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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- March 13, 2019
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Suspects
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An expert witness told a jury March 12 that the last text a murder victim sent was to her boyfriend.
El Hadji Toure is charged with first-degree murder while armed, first-degree sexual abuse and robbery while armed, among other offenses, for his alleged role in the death of 34-year-old Corrina Mehiel in an apartment on the 600 block of 14th Street, NE in March of 2017.
“I don’t like it here now without you,” the expert said Mehiel texted her boyfriend. Apparently, Mehiel’s cell phone ceased human activity somewhere within the late hours of March 19, 2017, two days before she was found dead inside the apartment she was renting.
Mehiel’s boyfriend sent another text the next day, which read, “good morning,” and included a photo of baby birds.
The text went unread.
The defense said Toure and Mehiel could have had a consensual sexual relationship. However, the expert said he saw no evidence of any communication between Mehiel and Toure, nor did he see any evidence that Mehiel had recently been using dating apps.
According to the prosecution, Toure is responsible for binding, sexually assaulting and stabbing Mehiel to death as well as stealing her credit cards. Security footage at various ATM machines captured a black man withdrawing money from Mehiel’s account in the days after she was murdered.
The trial is scheduled to continue on March 13.