News : Samantha Bevans Trial: Day 2, Part 2 (Witness and Technology)

Special Agent Holly Witt demonstrates the ability to track cell phones in real time tracking phones traveling from Cedar Rapids to North Liberty

SnapChat records of Samantha Bevans reveal the location of and recordings stored in the accout

Smantha Bevans bragging on SnapChat, that the couple had killed Jodie Bevans

Vinton Today - Samantha Bevans Trial: Day 1

Vinton Today - Samanta Bevans Trial: Day 2, Part 1 (Family Testimony)

Witness

Jayson Wells a native of Center Point was called to testify next.

He first met Samantha Bevans at a rest area between Cedar Rapids and North Liberty. He was living in his car at the time, believing that he couldn't go home to family. He also had his dog Bowser, whom he's had for 6 years. He also traveled with his tools, guitar and the rest of his belongings. 

Samantha requested that he give her a ride to the courthouse for gas money and she gave him her cell phone number. He called her in the morning and picked her up at a trailer house in North Liberty. Tacoa Talley was also there and joined them in the car.  Following the stop at the courthouse, the couple didn't leave the car.

After the courthouse stop, they requested a ride to the Bevans' house giving him directions to an address around Palo. Because Talley wasn't allowed to go to the Bevans' home, he was dropped off in town along with the dog. Wells and Bevans made their way to the home. Wells tried to get Bevan's car started while she went into the house.

He removed items of his to get to the jumper cables. Before he could get the car jumped, Samantha rushed out demanding that they leave right away. She brought along her dog and a couple of bags . Leaving his own belongings behind. They proceeded to pick up Talley and Wells' dog.

The three then went to a hotel in Cedar Rapids, then to the campground where the family was set up.  He believes that the two, Samantha and Talley were not to be seen together.

He was driving, and turned in front of a policeman, who then followed them. After that, Samanatha drove telling him that he couldn't because of the incident. Wells said that the red flags went up for him at this point. They were afraid that he was trying to get them caught by the police so they took his keys away. Samantha was now driving.

Samantha then drove them out to the campgrounds. He said that they were staking out a camper there, but he had no idea why, he was more concerned with his car. During the stakeout, Samantha was trying to determine if Jodie was there and if not they would take care of her "there." 

Samantha then received a phone call, and the decision was made by Samantha to leave the campground. He described her as on edge and always yelling. He tried to get out of the situation at the campground by offering to take his dog and go fishing, willing to ditch his own car. But they wouldn't go for that.

The three left the campground then went to a motel in Cedar Rapids.

Talley sent Wells to Staples but wouldn't allow him to take his dog. He found it odd that they were buttering him up at this time. They wanted him to get a laser pointer, but Wells told them that it was behind a locked case and he was unable to obtain one. It was unclear why they wanted the laser pointer.

Conversations by Samantha included information that Jodie had breast cancer and was dying. Samantha also said that Jodie stole some $2,000 in tips from her that she had earned at a bar.

Wells testified that in his time with the couple, Samantha was the dominant one calling the shots and Talley was trying to keep her happy. Talley then took some of Wells' tools and put them in a bag. The couple also said that they were going to get chicken and continued to repeat that sentiment but refused to take Wells along to get food.

At about 9:00 p.m. Talley and Samantha left the hotel together. Wells was able to get some sleep when they left. they awakened him when they returned to the hotel. The couple seemed to be happy when they returned. The tools weren't returned and Talley gave him $75 from a wad of cash that he had in his hand.

There wasn't much sleep to be had after they returned because the couple was so loud, so he went outside to sleep in his car. 

On that Friday, they checked into a different hotel and Wells returned to sleep in his car. Talley and Bevans still controlled his keys. 

He overheard Samantha talking at the time, yelling in their second floor hotel. Even though he was out in the car, he heard Samantha yelling, "That was awesome, thank you for holding her down with the pillow so I got my 2 cents in." Talley was then trying to hush her. Her voice trailed off as if she was being muffled. After hearing the comments it scared Wells understanding that something real had happened.

He also heard Samantha say that she grabbed a pillow and held it over "her face." She also said, "That was awesome, I grabbed a pillow and put it over her face," and Talley agreed that it was "awesome" and then he tried to hush Samantha. 

Wells was now afraid knowing what he knew. 

The couple allowed him to go to see his dad in Center Point and he felt like he was going there to "say goodbye." He didn't want to tell his dad at this point he was still trying to figure out what he'd heard and was shaken up. They wouldn't allow Wells to take his dog, and was afraid that they would hurt him. 

