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Thread: Jimmy Ray Rodgers Sentenced to LWOP in 2015 FL Slaying of Dr. Teresa Sievers

  1. #71
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    'She was my sister and the love of my life': Family, investigator testify at Teresa Sievers murder trial

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    Four years after Teresa Sievers died brutally in her Bonita Springs home, her older sister spoke during the trial for one of three men accused in her slaying.

    "She was my sister and the love of my life,” Ann Lisa said Thursday morning from the witness stand.

    Jimmy Ray Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband, Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted.

    Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor with the back of her head bashed inside her family’s home at 27034 Jarvis Road on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    Lisa was the first witness called to testify in the trial after the conclusion of opening statements.

    "We had wine, laughed and played a lot of Scrabble," Lisa said about spending time with Teresa Sievers during a family gathering in New York.

    Teresa Sievers was killed shortly after arriving home from the airport from the gathering.

    The man who found Teresa Sievers dead inside her home in 2015, Mark Petrites, also took the witness stand Thursday morning.

    Petrites is a retired medical doctor specializing in general surgery. He said he had a professional and personal relationship with Teresa Sievers.

    Petrites and his family spent time with Sievers and her family, but he was not particularly close with Mark Sievers, he said.

    On the morning of June 29, 2015, Petrites got a call from Mark Sievers.

    Mark Sievers asked him to check on Teresa Sievers at their home because she didn't arrive for work and her cellphone was dead, Petrites told the jury.

    It was odd that Mark Sievers was calling him and even stranger that he was encouraging him to go directly into the Sievers' house once he arrived, Petrites said.

    "As I was first going in, I saw blood on the floor," Petrites said. "As I stepped in further, I saw my friend Teresa."

    Petrites checked Teresa Sievers and realized she was dead, called out to see if anyone else was in the home and then called 911, he said.

    "It was a very eerie feeling being inside the house," Petrites said.

    During cross-examination, Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge asked Petrites if he knew Mark Sievers had two cellphones in 2015.

    Petrites was aware and found it odd that Mark Sievers had two phones, he said.

    Two other witnesses were called to testify by Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter.

    Sandra Hoskins was a medical assistant worked for Teresa Sievers for about seven years, including in 2015.

    When Teresa Sievers did not show for work, Hoskins said she tried calling her cellphone but there was no answer. Then she tried calling Mark Sievers, Hoskins said.

    The final witness Thursday morning was Adam Hughes, who is a lieutenant with the Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District.

    Hughes testified he responded to an emergency call for a patient who suffered a cardiac arrest on June 29, 2015, at the Sievers home on Jarvis Road.

    "We saw the patient down on the ground, and there were injuries incompatible with life," Hughes said.

    After realizing Teresa Sievers was dead, firefighters exited the home and law enforcement arrived shortly after to begin an investigation, he said.

    Kimberly Van Waus, a certified crime scene analyst with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, was the only witness to testify after the lunch break Thursday.

    She documented and processed the crime scene at the Sievers home for four days, including the day Teresa Sievers was found dead.

    "The entire house was processed for fingerprints and DNA," she said.

    The jury was just shown a photo of Teresa Sievers’ body on the kitchen floor. Van Waus was asked to display the hammer allegedly used to kill Teresa Sievers to the jury.

    Investigators swabbed the hammer for "touch DNA” and submitted for DNA analysis, Van Waus said. Only Teresa Sievers’ DNA was found on the hammer, she said.

    The prosecutor had Van Waus walk the jury through the Sievers house using a diagram and photos.

    Van Waus said the house did not have any signs of ransacking and whoever killed Teresa Sievers left many valuables, such as cash and firearms.

    During cross examination, Assistant Public Defender Donald McFarlane asked Van Waus to confirm the Sievers house did not appear ransacked.

    McFarlane also asked Van Waus to confirm there were no fingerprints noted on the hammer and the only DNA on it was matched to Teresa Sievers.

    Mark Sievers and Rodgers each face a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, in addition to first-degree murder. Rodgers faces an additional charge of first-degree burglary while armed.

    Mark Sievers’ arrest came after the arrests of Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 51, and Rodgers, who were apprehended in Missouri in August 2015.

    Mark Sievers and Wright were childhood friends. Wright met Rodgers while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri in 2010.

    Sievers remained free for months and wasn’t arrested until Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2016 in connection with Teresa Sievers' death.

    Wright's plea agreement requires a 25-year prison term and that he provide "substantial assistance" in the cases against Mark Sievers and Rodgers.

    A pool of 12 jurors and two alternate jurors were sworn in Tuesday after about six full days of questioning during the jury selection process.

