Donthe Lucas murder trial: prosecution has rested, defense will begin Monday

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - The prosecution rested in the Donthe Lucas murder trial. On Monday, the defense will begin to call its witnesses.

Lucas is accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, Kelsie Schelling, then hiding her body in 2013.

On Friday, the Pueblo Chieftain reports the second to the last prosecution witness was a dog handler whose cadaver dog hit on a scent under a tree in the backyard of Lucas's grandmother's home.

During the cross examination, the witness admitted that the dog could've picked up on someone urinating on that tree instead of an actual body.

The final witness was an investigator, who testified that the FBI had exhausted all electronic resources to find Schelling, and turned up no trace of her.

In addition to the witnesses, videotaped interviews of Lucas speaking to Pueblo police in 2017 also played on Friday were shared.

One video showed Lucas admitting to moving Schelling's vehicle to St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center.

However, prior to this admission, Lucas told investigators he was not the one who moved the vehicle. A surveillance tape did catch someone parking the vehicle in a parking lot adjacent to the hospital on Feb. 7, 2013, although the video is too grainy to properly identify the person.

Recorded interviews from Nov. 2017 show Lucas telling investigators that he and Schelling were on drugs the night before her disappearance.

In the video, Lucas says the morning of her disappearance Schelling laid down while he took a shower. When he got out, she was gone.

Lucas theorized that Schelling had gone to get more drugs from a male drug dealer they would occasionally purchase from. When asked for his name, Lucas said he did not know but referred to him as "Joe CK.

For a full look at the 13th day of the murder trial reported by the Pueblo Chieftain, click here.