'You're not a monster are you?' Suspect in former NSB high school teen's death faces questions

An investigator challenged the man accused of killing his then-girlfriend’s 16-year-old daughter to show that he was not a “monster” in a video of an interview played for jurors Thursday.

Robert "Bobby" Kern Jr. is on trial charged with first-degree murder in the 2018 killing of 16-year-old Justis Marie Garrett. Kern, 43, is also charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols is presiding over the case at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.

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At the time of homicide, Kern was dating Garrett’s mother, Danielle Pratt. Garrett had missed her school bus to Mount Dora High School on April 13, 2018, so Pratt suggested Kern drive her to school, according to testimony.

But Assistant State Attorney Megan Upchurch, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis, said in her opening statements that instead of driving her to school, Kern drove her to DeLand, where he raped and killed her and left her body in a heavily wooded area. Her body was discovered several days later.

Garrett had been attending New Smyrna Beach High School until the family moved to Sorrento in Lake County several months before she was killed.

Investigator targets phone GPS movements

Seventh Circuit State Attorney’s Office Investigator Rich Brendel and FDLE Special Agent Daryl McCormick challenged Kern’s story during an interview on Feb. 20, 2019. Brendel and McCormick told Kern that his phone and Garrett’s phone traveled together along the same path on the morning she disappeared.

Instead of going west from Garrett’s home in Sorrento toward Mount Dora High School, Kern’s and Garrett’s phones had headed east toward DeLand.

Kern said he didn’t know why that was the case and that he didn’t understand technology.

On Friday, FDLE analyst Amanda Stephens testified that investigators used Sprint cellphone records which showed that Garrett's phone on April 13, 2018, instead of going toward Mount Dora High School had traveled from Sorrento east to Interstate 4 and then northeast to DeLand to the area where her body was found.

But Stephens said detailed Sprint cellphone data for Kern's phone's movements on April 13, 2018, were not available.

Stephens did testify that Kern's phone was tracked to where Garrett's body was located on April 16, 2018. The phone remained near the body's location for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Assistant Public Defender Adam Dala, who is representing Kern along with Assistant Public Defender Cameron Brown, pointed out on Friday that investigators were unable to track Kern's phone on the morning of April 13.

A prosecutor said investigators were allowed to use deception in an interview.

During the interview, Kern insisted he did not harm Garrett.

“I have never hurt a woman or a child in my entire life,” Kern said.

“Have I sat here and told you that you hurt anybody?” one of the investigators said.

“All I know in my heart is that I did not hurt that child and there’s nothing in the world that would make me hurt that child,” Kern said.

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Did Bobby Kern drop off Justis Marie Garrett at Mount Dora High School?

An investigator told Kern that he had lied earlier in the investigation. Kern had initially indicated he had dropped the girl off at Mount Dora High School. Kern had later claimed he had dropped her off at a street corner where she said someone was going to pick her up.

Kern had also sent a text to Garrett’s mother that he had dropped the girl off at Mount Dora High School.

Garrett’s mother had initially told investigators that she was with Kern when he dropped Garrett off at school. She said she did so because Kern had a suspended driver’s license.

The investigators challenged Kern to explain what happened on the day Garrett disappeared.

“Either you’re some kind of a monster and you murdered her or something else happened and there are mitigating circumstances,” Brendel said.

An investigator asked Kern who poured bleach on Garrett’s pants.

“I have no idea,” Kern said.

Garrett’s partially skeletal remains were found with a black hoodie and draw strings around her neck.

“Who tied the draw strings around her neck?” an investigator asked

“I don’t know,” Kern said.

“You can still help her, Bobby,” an investigator said.

“I didn’t do it,” Kern replied.

Fake Instagram account traced to Kern's mother's address

One of the investigators told Kern they had traced a fake Instagram account to Kern’s mother’s IP address in Sanford. Asking if Kern was a predator, an investigator accused him of using the Instagram account to try to lure in Garrett and some of her friends.

Kern denied it.

“You’re not a monster are you? Then what’s going on with you?” Brendel asked.

One of them showed Kern pictures of Garrett’s decomposing, skeletal remains.

“Yes, they are bad; they are real bad. This is how she was found,” the investigator said.

An investigator said Kern had stated at one point that it had not happened like that.

“If you are not a monster, how did it happen?” the investigator asked

“I misspoke because I didn’t do anything,” Kern said. “I would never hurt that child.”

Kern sat next to his two assistant public defenders as the video was played for the jurors. While he could hear his interview, he could not see it due to the positioning of the video monitor.

The trial continues Friday.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man denies killing Justis Marie Garrett in video played at trial