Day 6 of Winston Corbett’s trial in murder of professor James Miller
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The first witness was Nick McCloughen of the Goshen Police Department, who began his testimony on Friday.
He testified about receiving a report about the genetic genealogy on October 16, 2018. Following that, they collected Corbett’s trash.
The defense asked McCloughen about tips in the case that implicated other people. At least one person he investigated did not match the DNA from the scene.
McCloughen also testified about getting photographs of the suspect from the Goshen High School yearbook.
The next witness was Theresa Vining, who lived on Main Street in 2011, near Winston Corbett.
She testified she saw Corbett use the bike path often and would see him riding his bike on the path after school.
The next witness was Chuck Osterday who worked for the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office during the investigation. He was one of the officers who went to Corbett’s house and spoke with him at the door, in what was characterized as a “knock and talk.”
Read ABC57's past coverage of the James Miller homicide
The next witness was Lieutenant Mike Carich who works with the Elkhart County Homicide Unit.
He testified about collecting Corbett’s trash and was one of the investigators who went through the trash once it was collected.
Greg Harder of the Elkhart Police Department, who also works with the Elkhart County Homicide Unit, testified about the trash from Corbett’s house.
He said they collected 14 items of trash including soda cans, a baggage claim ticket, two receipts, two airline tickets, a used band aid with a red substance, chewing gum and a piece of toilet paper.
Harder and another officer took the items to the Indiana State Police Laboratory for processing.
He said they wanted to get Corbett’s DNA without him knowing.
After the results came back, they made contact with Corbett and collected buccal swabs, for DNA testing, from him.
After Harder Nicole Stickle, a DNA analyst, testified. She worked at the Indiana State Police Laboratory Division doing serology and DNA analysis during the investigation. She now works in South Carolina.
She was the person who processed the evidence in this case from 2011 until she left the lab in 2012.
She conducted DNA testing on multiple items of evidence:
- Door handle – there was a mixture of DNA from James Miller and an unknown minor profile
- Tooth found in the foyer – The tooth had DNA from James Miller
- Lampshade from the bedroom – DNA from Linda Miller
- Lampshade from the bedroom – Second cutting had DNA with James Miller as the primary source and Linda Miller could not be excluded as a contributor to the mixture.
- Hair found on shoes and pants – Hair was not human so it was not examined further
- Fingernail clippings from James Miller – DNA from James Miller was found
- Black T-shirt James Miller was wearing at the time of his death
- 32 areas were checked for blood – all were confirmed to be blood
- The shirt had a strong chemical smell that was unidentified
- Three cuttings from the shirt matched the profile of James Miller
- One area had an unknown DNA profile on the left shoulder area
- A swab from blood on the roadway – It had a mixture of James Miller and an unknown male number one cannot be excluded. (The unknown DNA on the roadway was different from the unknown DNA on the t-shirt)
- Interior door handle (Kitchen) – DNA match to James Miller
- Dryer swab – DNA match to James Miller
- Garage floor – the DNA was a match to James Miller
Court ended for the day after Stickle completed her testimony.