Day three of live blog for Trumbull's capital murder trial: Court recessed until Monday

Editor's note: This blog contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some readers related to child abuse, sexual abuse, animal abuse and murder.

Check back often for live updates and catch-up entries on this blog covering the murder trial for a drifter accused of killing an 11-year-old boy in Wichita Falls. The child's mother is also charged with his murder.

Thursday, Aug. 24 — The capital murder trial of Corey Allen Trumbull for the death of 11-year-old Logan Cline resumed Thursday with the testimony of a retired longtime investigator of crimes against children.

Former Wichita Falls police detective Betty Dean began testifying Wednesday about a search of Trumbull's truck and two interviews she and another detective conducted with him in Las Vegas where he was arrested on domestic violence charges.

See below for live updates of the third day of testimony on Thursday in the trial of the drifter accused of shocking acts against the little boy.

Trumbull, 35, and Logan's mother, Stormy Loraine Johnson, 40, are accused of beating Logan to death Dec. 14, 2019, in a Wichita Falls hotel room and then hiding his body in an abandoned car half a block away.

Graphic autopsy photos and a disturbing video drove the child's father and paternal grandmother out of the courtroom at times Wednesday.

Dr. Suzanne Dakil, a specialist in child-abuse pediatrics from Dallas, testified about the cause of death in Logan's homicide and the injuries inflicted on him.

Logan bled to death internally because of blunt force trauma, according to her testimony. The child suffered head trauma, but it was the deep bruises covering his body that contributed to his death.

He also suffered a staggering injury when a 220-pound Trumbull allegedly stomped on his head, breaking his nose so badly it would have been difficult for the boy to eat and impossible for him to breathe out of his nose, she testified.

Dakil told the jury the autopsy report showed "a battered, emaciated child. He had significant bruising. He was very thin."

Logan's last recorded weight from a medical consultation was about 96 pounds. He was a healthy child. But over the course of his mother's relationship with her new boyfriend, he apparently lost 30 pounds.

Dakil testified that Logan was pummeled over and over.

"This kid went down, and the beating continued," Dakil testified.

She told the jury that Logan's injuries would have interfered with normal activities, such as walking. It would be obvious that he needed immediate medical treatment.

More: Live blog for Corey Allen Trumbull's murder trial for 11-year-old's death: Day one

More: Live blog for Trumbull's capital murder trial: Day two

During cross-examination, Wichita County Assistant Public Defender Will Hull asked Dakil if it was possible Trumbull and Johnson both abused Logan.

Hull noted that he could introduce many hypothetical situations about the cause of Logan's injuries.

Dakil agreed that it was possible and also confirmed that Logan's injuries appear to be caused by a massive one-time beating or multiple beatings across time.

"Is it possible that a person who is less than 200 pounds could inflict those injuries over time?" Hull said.

"If you have enough adrenaline and rage," Dakil testified.

"Only people that were there could tell me exactly what happened," Dakil told the jury.

Those people would be Trumbull, Logan's mother and his sister, now 18 years old. She gave testimony about the trauma and abuse she and Logan endured and his horrific death in a room at the Red Roof Inn off Interstate Highway-44.

Trumbull is alleged to have been the main abuser, but Johnson also took part.

She is charged with murder in connection with her son's death. Trumbull and Johnson are both charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly hiding Logan's body in the backseat of a derelict car.

Wichita Falls police found the body Feb. 27, 2020, after information about it came up during the course of domestic violence charges against Trumbull. He was accused of physical attacks on Johnson in Las Vegas.

Trumbull admitted during one of his interviews with Dean and another detective from Wichita Falls that Logan's body was cleaned, dressed and put in a wheelchair.

He and Johnson then went to dump it and did so in an old car near an abandoned house on the city's north side.

But Trumbull pinned all of those acts on Johnson right down to saying she put the body into the car. He told the detectives he was there but didn't take part or touch Logan after he died during a seizure.

This was one of the versions of what happened that Trumbull gave during the two interviews.

Dakil and Dean might be familiar to those who followed the trial of James Irven Staley, who was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole earlier this year for killing 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel in 2018. Both Dakil and Dean also testified in that trial.

A disturbing video shown to the jury Wednesday left the courtroom in stunned silence.

