Hazleton police and Luzerne County detectives testified Friday that Jessica Lockwood’s blood was found at accused killer Terence Ray’s Hazleton home.
Lockwood was killed following an apparent drug deal gone wrong: Investigators said she went to Ray's home to purchase the painkiller Percocet, but Ray became enraged after he thought she was wearing a surveillance wire.
Ray, 56, is accused of fatally shooting and beating Lockwood, 39, of Frackville. Her body was found burning on the side of Club 40 road in Hazleton on Sunday, April 27.
He was ordered to stand trial on criminal homicide and other charges following Friday's preliminary hearing before Magisterial Judge James Dixon in the Luzerne County Courthouse.
Ray’s attorney, Public Defender John Pike, argued after the prosecution brought its six witnesses to the stand that the state lacked “a single shred of evidence" against his client.
Dixon disagreed, saying an there was "an overwhelming amount of evidence" in the case presented by Luzerne County assistant district attorneys Daniel Marsh, Allyson Kacmarski and Frank Aritz.
In addition to the physical evidence, Ray confessed to his significant other that he “unalived” Lockwood, investigators said.
Victim's husband testifies
James Lockwood, the victim’s husband, testified that he had arranged for his wife to continue purchasing pain pills from Ray, known as "OG," before he was incarcerated for a one-to-two-year sentence for aggravated assault on April 10.
Lockwood said his wife had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and two herniated disks, one in her neck and one in her lower back, but that treatments had not been successful. Jessica Lockwood’s pain was reportedly “too severe” to do physical therapy and the next resort was surgery.
On Saturday, April 26, James Lockwood spoke to his wife in the morning and became worried after he could not reach her for several hours, Lockwood testified. He said she told him she was “going to town,” which meant she planned to purchase Percocets from Ray.
Lockwood said he called Ray later that day.
“I asked him where my wife was and he said ‘she never showed up,’” Lockwood said.
Detective knew Lockwood personally
Lockwood said he called his wife’s family to notify police she was missing. After several attempts he said Jessica’s son picked up after he reportedly found her phone on the side of the road.
Hazleton Police Detective Brett Naprava testified Jessica Lockwood’s juvenile son found his mother’s phone on the side of Route 424 in Hazleton by using a tracking app.
Naprava, who had volunteered with Jessica Lockwood at the Harwood Fire Company, was one of the first on the scene when her body was discovered.
Early on the morning of April 27 Naprava said she was sent to Club 40 road to investigate reports of a “burning mannequin” on the road.
She suspected the body might be Lockwood's.
“I approached the body knowing Jessica (Lockwood) was missing. I was able to positively identify her,” Naprava said.
“I knew her for eight years," she said.
Detectives testified they found Lockwood’s burning body under a brown and silver-colored tarp. They observed a single diamond earring and a piece of a blueish-purple cloth later identified as a piece of a pillowcase from Ray’s home.
Surveillance footage, texts, and blood evidence at Ray's home
Hazleton Police officer Dalton Payne testified he was among the first responders at the scene that morning.
He said he used surveillance footage from the area near where the victim was found to identify cars that drove on Club 40. Ray’s blue Ford Explorer had driven on the road at 6:47 a.m. less than 15 minutes before Payne was called to the scene at 7 a.m.
Naprava and fellow Hazleton Detective Joshua Keller both told the court they identified Ray as their sole suspect after recovering text from Lockwood's phone showing messages between Ray and Jessica Lockwood confirming the drug deal.
Police searched Ray’s home at 137 Muir Ave., later that day.
Naprava testified that Jessica Lockwood’s car, a white Honda HRV with a decal of two owls on the back, was found near Ray’s home. Footage taken from a neighbor’s camera shows Ray driving the vehicle, investigators said.
Keller testified he found two “pools of blood” in Ray’s basement, as well as a diamond stud matching the earring found on Jessica Lockwood’s body.
In the master bedroom, Keller said he found a torn blueish-purple pillowcase that matched the previously unidentified cloth found on the body.
Inside a trashcan in the house, Keller said he found a grey Lowe’s bag, bullet remnants, more of the torn pillowcase, packaging for the tarp found on the victim’s body and blood.
Both Keller and Naprava testified they found additional blood in and outside of a trashcan outside Ray’s house. Keller also said he found “quite a bit of blood” leading from Ray’s house to a broken fence where a piece of a car mirror was found.
Keller also testified surveillance footage from a nearby Lowe’s on Apr. 26 shows Ray leaving the store with a bottle of Clorox bleach in one hand and the tarp in the other.
Ray allegedly confessed to ‘wife’ to Lockwood’s murder
The court also heard a recording of Luzerne County Detective Alexandra Nolan interviewing Ray’s significant other, Angelica Andrades, in which Andrades claimed Ray confessed to Lockwood’s murder.
Andrades was not present at Friday's hearing.
“[He said to me,] ‘I need you to believe me … (expletive) had a wire. I lost my cool. I hit her,’” Andrades said in the recording to county detectives. “He said, ‘I unalived her.’”
Nolan testified Andrades told her she “was scared” and “did not know her husband to be a killer.” Andrades and Ray are not married, but the two refer to each other as such, Nolan said.
Andrades said in the recording Ray asked to see their two kids and “say goodbye.”
Ray’s attorney: ‘Not a single shred of evidence’
Pike, argued that the prosecution had “no direct evidence whatsoever” that Ray could have murdered Jessica Lockwood and didn't meet the burden of proof for a case against his client.
Among his contentions, Pike said the prosecution could not prove that Ray drove Jessica Lockwood’s car because of the poor quality of the photos taken from surveillance footage.
Naprava had testified earlier that the photos of the footage were not as clear as the video the police department has of Ray moving Jessica Lockwood’s car away from his home.
Pike also argued the prosecution did not prove Ray burned Jessica Lockwood’s body.
Keller had testified that when Ray was apprehended in Westchester County, New York he had a swollen hand from a burn wound.
In the end, the judge felt there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Dixon said the court will set a dispositional hearing at a later date. Ray, who faces charges of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, is being held in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail pending further proceedings.