    The trial picked back up Thursday with opening statements from the prosecution and defense.

    "Jimmy Ray Rodgers is guilty of first-degree murder," Hunter said toward the conclusion of his opening statement. "Over the next several days you will hear all the evidence."

    Hunter spoke slowly and spent about an hour on his opening statement, laying out what he called the road map for what the jury could expect during the trial.

    "This case was about the perfect marriage, the perfect friendship, the perfect alibi, the perfect murder. It was almost perfect," Hunter said. "This was the beginning of a months-long investigation."

    At first, investigators had no leads until a break in the case came from Missouri, where Mark Sievers is from, Hunter said.

    Rodgers and Wright left digital evidence they took a trip from Missouri to Florida around the time Teresa Sievers was killed, Hunter told the jurors.

    “The two of them embarked on a nonstop journey from Jefferson County area, Missouri, to Bonita Springs to kill Dr. Teresa Sievers,” Hunter said. “During the trip, they hadn't yet made up their mind when or how to kill her.”

    Rodgers told his then-girlfriend Taylor Shomaker he and Wright went to Florida to kill Teresa Sievers and did it with a hammer, Hunter said.

    The jury can expect to hear testimony from Shomaker and Wright, Hunter said.

    “Mr. Wright, being charged with this crime, struck a deal," Hunter said. "He struck a deal with the state.”

    Wright is going to tell the jurors how Teresa Sievers was killed and who is responsible, Hunter said.

    Fitzgeorge, Rodgers’ defense attorney, took about 25 minutes to present her opening statement.

    Investigators found themselves in a bind after Teresa Siever’s killing because it was a high profile case and they had no leads, Fitzgeorge said.

    "Listen to all the evidence," Fitzgeorge told the jurors.

    Wright brought a “burner phone” on their trip to Florida, while Rodgers brought his personal phone, Fitzgeorge said.

    Rodgers was not trying to conceal anything while on the trip as he is tech-savvy and would have known how traceable his phone was, Fitzgeorge said.

    "What you will hear will show he (Rodgers) is not part of any part of conspiracy," Fitzgeorge said.

    Rodgers never had contact with Mark Sievers and the jurors need to consider the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, especially Wright and Shomaker, Fitzgeorge said during her opening statement.

    "The evidence will show you this is the independent act of Curtis Wayne Wright in conjunction with Mr. Sievers," Fitzgeorge said.

    The Rodgers jury trial is scheduled to continue with more witness testimony at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...al/3919406002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Jimmy Rodgers trial: Former detective testifies about investigation's Missouri connection

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    Lt. Michael Downs, of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, expected to spend two days away from home investigating a tip related to the Teresa Sievers homicide in 2015.

    Instead, he spent 12 days in Illinois and Missouri as the case broke open and would return to Missouri for further investigation in August 2015, he said from the witness stand.

    Downs was a detective in the major crimes unit and one of several investigators from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to testify at the trial of Jimmy Ray Rodgers on Friday — the second day of testimony.

    The trial is expected to last a month in front of Judge Bruce Kyle of the 20th Judicial Circuit in downtown Fort Myers.

    Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband, Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted.

    Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor with the back of her head bashed inside her family’s home at 27034 Jarvis Road on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    A few days after Teresa Sievers’ death, Downs reported to a trash receptacle to investigate computer equipment thrown out near the victim’s medical practice, he said.

    The reason Downs went to Missouri in July 2015 was because it was home to Curtis Wayne Wright, he testified.

    Sievers and Wright, 51, were childhood friends. Wright met Rodgers while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri in 2010.

    After a search warrant was executed at Wright’s home in Missouri, investigators seized a GPS from a vehicle that was parked in the driveway, Downs testified.

    To gather more information on Wright, Downs made “cold contact” with Rodgers and Rodgers’ then-girlfriend Taylor Shomaker, he said.

    Later a search warrant was executed on Rodgers’ home and afterward Shomaker led investigators to the side of a Missouri highway to find pieces of a broken cellphone and a blue jumpsuit, Downs said.

    Mark Sievers’ arrest came after the arrests of Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 51, and Rodgers, who were apprehended in Missouri in August 2015.

    Sievers remained free for months and wasn’t arrested until Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2016 in connection with Teresa Sievers' death.

    Wright's plea agreement requires a 25-year prison term and that he provide "substantial assistance" in the cases against Mark Sievers and Rodgers.

    Detective Jamie Nolen, of the Lee County Sheriff's Office, was the first witness called on Friday.

    Assistant Public Defender Donald McFarlane asked him about the blood pattern in the kitchen where Teresa Sievers body was found.