The video was taken from a memory card found during a search of Trumbull's Chevy Silverado in Las Vegas. The voices of Johnson, Trumbull and Logan could be heard on the video although only Logan was visible.

His sister confirmed that it was them talking on the video during her testimony Tuesday.

Hull disputed her confirmation and the authenticity of the video. He logged a running objection to it Wednesday.

In the video, Johnson and Trumbull encourage Logan to engage in child sexual abuse. No abuse is visible in the video. At the end of it, the camera is apparently focused on a wall.

Just before it was shown, Nicholas Cline, Logan's father, and his paternal grandmother quickly walked out of the courtroom.

On Tuesday, the jury heard opening arguments and testimony began. Trumbull also pleaded not guilty to charges of capital murder of a child 10 or older but younger than 15 and to tampering with evidence.

Thirtieth District Judge Jeff McKnight is presiding over the trial in the 78th District Courtroom since the 30th District Courtroom sustained water damage and is being repaired.

Wichita County Assistant District Attorney John Gillespie is leading the prosecution with Assistant DA Kyle Lessor in second chair. Hull is leading Trumbull's defense with APD Gant Grimes on board to assist.

Before Trumbull's arrest, his last known address was a homeless shelter in San Angelo, according to arrest reports and publicdata.com.

He was being held on $3.2 million in bonds Friday in the Wichita County Detention Center, according to online jail records. Johnson was being held on $1.25 million in bonds.

Check back with www.timesrecordnews.com for more on this developing story.

2:15 p.m. Thursday — Court recessed for the day. The Trumbull trial will not be held Friday and will continue at 9 a.m. Monday.

The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Logan's body is expected to testify Monday.

After lunch break — A recently retired Last Vegas detective, Cliff Mogg continued testifying, responding to questions from Gillespie and cross-examination by Hull. Mogg assisted the Wichita Falls homicide investigation.

10:45 a.m. — The detective formerly with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was on the stand, and the jury was listening to his interview audiotaped March 2, 2020, with Trumbull.

Mogg's tone ranged from man-to-man and sympathetic to challenging and accusing to pleading over the course of the interview.

"It's not anything on you. People get upset," Mogg said. "Life is tough. I can't even imagine how tough it is. ... People get frustrated. Tempers are short. People understand that."

But they don't understand when people don't tell the truth, Mogg said.

The jury was following along with a transcript, and so they could interpret Trumbull's tearful, muttered replies better than those in the gallery.

"I know everything that happened. I talked to Stormy. I talked to (Logan's sister)," Mogg said.

The name of Logan's sister is not being used by the Times Record News because she is a sexual abuse victim in connection with incidents in Las Vegas.

"You seem like the kind of guy who would be straight up. You don't beat around the bush," the detective said to Trumbull. "Tell me the truth."

Trumbull said everybody has their own truth.

Mogg continued to entreat Trumbull to talk about what happened to Logan.

Trumbull told him that Logan was sexually inappropriate with another sister, and everybody got mad at him.

"I told him it was wrong. You don't touch anybody like that," Trumbull said.

No evidence has been presented as proof of these allegations against Logan.

Trumbull said the situation continued for days, and he doesn't remember what happened.

"He used to spar with me," Trumbull said. "He was a tough little man."

"Did he ever connect?" the detective said. "Did you ever connect with him?"

Trumbull said yes to both. He hit Logan once in the head and punched him in the chest. One day, Johnson joined in.

"While we were sparring, she got up and was hitting him, too," Trumbull said.

Logan started having a seizure at one point, and he was put in the bathtub for a warm shower, Trumbull said.

"He really stiffened up," Trumbull said.

He said Logan kept getting worse. He was being fed soup, and he started gurgling something up.

Testimony has indicated Logan threw up blood when he was being fed soup on the day he died.

"I didn't do anything," Trumbull said.

No one called an ambulance, he said.

Trumbull's account in this interview seemed more disjointed and rambling than in interviews with Dean and then Wichita Falls Detective Jason Biederman from late February. The jury listened to them Wednesday.

Trumbull's tears dried up at when he talked about how he treated his sticks, tree branches that he sanded and coated with epoxy. He seemed to enjoy talking about it.

The detective asked him if he hit Logan with a stick.

Trumbull said he did not, and he didn't spank Logan. Johnson did.

"I know absolutely hands down without a doubt that you hit him with that stick, too," the detective said.

