Batchelor Murder Trial: Day Three

ESCANABA — Escanaba Public Safety Detective Tony Chouinard interviewed Kallay Batchelor at police headquarters after Heather Batchelor was killed.

Chouinard talked with Mr. Batchelor about the fresh marks on his skin. Detective Chouinard didn’t believe that Batchelor was telling the truth about how his injuries actually happened.

“It was obvious that there were fresh marks and anyone that has scrapes on their face like this they would know,” said Chouinard.

Chouinard stepped out of the interrogation room for a few minutes. When he came back in, he placed Kallay under arrest. Batchelor willingly continued to talk to police. That’s when Chouinard turned up the heat.

“I want to know why?” Chouinard asked Batchelor in the interrogation room.

“I didn’t see her past 8:30pm last night. I didn’t, I didn’t fight with her,” said Batchelor.

“The marks on you are telling me something else,” replied Chouinard.

Batchelor admitted to Chouinard that he did see Heather later that night, not at 8:30pm like he originally stated, but at 2am at the house on Stephenson Avenue where Heather was killed.

Batchelor asked his wife about the e–mails that she had exchanged with another man who Heather did have an intimate encounter with a few days earlier in Detroit. That’s when Kallay said Heather pulled out a knife and cut him. Mr. Batchelor told police that Heather was alive when he left the house.

After the interrogation videos were shown, Detective Chouinard read Kallay’s written statement to police and it definitely raised a few eyebrows.

“She sat at the edge of the bed, one hand behind her and the other still on the knife,” Chouinard read. “The knife stuck her again and this time it went in a little deeper. She leaned forward, rolled over on the floor, when I heard a cracking sound and a small crunch. She fell on the knife and broke the handle. She rolled to her back gasping for air and died right in front of me.”

Members of the Michigan State Police Forensic Unit testified on Friday. The team based out of Marquette processed the murder scene for evidence. A search warrant was executed at Kallay’s apartment, where the police came up with an interesting item.

“We found a t-shirt that I believe supported blood stains, so we collected that item,” said Zackary Blacksmith, a forensic scientist for the Michigan State Police.

The MSP lab did verify that it was human blood on Kallay’s shirt, but they could not verify if it was Kallay’s DNA or Heather’s DNA. Then, for the first time during the trial, Kallay showed some emotion.

The video shot by the forensic team was shown in court, showing Heather’s body and the knife that was still lodged in her throat. Kallay had a hard time watching the video.

The trial continues Monday at 8am.