    There was no blood on the kitchen walls or ceiling, but the blood splattering and pooling were consistent with Teresa Sievers’ injuries, Nolen said.

    Gladys Martinez, who was a crime scene technician with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, also testified Friday.

    Martinez was at the autopsy of Teresa Sievers the day after she was killed and was asked about the method of collecting fibers off her body.

    Blood and hair sample were taken from Teresa Sievers during the autopsy, Martinez said.

    During cross examination, McFarlane asked Martinez if fibers could be picked up by a person sitting on an airplane or driving a car.

    Teresa Sievers returned from the airport shortly before she was killed, investigators said.

    The Rodgers jury trial is scheduled to continue with more witness testimony at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...al/3941497002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #73
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    Boss of Jimmy Ray Rodgers testifies in Teresa Sievers murder trial

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    Jimmy Ray Rodgers, one of three men accused in the death of a Bonita Springs doctor, told his boss he left Missouri to celebrate his brother’s graduation from law school in Florida around the time of Teresa Sievers' killing.

    Jeffrey Conway of Potosi, Missouri, was Rodgers’ boss in 2015. He said they both worked for a contracting company that supplied laborers to a mining and battery recycling business in Missouri called Doe Run, according to court testimony Monday.

    Conway was the first witness to testify who knew Rodgers personally before he was accused in the killing.

    Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted.

    Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor with the back of her head bashed in inside her family’s home at 27034 Jarvis Road on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    Rodgers' trial began two weeks ago with jury selection. Monday was the third day of testimony.

    Conway texted Rodgers on June 28, 2015, to ask about his work schedule for the coming days. Rodgers responded and said he was still in Florida, Conway said Monday.

    Workers at Doe Run deal with many toxic chemicals including battery acid, arsenic and lead. They are trained to avoid exposure and provided jumpsuits, gloves, boots and other materials to help prevent exposure, Conway said.

    On Friday, an investigator with the Lee County Sheriff's Office testified that Rodgers then-girlfriend Taylor Shomaker helped investigators find pieces of a broken cellphone and a blue jumpsuit from Doe Run on the side of the road in Cadet, Missouri, after Teresa Sievers was killed in 2015.

    Kimberly Van Waus, a certified crime scene analyst with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, testified for the second time in the trial. She testified Thursday about collecting evidence from the Sievers house.

    Monday, Van Waus testified about collecting evidence from a Hyundai Elantra. The vehicle was a rental, but she didn't say who rented it.

    Van Waus searched the vehicle for trace evidence, such as pet hairs or hair from a suspect or suspects, she said.

    Before the Rodgers trial continued Monday, Mark Sievers made a brief appearance in court.

    Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle told Mark Sievers and his defense team that he would hold his case as a backup for the entirety of the Rodgers trial.

    On Monday, Kyle tentatively scheduled the Mark Sievers trial to begin Nov. 12.

    Mark Sievers’ arrest came after the arrests of Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 51, and Rodgers, who were both apprehended in Missouri in August 2015.

    Sievers and Wright, 51, were childhood friends. Wright met Rodgers while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri in 2010.

    Sievers remained free for months and wasn’t arrested until Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2016 in connection with Teresa Sievers' death.

    Wright's plea agreement requires a 25-year prison term and that he provide “substantial assistance” in the cases against Mark Sievers and Rodgers.

    The Rodgers jury trial is scheduled to continue with more witness testimony Tuesday morning. The court entered an early recess Monday afternoon to allow the defense to work with a witness from the FBI on evidence issues.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...es/3973399002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Prosecution links key evidence in Jimmy Rodgers' murder trial to fibers found on the victim

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    Evidence recovered from the leg of deceased Bonita Springs doctor Teresa Sievers matched fibers taken from a blue jumpsuit recovered in Missouri not far from the home of suspect Jimmy Ray Rodgers, according to an FBI analyst.


    Linda Otterstatter, of the FBI’s trace evidence unit, said trace evidence is debris, small in size and can include hair, fibers, glass or soil.


    Otterstatter was the first witness to testify in the Rodgers trial Tuesday, the fourth day of testimony in a Fort Myers courtroom.


    Fibers were taken from a blue jumpsuit recovered by investigators in Missouri and compared to fibers recovered from Teresa Sievers’ dress, her left leg and the Sievers’ kitchen floor.


    When compared, the fibers exhibited the “same microscopic characteristics and optical properties,” Otterstatter said.


    Fiber association is not a means of positive identification, but due to the variability, manufacturing, dying, consumer use and weathering of fibers, one would not expect to find a fiber at random that displays the same microscopic characteristics and optical properties as a particular source, Otterstatter said.

