INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) - Prosecutors presented gory crime-scene details and a heartbreaking 911 recording of a frantic father Monday at the trial of a Kansas City man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend and two young nephews two years ago.
Gevante Anderson, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting and stabbing deaths of Precious Triplett, 21, Andre Jones, 33, Amir Clemons, 10, and Gerard Clemons, 7.
The boys were visiting their aunt at her Raytown apartment for spring break on March 16, 2009, when the killings occurred. The toddler son of Anderson and Triplett was found walking among the bodies when Gerard Clemons Sr. came to the home.
Anderson's trial started Monday with prosecutor Tammy Dickenson laying out the gruesome details of the slayings, causing some in the courtroom gallery to begin sobbing uncontrollably. Dickenson described how Gerard, the 7-year-old, allegedly tried to talk Anderson out of killing him before being stabbed more than 125 times.
Prosecutors said many of the details are coming out because Anderson confessed the killings to his cousin, who is expected to take the stand during the Jackson County trial.
Anderson "says the youngest of the boys comes out of nowhere, that he must have been hiding, and he says, 'Please don't kill me, Tey, I won't tell anybody. Please don't kill me,' and he said 'the little one just wouldn't die,'" Dickenson said in opening remarks.
Dickenson said Triplett's last words were, "God, forgive me for my sins," before she was shot seven times.
Clemons Sr. was the first to take the stand Monday, telling how he went to the apartment that morning and found the bodies. He said he first found Jones on the kitchen floor, then went to find his sons.
He found them both dead in a bedroom. Prosecutors said Gerard Jr. had defense wounds on his hands.
"All 60 pounds of Gerard fought back," Dickenson told the court.
Anderson's attorney told jurors none of the victims' DNA was found in the car Anderson was driving, or in his house. His defense team made it clear they will seek to implicate another man as the killer.