Samantha decided that they were going to go to Bettendorf. She drove them to the Casino in Bettendorf and he was put in the backseat with his dog. They left him in the car as they tried to book a room. They did book a room, and the three shared a room. She threated him by telling Wells that if he stepped out the door he would be choosing to be with her stepmom, but not her real mom, who is native American. 

The three were also using Methamphetamine during this time causing Talley and Samantha to be unable to sleep. Wells said that this is where the talk got even crazier, and "I knew my life was in danger." Talley told Wells, that now "he was in it."

At the Isle of Capri, Talley and Samantha got into a physical altercation, he squeezed by them, grabbing his dog, fled the room. He tried to disable his car so they couldn't follow him. His plan was to find the library and contact his parents via Facebook.

Soon after he left, the couple started the car chasing him and the dog. He had run across a field to a trail where a car couldn't go. He kept running. He could hear them chasing him, because his car had lost the exhaust. He did find the library, but he said he was malnourished and with no food for three days he wasn't thinking straight. 

A policeman woke him up and helped him to find his car. It had been abandoned and emptied out of all his contents. The only thing that remained was his notebook. Inside is where Samantha had written, "Kill Jodie." He handed the notebook to the police officer, and then stayed in town overnight. A social worker helped to get him in touch with his mother the next day.

When he was safely at his mom's house, he broke down in tears and told her the story. His mom was able to figure out what had happened. DCI was able to track him down. At first, he didn't want to tell them everything because the drug use would have to be known, and it was embarrassing for him. However, he said the drugs didn't hinder him from remembering what was said. 

Cross-examined by defense attorney Garner, he said he was still embarrassed about his drug use and told officers that his memory was blurry rather than admit that he had been using. When he was interviewed, his father was also in the room. and again he didn't want his father to know about the drug use. He explained that his anxiety was so high he couldn't remember which days were which. He had told officers that he had only used marijuana again because his dad was in the room. He also admitted to investigators that he smoked with Samantha at the truck stop on Wednesday. He said that they had used drugs the whole time and that things started "blurring out." He said that he was and is still trying to block out all of the memories. 

When asked about where he stayed during this time, he explained that he spent a lot of time away from the couple and stayed in his car to avoid the yelling and fighting. However, they were sure never to let him out with his dog. On cross-examination the defense said that he was in multiple hotel rooms with the couple.

Under cross examination, he admitted to officers that he wasn't going to leave them because they were giving him drugs. But he also stated in testimony that he felt trapped and they were using him often feeling strong-armed into paying for things. 

Technology

Special Agent Holly Witt was called by the State. She works for the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation as a State Patrol Officer. She is in her 29th year and works in the Major Crimes Unit as the Technology Agent. She deals with cellphone records, social media posts, and makes things like that make sense in the course of an investigation. Graduating from Simpson College in 1995 her only job has been law enforcement. She is certified in two cellphone mapping software programs and trained on the FBI's Cellular Analysis Software Team.

She explained that cellphone mapping is making a picture of the data gathered from cellphones. It is then reviewed by peers, taking the same data from the cell companies in the raw format, then independently recreating a visual depiction of the records. She's done this work since 2008. Prior she was assigned to the Cellphone Tracking Unit, helping to locate missing people and those trying to avoid justice. 

She was contacted to be a technology consultant for this case. This involved acquiring search warrants for devices owned by those involved in this case. Those included cell records for Jodie Bevans, Samantha Bevans, Tacoa Talley, Jayson Wells and D. Bevans as well as a snapchat search for Samanta Bevans.

These records include data from T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon and data provided by SnapChat. The records are stored by these businesses. The records were verified using the cell numbers and charts the locations via which cell sites (towers) were used by the phones and when as well as verify who had the phone at the time. Certifications of Authenticity were admitted into evidence for all of these sources. 

SnapChat retains footage and video saved to the account which included several videos in Samantha's account. SnapChat links with phone numbers so that it could be verified as Samantha's. 

She likened data searches as a flashlight arch that is searching for the data. Each movement is tracked from tower to tower. She was able to demonstrate and verify testimony given as to the whereabouts of those involved in the case. She tracked everyone from the Vinton/Palo area to North Liberty complete with timestamps.

In SnapChat, Agent Witt was able to retrieve video of Samantha Bevans bragging to the camera, on the morning of July 16th saying what sounds like, "I killed her. I killed her myself. We killed her. We thought about it, we figured it out, it worked perfectly." Followed by her giving the finger to the camera. 

The State rested its case.