    After investigators searched Rodgers’ Missouri home in 2015, his live-in girlfriend, Taylor Shomaker, led investigators to the side of a highway where they found the blue jumpsuit, an investigator with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office testified Friday.


    Jeffrey Conway, Rodgers’ former boss, testified Monday that in 2015 Rodgers worked for a contracting company that supplied laborers to a mining and battery recycling business in Missouri, called Doe Run.


    Workers at Doe Run deal with many toxic chemicals and are provided jumpsuits to avoid exposure, Conway said.


    During his testimony, Conway held up a clean blue jumpsuit from Doe Run, which showed it was the similar the blue jumpsuit found by investigators on the side of the Missouri highway.


    During cross examination, from the defense Otterstatter said there is no way for her to tell when fibers got to a certain place or how they got there.


    The jumpsuit was not examined for blood or duct tape residue, Otterstatter said when asked by the defense.


    Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted. Sievers will go to trial when Rodgers' ends.


    Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor with the back of her head bashed in inside her family’s home on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.


    A second FBI analyst, Sherri Fentress, also testified Tuesday.


    Fentress said she conducted Mitochondrial DNA testing on certain items from the Teresa Sievers homicide investigation.

    Roadside recovery

    One of the items tested was a hair recovered from the blue jumpsuit found by investigators on the side of the Missouri highway, Fentress said.

    Fentress compared DNA from the hair to a DNA sample taken from Rodgers, she said.


    The testing revealed the DNA sequences were the same, and Rodgers could not be excluded as the source of the hair on the blue jumpsuit, Fentress said.


    “Mr. Rodgers or anyone in his maternal line could have been the source of that hair,” Fentress said.


    For the U.S. Caucasian population it would be expected that 1 in 900 people share the same DNA sequence as Jimmy Rodgers and the hair recovered from the blue jumpsuit, Fentress said.


    Fentress tested two other hairs recovered from the blue jump suit found by investigators on the side of the Missouri highway and concluded these hairs could not have come from Rodgers.

    The additional two hairs could not have come from Teresa Sievers, Mark Sievers or Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., according to DNA testing, Fentress said.


    She also tested hairs recovered from a Hyundai Elantra and the right foot of Teresa Sievers. DNA testing revealed these hairs could also have not come from Rodgers, Teresa Sievers, Mark Sievers or Wright, Fentress said.


    During cross examination, Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge asked Fentress if she received any DNA samples from Rodgers’ former girlfriend Shomaker to utilize in the testing.


    Fentress said she did not receive any DNA from Shomaker and agreed with Fitzgeorge that hair can be transferred between people living in the same home or using the same cars.


    Background

    Mark Sievers’ arrest came after the arrests of Wright, 51, and Rodgers, who were both apprehended in Missouri in August 2015.

    Sievers and Wright were childhood friends. Wright met Rodgers while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri in 2010.


    Sievers remained free for months and wasn’t arrested until Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2016 in connection with Teresa Sievers' death.


    Wright's plea agreement requires a 25-year prison term and that he provide “substantial assistance” in the cases against Mark Sievers and Rodgers. Attorneys have not said when they will call Wright to testify.


    The investigation


    Lt. David Lebid, of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, also took the stand Tuesday. He was the second Florida investigator who visited Rodgers and Wright in Missouri before their arrests to testify.

    He went to Jefferson County, Missouri, to speak with Wright because of information from a tipster in Illinois, Lebid said.


    Wright’s home was searched under warrant and a cell phone was seized. A Garmin GPS was seized from inside a Silver Hyundai Eltantra parked at the home of Wright, Lebid said.


    As a result of analyzing Wright’s cell phone records, Rodgers was identified as a suspect, Lebid said.


    Lebid said he visited the home of Rodgers and Shoemaker. When Rodgers arrived home, he acted “kind of frantic,” Lebid said.


    Rodgers told Lebid he had not been to Florida recently, but admitted to knowing Wright, Lebid testified Tuesday.


    Witness program

    Shomaker got in touch with investigators later and made a formal statement. She was not given or promised any money for the statement, Lebid said.

    During an intense cross examination, which lasted about 25 minutes, Assistant Public Defender Donald McFarlane asked Lebid about Shomaker receiving money from Lee County.


    Shomaker receives about $400 each month from the county as part of a witness program and has been receiving the money since sometime in 2016, Lebid said.


    "Taylor Shomaker is receiving money, thousands of dollars, and that's rather unusual in your experience," McFarlane asked Lebid.


    Lebid is not familiar with the witness program and could not say if it's unusual, he said.


    A confession


    When asked by McFarlane if the crime scene where Teresa Sievers’ body was found was “organized,” Lebid said it depends on your perspective.

