News 12 Tuesday February 7, 2012

EVANS, Ga.---Another emotional day in court as evidence continues to mount against a 15 year old charged with murder in Columbia County.

Aaron Schmidt cried quietly as investigators, forensic experts, and some of his family members testified for the prosecution. In all, 15 witnesses have taken the stand in two days.

Prosecutors say Schmidt shot and killed his friend and one time girlfriend, Alana Calahan in January 2011, dragging her body, face down, to the woods to cover up the crime. She was on the computer uploading photos to Facebook at the time of the shooting.

Crime scene video and photos were shown to the court, including the bloody trail where the 14 year old victim's body was dragged. Prosecutors say in a matter of about 6 minutes, while Alana's sister Amanda was picking up their younger brother at the bus stop, Schmidt was able to both kill Alana and try to hide the body.

"I immediately observed the drag marks coming from the back side of the house, back from the stairs to where her body was. There was also blood going through the drag marks all the way back to her body," describes Columbia County Investigator Jimmy Edmonds.

Investigators testified that bloody hand swipes were found inside the home and a muddy boot print, matching Schmidt's, was found near the body.

The jury also heard the chilling 911 call, made by Alana Calahan's sister, Amanda, minutes after her body is found. Schmidt also speaks to dispatchers as he describes the situation to them. The two are hysterically sobbing.

"I come back and she's dead and I found her in the woods," Amanda tells the dispatcher. "You found who in the woods?" asks Columbia County Sheriff's Office dispatcher Rachel Huffman. "My sister!" screams Amanda.

"It looks like a bullet hole," Aaron describes on the tape. "It looks like what?" asks the Gold Cross EMT. "It looks like a bullet hole mark," repeats Aaron. "A bullet hole?" the EMT asks again.

"I've got blood all over me," Aaron cries on the tape. Prosecutors say the tears and sobs from Schmidt are all fake, meant to throw off investigators. At one point on the tape Schmidt allegedly fabricates a story that he witnessed a "black man, wearing all black" running from the home before the body was found. Amanda can be heard on the tape yelling at Schmidt not to touch the body. The dispatchers eventually direct Amanda to her sister's body, and have her roll her over and attempt CPR. Amanda sobs louder, screaming when she gets closer to her sister's body.

In the hours following the shooting, investigators and K9 units located the gun used in the shooting, placed under some leaves in the woods. A firearms examiner from the GBI crime lab testified that the ballistics report matched up the gun used in the shooting to both the casing found in the home and the projectile recovered from the computer table.

In a search of Schmidt's home the following day, investigators located the gun case, manual and ammunition belonging to Alana's father. They also recovered other items reported stolen from the Calahan home

We also heard from Schmidt's much older half-sister and cousin, who both speak about the teenager's troubled childhood.

"I've been through so much and I've been holding onto that kid with all my heart, mind and soul," Diana Chitty, Schmidt's half-sister says. "I was convinced...I know my brother and he wouldn't do something like that."

Chitty also testified that Schmidt is actually a product of incest. His father and mother are stepfather and stepdaughter. The family says Aaron was also sexually abused and neglected as a child, which affected him emotionally growing up. He was taken away from his biological parents and placed into the custody of Diana Chitty.

"He had a lot of drama in his little young life, and he started just getting into a corner and just wailing and just rocking," explains Chitty.

"He is one of those people someone has to listen to, if they don't he will hold it inside....he never showed aggression towards me but he did have some anger problems," Schmidt's 15 year old cousin told investigators on tape last February.

"He treated that family better than he treated ours," the cousin says, speaking of the Calahan family.

"He would see bees. He would be knocking these bees off of him and he was in fear, and he could see them and I couldn't. And the fire...I mean he would say 'There's fire, there's fire in there sister put it out!' and that's when I went and had him evaluated," explains Chitty.

Chitty also told the court about an incident in the last few years where Schmidt had served a year and half of probation after some of his family members reported he inappropriately touched a male toddler in the family. Chitty says he had just gotten off probation the December before the shooting.

Chitty went on to talk about Aaron Schmidt's father, saying he was convicted years earlier of raping a 56 year old woman at a personal care home. He's since been released from prison and currently lives with Chitty at her home in Harlem, near the Calahan family.

On Wednesday we expect to hear the extensive interrogation tape between investigators and Schmidt, where after changing his story multiple times, he eventually admits to shooting Calahan.

"At some points of the interview he would cry...or I'd say, try to cry, there were no tears ever," says Investigator Edmonds. The investigator also told the jury the top of Schmidt's socks were soaked in blood, consistent with the act of dragging.

"How many different stories did he give you before he admitted to having the gun in his own hand?" Assistant District Attorney Natalie Paine asks. "I don't know that I counted but there were more than five," responds Investigator Edmonds.

The Public Defender, Penelope Donkar, will get to outline her case likely on Wednesday. She told the jury Monday in opening statements this is a case of a "neglected, abused little boy...snapping." They are asking the jury to consider voluntary manslaughter, instead of murder. Schmidt it facing life without parole, but a voluntary manslaughter conviction holds a maximum of 20 years in prison.

News 12 will be in the courtroom again on Wednesday and will bring you the latest. Stay with News 12 and wrdw.com for continuing coverage.