I flipped to another photograph, a close-up of Ellie’s skull with the large, jagged hole in the back.
“What are we looking at?” I asked.
“A large portion of the back of the victim’s skull was caved in. When we moved the body, the missing piece was found underneath her.”
“Why is that significant?”
“Well, for one, it represented the most likely cause of death. A wound like that would have most certainly been fatal.”
“Objection,” Cutler said in an almost nonchalant tone. “This witness isn’t a medical doctor.”
“This witness has already testified about her extensive experience with crime scene analysis, specifically murders. If …”
“I’m going to sustain it,” Judge Saul said. “Dr. Palmieri, please leave the medical conclusions to the medical doctors.”
Palmieri seemed nonplussed by the judge’s ruling. “Of course,” she said. “May I finish my answer?”
“Please do,” Saul said.
“Let me rephrase and say that the wound was the only sign of trauma I was able to observe. You asked me why that was significant. With the way the body was positioned, I believe that it was put there in that specific pose. It didn’t fall that way naturally. The blow was to the back of the head. She was found leaning against the tree, face up, partially buried. It is my scientific opinion that the victim was probably already dead or at least unconscious when she was placed there.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thank you. Doctor, what else did you find at the scene?”
“The victim was wearing a blue polo-type shirt with a Lennox Caregiving logo above the right breast. Under that, she wore a white tank top. A pair of size 4 denim jeans were found folded next to the victim at the base of the tree.”
“Folded?” I asked. I flipped to the next photograph. The jeans were there, loosely folded about a foot from Ellie Luke’s skull.
“Yes. She was still wearing white tennis shoes. They were unlaced as if they’d been removed and put back on. Perhaps when the victim’s jeans were removed. She wasn’t wearing any undergarments other than the tank top.”
“No underwear?”
“Correct.”
“What else did you find?”
“There was a gold chain around the victim’s neck. There was a blue pendant dangling from it. We also found an earring near the victim’s skull in the dirt.”
I flipped to the next photograph, a blow-up of the earring found at the scene.
“What can you tell me about this earring?” I asked.
“It’s a flat, gold-colored circular hoop with a heart pattern cut into it. There is a blue stone inside one of the hearts.”
“Did you have cause to analyze the properties of this earring?”
“Of course. The earring was made up of 92.5% sterling silver with other metals mixed in. The earring back was the same metal. The stone was made of Tanzanite. Detective Ritter had a photograph of the victim wearing the earrings. Her family reported that she’d been wearing them the day she disappeared.”
“You found one earring, not its mate?” I asked.
“That’s correct.”
“Was there anything else significant about what you found at the scene?”
“There was no other jewelry. As I said, the victim’s hair was still present and pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a blue satin scrunchie that roughly matched the color of her sweater. But it appeared a large chunk of hair had been cut.”
I flipped to another photograph, a close-up of Ellie’s ponytail. You could clearly see a large, uneven hank of it had been cut from the rest of the ponytail.
“Was there anything significant about the hair?”