    Wright admitted to striking Teresa Sievers with a hammer, Lebid said. McFarlane asked Lebid if he believes Wright to be a truthful person.


    “Wright is truthful when it’s convenient for him,” Lebid said.


    McFarlane asked if there was any information generated during the investigation that showed money was passed between Mark Sievers and Wright as payment to kill Teresa Sievers.


    "There was never anything directly explained, there was something that was implied,” Lebid said.


    There was also no evidence of any money passed from Mark Sievers to Rodgers, Lebid said when asked. The only link between Rodgers and Mark Sievers was Wright, he said.

    Rodgers interview

    Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter asked Lebid about an encounter he had with Rodgers after Rodgers was arrested in August 2015 for violating the terms of his supervised release on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

    Lebid said he met Rodgers at a “facility” on Sept. 10, 2015, with another investigator and informed him they were there looking into a second-degree murder.


    "Mr. Rodgers replied to me, 'While in the state of Missouri, second-degree murder is 15 to 20 years, and I'm okay with that,’” Lebid said during his testimony.


    After making the statement, Rodgers walked away from the investigators, Lebid said.


    During the cross examination, McFarlane pointed out this statement was not recorded. Lebid said he did not have enough time to set up the recorder before Rodgers appeared.

    A church friend

    One of the final witnesses to testify Tuesday was a Missouri man named Jerry Lubinski, a friend of Wright.

    Lubinski and Wright met at church, and Lubinski attended Wright's 2015 wedding to Angela Wright. Also in attendance at the wedding was Mark Sievers, who Lubinski said he met at the ceremony.


    Wright did work on Lubinski’s house and at his business, Lubinski testified Tuesday.


    Rodgers' trial began two weeks ago with jury selection. The trial is expected to continue with additional witness testimony at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...da/3983683002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #75
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    Suspect admits to killing Teresa Sievers in trial for alleged co-defendant Jimmy Rodgers

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. planned to kill Bonita Springs doctor Teresa Sievers — and said he did it with help from her husband and a friend he met in jail.


    During his testimony at the Lee County Justice Center on Thursday, Wright admitted to his part in the slaying in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.


    He spoke during the trial of one of his co-defendants Jimmy Ray Rodgers.


    Wright's testimony began when Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter asked him who killed Teresa Sievers.


    "I did and Jimmy Rodgers," Wright responded. He then spent about three hours detailing the killing in front of the jury. The defense will question him Friday morning.


    Mark Sievers, the victim’s husband, first approached Wright with the idea of having his wife killed at Wright’s Missouri wedding in May 2015, Wright said.


    The Sievers were having marriage problems and Mark was in fear of losing his two daughters in a custody battle with his wife, Wright testified.


    Rodgers became involved because Wright asked for help and didn’t want to kill the woman by himself, Wright said.


    Behind it all was a life insurance policy Mark Sievers had taken out on his wife, Wright testified.

    Mark Sievers told Wright he would pay $100,000 or more to have his wife killed and the plan was to share some of that money with Rodgers, Wright said on the witness stand.

    Wright walked into the courtroom gingerly, wearing a tan Charlotte County Jail jumpsuit with his hands cuffed to his waist. He first agreed to a plea deal with the prosecution in February 2016.

    The same day authorities announced the agreement, they arrested Mark Sievers. The agreement requires that Wright provide substantial assistance to the prosecution.

    Wright already pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge, but his sentencing is contingent upon him telling the truth in court.

    “I know the maximum for the charges is life,” Wright said when asked what would happen if he didn’t tell the truth on the witness stand. “I would assume I'd go away for the rest of my life.”

    Wright and Mark Sievers are both 51. They met in high school and Sievers served as one of two best men at Wright’s wedding to his third wife in 2015.

    Rodgers, 29, and Wright met in 2010 while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri.

    A friend found Teresa Sievers, 46, bludgeoned to death on the kitchen floor of her family’s home on Jarvis Road on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    Rodgers and Mark Sievers are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted. A separate trial for Sievers is expected to begin after Rodgers’ concludes.

    Sievers and Rodgers also face a conspiracy to commit murder charge. Rodgers faces an additional charge of first-degree burglary while armed.

    After the defense cross examines Wright on Friday morning, prosecutors will then have two more witnesses testify before they rest their case.

    The killing

    During the summer of 2015, Mark Sievers wanted his wife dead as soon as possible, but the plan never was to bludgeon her, Wright said on the witness stand.

    “I was trying to knock her out and figure out a better way of doing it,” Wright said. “I never in a million years envisioned beating her to death with a hammer.”

