Melvin Boothe is accused of murdering his girlfriend and burying her body in a nearby park in 2020.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — Testimony in the trial of a man accused of murdering and burying the body of his girlfriend in May 2020 began Monday afternoon.
Melvin Boothe, 31, is charged with murder, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse and possessing criminal tools in the death of McKenzie Butler, 25. Butler’s body was found buried in the woods on the south side of Martin Luther King Park in Lima on June 13, 2020.
Boothe and Butler reportedly lived together on Eighth Street, a short distance from the park.
Police obtained a warrant and searched the Eighth Street residence. Butler was not located, but her belongings were found there.
Other items found inside the residence included muddy boots and shoes, receipts for shovels and a pick and cleaning supplies.
Monica Jackson, Boothe’s wife, testified that she found out the man had cheated on her with Butler in 2017. Jackson said she broke up with Boothe and left.
When asked why the two had separated, Jackson replied “domestic violence,” to which the defense objected. Jackson had been ordered to refrain from any mention of domestic violence or any past violent behavior.
Defense attorney Zach Maisch asked for a mistrial because he said although jurors had been ordered to disregard that answer, it couldn’t be taken back.
Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser denied the motion and said it was not clear by Jackson’s answer who had committed domestic violence against the other. She said jury instructions specific to domestic violence may be read before the jurors begin deliberation.
Jackson said she and Boothe had an on-again, off-again relationship until 2020, when the woman moved in with Boothe after he said he’d kicked Butler out.
Jackson said when she arrived at the home, she noticed that Butler’s belongings were still there. She said Boothe told her not to enter one of the rooms, but she did, finding more of Butler’s belongings, including her cellphone and a tablet, and a strong odor.
“It smelled horrible,” Jackson said.
Jackson said after she kept asking Boothe why all of Butler’s belongings were still in the home, he sat her down and told her that he had killed her. She said he told her that he hid underneath the table and surprised her, but showed her his face before he killed her.
Jackson said Boothe told her he burned the woman’s fingertips until they “popped like hot dogs” and that he buried her.
“I thought it was a joke but then he said it again,” Jackson said.
Jackson said Boothe showed her a video he took on a cell phone of him pouring ammonia and bleach o Butler’s body, which was in the fetal position inside a suitcase.
The woman said she took videos of the conversation with the camera pointed at her lap after Boothe told her he’d killed Butler so that she would have evidence to show the police.
In one clip played for the jury, a voice that appeared to be Boothe’s said that he’d “waited under the table for her” and that he wanted her to see his face.
In the video, it sounds like after Jackson asked Boothe if he felt bad, the man said no and that Butler had been “play[ing] with my life.”
The woman said she ran out of the house and drove to the police station, telling them everything. She said when she returned, she found a shovel Boothe had told her he’d used to bury the woman, so she told the police, who collected it as evidence.
Boothe’s attorney, Zach Maisch, said police never found the videos that Jackson said the man had shown her of him with Butler’s body.
Testimony ended early on Monday, as the state was not expecting to have jurors seated until the late afternoon. The court had sent deputies out to pull extra jurors from the public to appear at 1 p.m., but they were ultimately unneeded because a jury was seated before lunch.
Testimony will continue Tuesday at 9 a.m.
