Evidence Could Prove Serial Killer Victim Was Murdered After Noon - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Evidence Could Prove Serial Killer Victim Was Murdered After Noon

It's evidence prosecutors say proves serial killer victim Charlotte Murray Pace was alive before noon on Friday May 31, 2002 -- the day she was found murdered in her townhome near LSU. Two subpoenas have been issued by the District Attorneys Office detailing two important stops Pace made that fatal Friday last year.

The subpoenas were issued in response to a motion filed by accused serial killer Derrick Todd Lee's attorney last week. Specifically the motion to have the trial transferred out of Section 2, Judge Anderson's court to Section 1, Judge Tony Marabella's court. At issue -- when Charlotte Murray Pace was killed.

Lee's attorney says Pace was probably killed in the morning. But the District Attorneys office says it has found evidence to the contrary and has proof that Murray was at Benny's Express Car Wash on Perkins Road the day she was killed. In the subpoena it states: "Charlotte Murray Pace used her American Express card to pay to wash her car around noon on May 31st." The District Attorneys Office also says Murray was at AMSouth Bank shortly before her death on Friday, May 31st of 2002.

It was shortly after 2 p.m. that Pace's roommate discovered her brutally stabbed body. Now Derrick Todd Lee stands accused of her murder, as well as the murders of five other south Louisiana women. However, the District Attorney's Office only sought an indictment in Pace's murder because they believe the evidence in her case to be the strongest to get a conviction.

In a second subpoena the D.A.'s Office is asking AMSouth to provide copies of all transactions on the account of Charlotte Pace and a copy of all photographs by security cameras during the transaction. So why is this important? -- Lee's attorney says when dealing with a homicide -- the rules of the court say the case goes to the judge who is on duty at the time the crime was committed. In which case they say it should have been assigned to Section 1.

But the D.A.'s Office says the judges change shifts at noon on Friday and if the crime was committed after noon the case goes to the next section. And in this case that's Judge Richard Anderson.

Both District Attorney Doug Moreau and defense attorney Mike Mitchell say the motions and the subpoenas will be a regular part of this case and they plan to make their arguments in court.