    On June 28, 2015, Rodgers and Wright entered the garage of the Sievers house with the intent of killing Teresa Sievers, Wright said.

    Mark Sievers told Wright she would be arriving home alone from a family vacation around 11:25 p.m.

    After entering the garage, Wright and Rodgers put on jumpsuits, hats and latex gloves, Wright said. They duct-taped the suits to the gloves and at their ankles to avoid leaving any evidence, he said.

    Rodgers, whose nickname was “Jimmy the hammer,” picked up one his eponymous tools he found in the garage and made a swinging motion while talking about Teresa Sievers’ destiny, Wright said.

    Mark Sievers’ idea was to make it look like his wife was killed during a burglary, so Wright pried open a door in the garage before she arrived home, he said.

    Teresa Sievers arrived home earlier than the men anticipated, and she pulled her car into the garage where Wright was looking at a motorcycle, Wright said.

    He dove to hide behind some boxes and watched as she got out of the car and set her luggage down in the garage, Wright said during his testimony.

    Wright planned to follow the woman into her home, place her in a choke hold then figure out a way to make it look like she died accidentally, Wright said.

    He wanted to make it seem she slipped and hit her head or drowned in the family’s pool, Wright said.

    Before he could get close enough to choke the woman unconscious, Wright kicked over one of the family’s dog dishes, he said.

    "It startled her, and she started to turn toward me," Wright said. "I was afraid if she turned around she would scratch me or do something to leave evidence.”

    Before she could see who was in her home, Wright struck Teresa Sievers with a hammer he picked up in her garage on the back side of her head, Wright said.

    After he hit her the first time, Teresa Sievers put her hand up and fought for her life, Wright said.

    Because she arrived home earlier than expected, Wright did not know where in the home Rodgers was at the beginning of the attack, Wright said.

    After a few strikes with the hammer, Rodgers appeared and started hitting Teresa Sievers with a hammer of his own, Wright said.

    "She was looking at me through her arms and she said, 'why?'" Wright said.

    Rodgers began hitting the woman “in a frenzy,” and Teresa Sievers bent over while holding herself up on the kitchen counter, Wright said.

    "He kept hitting her,” Wright said. “Jimmy did.”

    Even after she fell to the floor, Rodgers continued hitting Teresa Sievers with his hammer until Wright asked him to stop, Wright said.

    Teresa Sievers was killed by the blows of two hammers and the two men left her body in her home's kitchen, Wright said.

    He left the hammer next to her body and he was unsure of what happened to the hammer Rodgers used in the attack, Wright said.

    The two men took off their jumpsuits and removed the duct tape in the home’s garage then drove home to Missouri after stopping to get gas and to clean out the car, Wright said.

    Wright threw away his blue jumpsuit at a rest stop and assumed Rodgers had done the same, but never actually saw him do it, Wright said.

    The evidence

    Wright left his phone in Missouri when he drove to Florida to kill Teresa Sievers, he said.

    He advised Jimmy Rodgers to do the same, but Rodgers did not take that advice, Wright said.

    Myra Simmons, an analyst with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, said she examined the personal cellphone records of Rodgers during her testimony Thursday.

    Simmons found his cellphone pinged to the cellphone tower closest to the Sievers’ home in Bonita Springs on the same morning Wright said he and Rodgers killed Teresa Sievers.

    During cross examination, the defense had Simmons read a disclaimer from AT&T about the type of cellphone data she was referencing. The data can be less than exact, Simmons read from the disclaimer.

    Earlier in the trial, investigators testified of an email address with Jimmy Rodgers’ name it in being attached to a Garmin GPS unit.

    Wright testified that Rodgers connected his phone to the Garmin GPS unit the men were using to navigate from Missouri to Florida.

    The friendship

    Mark Sievers and Wright were close through the years and had the type of friendship that allowed them to share secrets with each other, Wright testified.

    "I knew I could talk to him and he could talk to me," Wright said.

    Wright also shared other information, such as he was paid by the Sievers family to provide software support for the family’s medical practice.

    Wright met Teresa Sievers at her wedding to Mark but did not have a relationship or friendship with her, he said.

    When Mark Sievers would visit Missouri, he would bring his two daughters and Wright did have a relationship with them, he said.

    After Mark Sievers and Wright got dressed before Wright's wedding ceremony at a park in Missouri, they took a drive to pick up some forgotten hot dogs.

    It was then that Mark Sievers told Wright his wife had to be killed, Wright said.

    "The only option, he said, was to have her to die and he needed to have her killed. He was asking for me to help him, either to do it or facilitate to have it done," Wright said.

