RALEIGH — Wake County Assistant District Attorney Boz Zellinger began the state’s opening statement — in the prosecution of Grant Ruffin Hayes for allegedly murdering former Kinston resident Laura Jean Ackerson — by painting a verbal picture of a pastoral sunrise in Kinston on July 13, 2011.
But, as he laid out the prosecution’s case as a timeline of events, imagery took a turn from happy and hopeful to disturbing and graphic.
With 11 days gone from Ackerson’s disappearance, he described the scene that greeted Texas investigators on Oyster Creek, in Fort Bend County.
“There, our worst fears are realized, because there under the scorching Texas sun, in water that’s 89 degrees, there lies Laura Ackerson’s torso,” Zellinger said. “It’s been split in half. And, there have been cuts to the neck, and around the hip area.”
The scene didn’t get any better from there.
“You’ll hear that detectives take that severed torso and continue their search, and the next day, they find part of Laura’s leg,” Zellinger said. “And then, further upstream, they find Laura’s decapitated head. Pay close attention to the testimony about Laura’s head, and how it looks completely different from Laura’s torso. Some days later, another part of Laura’s leg is discovered.”
The intention, as Zellinger described the state’s case, is to portray Grant Hayes as a man so angry and depraved he wanted to make the mother of two of his children vanish from the face of the Earth.
Zellinger pointed out there’s evidence that at 2:40 a.m. on July 14, Grant Hayes went into a Walmart and purchased a Skil reciprocating saw with 6-inch blades, a large amount of plastic tarp, goggles and thick rubber gloves.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t just a case about dismemberment,” Zellinger said. “This isn’t just a case about a custody dispute. This is a case about the hate that leads to dismemberment. This is a case about the hate that came from that custody dispute.”
Will Durham, presenting the case for the defense, said the culpable party wasn’t Grant Hayes, but his wife Amanda.
“This case is about a man covering up his wife’s actions,” Durham said. “On July 13, Amanda Hayes killed Laura Ackerson, during a fight. It wasn’t something that was planned, but it was something that happened.”
Durham referenced a document in which Grant Hayes agreed to pay Ackerson $25,000 in exchange for custody of the children. Durham said that in essence, Grant Hayes got what he wanted.
However, Durham said Amanda Hayes displayed an irrational anger toward Ackerson and her place in their lives. He acknowledged that Grant Hayes was wrong for helping dispose of Ackerson’s body, but he wasn’t guilty of murder.
Durham referenced a phone conversation that he said occurred between Amanda Hayes and her sister in which Amanda said, “I hurt Laura, and now she’s dead.”
Following the opening statements, the prosecution began its case with two witnesses — Chevon Mathes, a friend and business partner of Ackerson, and Heidi Schumacher, self-described as Ackerson’s best friend.
They both testified that about two months before her death, Ackerson told them that if anything happened to her, Grant Hayes would be the responsible person.
Schumacher returns to the stand for the defense’s cross-examination at 9:30 a.m. today at the Wake County Justice Center.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.