The evidence played for the jury in the trial of Terrence Roach was released on Friday. Roach was found not guilty on three counts of murder in the case, but he was found guilty of criminal confinement and abuse of a corpse.
Roach was accused by police of kidnapping and killing Aleah Beckerle in July 2016. He was also found not guilty of charges of burglary and kidnapping.
Police interview tape
The following pieces of evidence were played for the jury during the trial. The first is a two-hour trial.
Watch the video here:
In the video, Roach goes into great detail about how he allegedly took Aleah from her home.
That entire interview was played for the jury during trial and they watched it again during deliberation.
It was a key piece of evidence for both the prosecution and defense. At one point during the interview, Roach demonstrates to Detective Melton how he opened the window of Aleah’s room and reached in.
Phone call from jail
The other piece of evidence you can listen is a phone call from jail to his mother. Listen to the phone call by clicking here.
In the phone call, Roach’s mother tells him he may have to enter an insanity plea. She tells him, “You were on K-2. You weren’t in your right state of mind.”
“I know,” Terrence responds.
“You didn’t mean for her to die,” his mother says.
“The detectives know I didn’t mean to do it,” Terrence replies.
Later in the call, his mother say, “None of this is making sense to me…that you did all that.”
Terrence says, “I don’t even know why I did… The K-2 just triggered my head.”
“What were you going to do with her for a few days?” his mom asks.
“Nothing. Just… gonna take her back and kick the door and I was gonna leave?” he responds.
“So you were just going to feed her and hang out with her?” she asks.
“That was the plan,” Terrence says.
“Did you know she had to take medicine so she didn’t die?” she asks.
“I never seen Cara give her no medicine,” Terrence says referring to Aleah’s mother.
Eventually, his mother asks why he put tape on her mouth.
“I didn’t want her yelling… so I… when I went to go get more K-2,” Terrence tells her.
“How did nobody see you?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” Terrence says, “somebody had to have.”
“Were we home next door?” his mom asks.
“Mom, I don’t know, I was so damn high,” he says.
“If you did this all by yourself, who did you tell?” his mother asks.
Terrence then says he only ever told a detective. “I know I didn’t tell nobody,” he says.
Terrence’s mother ends the call by saying that she loves him no matter what, and she tells him to tell them about his mental illness.
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(This story was originally published on June 1, 2018)