    He knew Rodgers was looking to make some money at the time, and Wright said he was fully committed to being involved in the plan until Rodgers agreed to take part, Wright said.

    After the killing, Wright never got $100,000 or any money for his role in it, he said. Before stepping off the witness stand Thursday, the prosecution had Wright identify Rodgers.

    Wright is expected to take the stand again at 9 a.m. Friday for cross examination from Rodgers’ defense team.

    https://www.news-press.com/story/new...nt/4006617002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #76
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    Medical examiner: No way to tell how many assailants were involved in Teresa Sievers' death

    By Kaitlin Greenockle
    Naples Daily News

    Medical Examiner Thomas Coyne said there is no way to tell how many hammers were used or how many assailants killed Teresa Sievers.

    He testified during the seventh day of testimony in the trial of Jimmy Ray Rodgers that the Bonita Springs doctor's cause of death was blunt force head trauma and he ruled her manner of death a homicide.

    Rodgers, 29, and the victim’s husband, Mark Sievers, 51, are co-defendants in the case. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty if convicted. Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., a co-defendant, had agreed to testify against them.

    Throughout Coyne's testimony he explained her autopsy and showed the jury pictures of her injuries.

    Teresa Sievers had a minimum of 17 wounds, with one of the wounds being a composite of three separate injuries, Coyne said. This wound was fatal, he said.

    Not only did she sustain depressed skull fractures, but brain injuries and what was consistent with defensive wounds to her arms.

    As the defense cross examined Coyne, he was asked if it were possible that the bruises on Teresa Sievers' arms could have happened before she was attacked.

    He said that was possible.

    Coyne was also provided the hammer found at the scene by law enforcement and compared it to Teresa Sievers' wounds.

    The wounds could have been made with that hammer, Coyne said.

    Friday was the seventh day of testimony in Rodgers' trial and the defense began with a cross examination of Wright, who had testified for the prosecution on Thursday.

    Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge began the cross examination by asking Wright if it was fair to say he had a lot at stake. Wright replied that it was just his plea deal at stake.

    Wright, the third man suspected in the killing of Teresa Sievers, took a plea deal giving him 25 years in prison, but he is required to testify truthfully at Rodgers' and Sievers' trials.

    Fitzgeorge pointed out that he pleaded to second-degree murder, while Rodgers and Mark Sievers face the death penalty.

    "The difference is I'm telling the truth," Wright said in response.

    Before the plea deal, Wright had made numerous claims of innocence, Fitzgeorge said

    Wright has been convicted five times, but has never gone to trial and has taken plea deals, she said. Wright stated it was to "take responsibility" for his actions.

    The defense said Wright has changed his statements a few times throughout the investigation into Teresa Sievers' death.

    He originally told investigators he was not in Bonita Springs when she was killed and had nothing to do with planning the killing, Wright said.

    Wright has also sustained traumatic brain injuries because of car crashes. He also has Lyme Disease and memory issues, he said.

    When Mark Sievers asked Wright if he could help kill Teresa Sievers or knew anyone who could help, Wright said he told him he didn't know anyone.

    Later on, Wright said he decided to help Mark Sievers.

    There were no plans on how to kill Teresa Sievers, but Mark Sievers wanted to make it look like a burglary gone bad, Wright said.

    On June 29, 2015, Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor inside her home at Jarvis Road. Her head was bashed in and investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    Mark Sievers was arrested and charged in February 2016 in connection with his wife's killing.

    In May of 2016, Sievers and Rodgers were indicted on first-degree murder charges, and in June of 2016 prosecutors filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty against both defendants.

    Mark Sievers and Wright were childhood friends. Wright met Rodgers while they were incarcerated at the Sainte Genevieve County jail in Missouri in 2010.

    https://www.news-press.com/story/new...gs/4022255002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Jimmy Ray Rodgers found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Teresa Sievers

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    After more then two days of deliberations the jury has a verdict in the Jimmy Rodgers death penalty case.

    Jimmy Ray Rodgers was found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of Bonita Springs doctor Teresa Sievers.

    He was found not guilty of consipiracy and criminal tresspass.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...rs/4069707002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Rodgers' guilty verdict could impact Mark Sievers trial

    By WFTX Digital Team

    LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Mark Sievers, the man prosecutors say planned the murder of his wife, Dr. Teresa Sievers, is set to go on trial November 12th.
    Jimmy Rodgers is set to be sentenced for his role in the murder less than a week later, on the 18th.

    Our law expert says the state's push for a life sentence against Rodgers could have implications for both men.

