went to Pour Larry’s in City Market, where they stayed about four hours.
She parked the car on St. Julian Street in an area Price described as “pretty dark.”
He said he left her there about 2:30 a.m.
“Yeah you could tell she had a buzz,” he told jurors. “She was acting goofy like she usually does.”
He spoke with her about 3:45 a.m. and again about 4:30 a.m.
Prosecutors contend Cheley purchased gasoline and a lighter at the BP station at 502 Bay St. about 25 minutes before the burning car was found.
Ervin Mitchell, a co-worker of Cheley’s, testified he recognized Cheley on a surveillance tape at the store.
“I saw a guy who resembled Shan,” Mitchell told the jury. “He always wore a rag around his head because he sweat(ed) a lot.”
And Jim Coughlin, night manager at Coach’s Corner where Cheley worked, testified the figure on the surveillance tape “looked like Shan. …What he was wearing, the way he walked.”
He said the defendant reported to work on Sept. 30 but “he wasn’t focused on what he was doing.”
When Coughlin confronted him, Cheley told him his daughter had a miscarriage, Coughlin testified.
Judge Timothy R. Walmsley instructed jurors Tuesday night to return to court at 9:30 a.m. today to resume hearing testimony.