Jury convicts North Carolina man in 1984 Columbia rape, assault
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A jury deliberated for less than two hours before delivering a guilty verdict in a 1984 Columbia rape and assault.
It has been nearly four decades since a 17-year-old girl was raped, stabbed and left in a creek by a man in Columbia. The 12-person jury was sent to deliberate a little before 11:30 a.m. and returned with the verdict at about 1:20 p.m.
James F. Wilson, 61, of Mooresville, North Carolina, was convicted of rape and first-degree assault for raping and repeatedly stabbing a 17-year-old girl in the throat in the 4000 block of Wellington Drive in northeast Columbia on March 24, 1984. The woman testified Tuesday against Wilson.
The cold case was reopened by the Columbia Police Department in 2020. The 1984 sexual assault kit conducted at University Hospital was sent for Sorenson Forensics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The DNA profile created from the suspect's DNA ultimately led detectives to Wilson.
The jury later recommended life in prison on each count -- one count of rape and one count of assault.
Wilson's victim said she felt "unimaginable relief" when she gave her victim impact statement.
“I pretended someone could love me though I carry with me what society deems as the dirty stigma of rape,” the woman testified. “I didn’t realize how tightly I was holding on to my normalcy, sanity and grief. Until that day CPD came and advised me of the arrest of my attacker. The dam just broke.”
Members of Wilson's family testified that he was a good family man.
“The James I know never showed anything remotely close to this incident,” Syndee Durand Wilson testified. “He never showed me any violence was never violent to me in any way.”
Wilson was also a great stepfather, she said.
Closing arguments from the state
Closing statements from the state began at 10:37 a.m.
“Alone, wet, cold, naked, raped, throat slashed, bleeding, aspirating her own blood, unable to speak, unable to call out, three-quarters of a mile from the nearest help," Prosecuting Attorney Susan Boresi said. "That’s how the defendant, this man, left her that night. Make no mistake, he left her to die."
Boresi showed the jury a transcript from Wilson's confession to Columbia Police Department Detective Matthew Gremore on Oct. 27, 2022, that was played Wednesday in court. She read from the moment Wilson described parking his car and getting the victim in the back seat.
“This is it," Boresi said. "This is game time."
She approached the jury box after reading a few more of Wilson's statements from the transcript.
“I cannot begin to describe the disgust that those words generate,” Boresi said.
Closing arguments from the defense
Closing statements from the state began at 11:02 a.m.
“This has not been an easy case,” defense attorney Kaitlyn Bullard said. "I’m not going to stand before you today and tell you that."
Bullard told the jury that in these cases it's important for the jury to remember to weigh doubt.
“I didn’t ask many questions this entire case,” Bullard said.
But she said when she did, it was always related to fact versus doubt. She asked the jury to recall when one retired CPD detective who took the stand didn't remember writing medical notes.
“She wrote a 16-page report that she didn’t remember writing,” Bullard said. “Why does the state give her that report to review? She didn’t remember."
She said there were problem areas in this case.
“You didn’t hear from the person who took the vaginal swabs," Bullard said. "We don’t know that person’s name.”
Bullard asked the jury to recall the fact that the nurse who testified that she was in the room during the sexual assault kit did not know the name of the doctor who conducted it.
She brought up the fact that part of the swab that was sent for DNA testing had previously been cut.
“Who cut that swab,” Bullard said. “That’s a question you should have an answer to.”
She said the evidence in this case was pulled out 38 years after it was collected. “You don’t know how the sexual assault kit looked after it was taken out of evidence," Bullard said.
Bullard also brought up the fact that no photos were taken of the kit before it was sent to Sorenson Forensics.
“Is that why the state used a private laboratory and spent thousands of dollars instead of using Missouri State Highway Patrol's [lab]?” Bullard said.
When it was the state's turn for rebuttal, Boresi said having the person who took the swab shouldn't matter in this case.
"The eyewitness told you," Boresi said. "She told you how she was standing there holding her [the victim's] hand while her fingernails are being scraped," Boresi said.
Boresi said the defense counsel's ideas and allegations during closing arguments were "ridiculous."
“It is the defense literally grasping at straws,” Boresi said. “When you don’t have the facts on your side, the law on your side, that’s what you do.”
Eleven witnesses testified throughout the three-day trial, all from the state. The jury has heard from forensic scientists who analyzed the victim and suspect's DNA, law enforcement from Columbia and North Carolina who have investigated the case and medical professionals who treated the woman in the emergency room the night of the attack.
Two new witnesses gave testimony Thursday morning and one was recalled for further questioning.
Former Detective Shawn Elliot with Mooresville Police Department in North Carolina testified Thursday.
Elliot said the role of MPD was to support the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and CPD in its investigation into Wilson. When the department was asked to surreptitiously acquire Wilson's DNA, Elliot said he assisted in the surveillance of Wilson's house in North Carolina.
Elliot testified that a trash pull was done at Wilson's house.
"In hopes he would discard something like a cigarette butt or straw," Elliot said.
He said the trash was turned over to the SBI.
A disposable razor with hair in the blades and other items were sent to CPD, according to previous reporting. The razor was then sent for DNA analysis, where it then matched the profile from the rape kit.
Elliot said he also assisted CPD with arrest and search warrants in North Carolina.
"One of the things in the search warrant to be seized was a buccal swab," Elliot testified. A buccal swab is a swab of the inside of a person's cheek with a cotton swab.
Elliot swabbed Wilson the day of his arrest. He said he then gave that swab to CPD Detective Renee Wilbarger.
State recalls Wilbarger to the stand
CPD Detective Renee Wilbarger was recalled to testify Thursday following her lengthy testimony Wednesday. She reopened the case in 2020 and was one of the officers who went to arrest Wilson in North Carolina in 2022.
The state questioned her about the day of the arrest. She said she observed Elliot take the buccal swab and hand it over to an agent in North Carolina who packaged it in front of her for forensics.
After evidence was acquired, CPD decided to have it sent back to Columbia because CPD detectives did not know how long that would be in North Carolina, Wilbarger testified. She said that was the safest option.
CPD used FedEX to ship the evidence overnight to the department in Columbia.
“Was that evidence sercurely received,” Boresi said.
"Yes it was," Wilbarger said.
Forensic scientist who tested Wilson's buccal swab
Senior forensic scientist Laura Matheson of Sorenson Forensics testified Thursday. She said when she received the buccal swab she was asked to create a DNA profile from it and compare that to the previous profile created by Sorenson Forensics of the male suspect from the 1984 sexual assault kit.
She said there were two swabs and she cut a small portion off of one of them for testing. There were no differences found between the two profiles, she testified.
“The DNA profile obtained from James Wilson was consistent with the DNA profile from the vaginal swab,” Matheson said.
Boresi asked Matheson the chances of two DNA profiles being that similar. Matheson said the chances are 1-in-101 octillion in Caucasians.
“That’s 101 with 27 zeroes after it,” Matheson said.
Bullard asked Matheson whether her testimony was paid.
Matheson said Sorenson Forensics is paying her hourly for work.
“So you’re not testifying for free,” Bullard said. “And the state is paying for your travel expenses," Bullard said.
Matheson said that was correct.
