Autopsy report heard in Briskey trial
Jun. 16—The state presented the autopsy results of Travis Frost and his grandson Dylan Moody during today's portion of the murder trial of defendant Jeffrey Jamall Briskey.
The 2017 Rabbittown killings occurred when intruders entered the Frost home, brutally beating and shooting the two men to death. Briskey and co-actor Rhimington Johnson were initially charged in the case; Johnson has since pleaded guilty to murder.
To present the case's pathology findings Wednesday, the state's attorneys called Forensic Pathologist Dr. Jonrika Malone with the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.
Malone first presented the jury with Frost's autopsy report, with the state admitting into evidence several items collected during the forensic department's investigation, such as fingernail clippings, blood stain card, and a projectile (bullet slug or fragment).
The report on Frost showed no sign of drugs in his system, with the cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds to head and torso, and multiple blunt force trauma to the head. Malone determined Frost's manner of death to be homicide.
Photos were presented to the court in addition to the medical examiner's testimony. Malone determined Frost's wounds to his neck and face would have required significant force to cause the amount of damage seen in the photos.
Malone testified that Frost's hyoid bone was also fractured, and that due to the location of the bone, this would have been indicative of strangulation.
Moody's pathology results were presented after Frost's, with Malone noting gunshot wounds to the back and right buttock. The bullet that entered Moody's back traveled through his spine and chest cavity puncturing his right lung. Malone testified that the resulting blood in Moody's chest cavity would have made it difficult for him to breathe.
Assistant District Attorney Lynn Hammond asked Malone if Moody would have been "drowning in his own blood." She agreed that he would have been.
Moody's toxicology report showed that he had a considerable number of substances in his system with low to moderate amounts of ethanol, codeine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and morphine in his blood.
State's attorneys called several other experts and witnesses to testify Wednesday, including the county's crime scene analyst who worked the case, Mark Osburn, as well as ballistic expert Brandon Best, and Moody's romantic interest at the time, Kendal Howard.
Howard testified on Moody's movements the night before leading up the murder. She said she, Moody and some friends had gone into Anniston visiting a few local bars. Other bar patrons alerted Howard of Moody "acting weird," and showed her video of Moody sitting on the curb next to his car without a shirt.
At some point in the evening, Moody left the bar without Howard and stopped responding to her text messages, according to her testimony. She said sometime after he left, she had another friend take her home — which was across the street from the Frost home.
Howard testified that when she arrived on her street, she saw "blue lights" everywhere. She said she went home and stood on her back porch to see if she could hear anything that was going on at the Frost house.
The trial will continue for the rest of this week and next, with over 180 witnesses on the list, according to court records.