    “They may want to negotiate with Mr. Rodgers for him to testify at Mark Sievers' trial, to substantiate some of the things that Curtis Wayne Wright may have said. I would like to see a little bit more supporting information about what Curtis Wayne Wright said, because the way it was, there was nothing to show that what he said was true,” says Pamela Seay.

    Wright was the third alleged co-conspirator in this murder plot. He took a plea deal and testified that Mark Sievers set all of this up, getting him to be the middle man who hired Rodgers for the murder.

    Our law expert later added that based on the way the jury decided, they likely disregarded most, if not all, of his testimony, likely for being too unreliable.

    https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-n...-sievers-trial
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #79
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    Jimmy Rodgers sentenced to life in prison for Teresa Sievers' murder

    By ABC 7 News

    FORT MYERS, Fla. - Jimmy Rodgers was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Dr. Teresa Sievers' murder.

    Rodgers was found guilty of second-degree murder in October.

    Teresa's husband Mark asked his best friend, Curtis Wright, to kill her. Rodgers later drove to Florida with Wright from Missouri to help kill Teresa.

    https://www.abc-7.com/story/41445825...sievers-murder
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #80
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    Attorney calls for acquittal in appeal filed in case of Jimmy Ray Rodgers, convicted in murder of Bonita doctor

    By Jake Allen
    Naples Daily News

    An attorney for Jimmy Ray Rodgers called for his acquittal in a brief filed Tuesday. Rodgers was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2015 bludgeoning death of a Bonita Springs doctor.

    Rodgers originally faced a first-degree murder charge and the possibility of the death penalty as one of three men charged in the murder of Teresa Sievers.

    A Lee County jury found Rodgers guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, as well as trespassing, in October 2019. Rodgers was sentenced to life in prison in December 2019.

    Rodgers is being represented by Naples attorney Samantha Stevins in his appellate case being heard in the Florida Second District Court of Appeal.

    Rodgers’ guilty verdict in the case was legally inconsistent and elements required to be established beyond a reasonable doubt were missing, according to the brief filed by his attorney this week.

    Brief: Judge's 'befuddlement' over Rodgers verdict cited

    Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle’s “befuddlement” over the verdict sums up why Rodgers should be acquitted, according to the brief.

    "I guess it is somewhat of a conflicting verdict given the fact he’s been found guilty of murder as a principal but without a weapon, but a weapon clearly was used from the evidence, and I don’t know if that was an intent by the jury to – because they feel your client was taken advantage of because he’s younger or they felt he wasn’t as culpable or involved, or that they didn’t like the fact that Mr. Wright got second-degree murder," Kyle said during Rodgers’ sentencing hearing.

    The jury found Rodgers guilty of second-degree murder and trespassing but did not find beyond a reasonable doubt that he carried, used or attempted to use a weapon.

    Rodgers and two other men were accused in the killing of Teresa Sievers, including the victim’s husband Mark Sievers and his close friend Curtis Wayne Wright Jr.

    Mark Sievers was convicted of first-degree murder in December 2019 and a Lee County jury recommended the death sentence for him. He was sentenced to death in January 2020.

    Attorneys for Mark Sievers filed an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court, which is still processing.

    Wright, the third suspect in the murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016 in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.

    Wright admitted to the killing while testifying on behalf of the prosecution in Rodgers and Mark Sievers trials and said Mark Sievers was going to pay him for the murder.

    During both trials, prosecutors claimed Mark Sievers planned his wife’s murder with the help from Wright and was motivated in part by large life insurance policies on Teresa Sievers.

    Rodgers was enlisted to help with the murder by Wright and the pair killed Teresa Sievers with hammers after she returned home alone from a family vacation, prosecutors said.

    Teresa Sievers was found dead on the kitchen floor of her family’s home on Jarvis Road in Bonita Springs on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body.

    "Because Mr. Rodgers’s only remaining verdict convicting him of second-degree murder is a true, inconsistent verdict, this Honorable Court should, as a matter of law, enter a judgment of acquittal for second-degree murder,” according to the brief from Rodgers’ attorney.

    If the acquittal is not granted, Rodgers’ attorney asks for a new trial due to defects in due process caused by the court’s failure to continue the first trial, according to the brief.

    Rodgers’ defense team should have allotted additional time so their expert witness on trace evidence could review thousands of pages of paperwork from the FBI, according to the brief.

    “The trial court’s lack of continuance rendered counsel for Mr. Rodgers ineffective through no fault of their own,” according to the brief. “The jury only got to hear from one set of court-sanctioned experts -- the States.”

    It’s unclear when the Second District Court of Appeal will decide on Rodgers’ appeal.

    https://www.naplesnews.com/story/new...al/7409722002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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