Trumbull denied it, but he told the detective that Logan would ask to be hit with a stick.

"He was all about the attention," Trumbull said.

"After he got wacked on the butt with the stick, how bad was he hurt," Mogg said.

Logan was hurt but wasn't unconscious, according to Trumbull.

He said Logan was a masochist who liked pain, and he was into "BDSM," bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.

The detective asked how big Logan was in Wichita Falls.

"He lost some weight," Trumbull said.

The detective told Trumbull that Johnson was downtown because she had some warrants, but she is fine.

Trumbull chuckled earlier while talking about Logan and the stick, but he began to cry, saying he told Johnson he didn't love Logan. But that wasn't true.

"I said some mean things," Trumbull said.

He said he punched Logan after he was hit with the stick, and then Logan went back to the corner.

Trumbull confirmed that Logan was being disciplined because he inappropriately touched another sister years ago.

After Logan died, Trumbull didn't touch him, he said. And he never kicked Logan. It was Johnson who went and got ice to put on Logan's body in the bathtub.

"I know you got ice while Logan was in the bathtub," the detective said.

Trumbull admitted that he did.

He said a little ice was put on Logan's body in the bathtub, and after an hour or two, Stormy cleaned the body up in the bathtub and dressed it. She put Logan's body in a wheelchair and covered it up with a blanket to get it out of the hotel room.

Outside, they came across the car, and Johnson put him in the backseat, Trumbull said.

The detective challenged him, saying that Trumbull helped.

Trumbull became upset and said he didn't touch Logan after he performed CPR on him.

"I swear to God," Trumbull said weeping.

Afterward, Johnson left the wheelchair at the bottom of the stairs at the hotel, Trumbull said.

Mogg asked who cleaned up the blood.

Trumbull said there was no blood.

"There was blood," the detective said. "We found it in the room."

Trumbull said they stayed at the hotel for a few more days before moving to OYO Hotel in Wichita Falls. His fingerprints might be on the door of the car because he checked to see if it was locked.

They stayed at OYO Hotel for a night or two, Trumbull said.

Mogg asked what happened with the stick they hit Logan with.

Trumbull said it broke because his work on it had made it thin like a toothpick.

"It was enough to do the job," the detective said.

Later the detective asked, "What is the thing that you regret most?"

Trumbull said something tearfully, including "I (expletive) up another one of my families."

He has two children with another woman.

The detective asked what triggered him to beat Logan.

"You hit him. Corey, I'm telling you. You hit him," the detective said. "You hit him hard."

"Not that hard," Trumbull said.

Later, Mogg said, "I've investigated murders for 17 years, and I know when guys lose their temper."

The detective asked Trumbull what he thinks should happen to him now.

"I don't know," Trumbull said.

He swore that he didn't hit Logan that hard.

The detective recapped Trumbull's story: Logan told them about inappropriately touching one of his sisters and other little girls. Trumbull punched him once in the head and hit him with stick.

Trumbull protested some points of Mogg's recap, such as that Logan took a severe beating on one occasion.

"I know that this beating took place over a short period of time," the detective said.

"It wasn't," Trumbull said.

He contended Logan was hit or spanked on different occasions, including getting spanked by his mom.

"You hurt him," the detective said.

"I hurt who?" Trumbull said.

"Logan," the detective said.

Trumbull said his biggest regret is not calling an ambulance for Logan.

"What do you think should happen to you?" the detective said.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Trumbull said.

Trumbull said he loved Logan.

The detective said Trumbull took care of Logan, but he lost his temper. And it happens to everybody.

Trumbull said Logan hit his head while pretending to be a "white boy rapper." He was jumping up and down. Suddenly, he collapsed and hit his head on the edge of the sink in the room. Logan started having a seizure, and he was immediately put in the shower.

Trumbull left to get candy bars, and Logan ate the Reese's Sticks he brought back. Then Trumbull left for soup. While Logan was being fed soup, he spit up a brown substance that Trumbull said he "can't even describe."

Trumbull insisted that Logan was having "minute seizures" before that.

The detective said the boy did not have a seizure. Mogg said he thinks Trumbull hit him in the head, and Logan stumbled and fell, hitting his head.

Trumbull denied it.

The detective urged him to tell the truth, saying people understand making mistakes but not lying about them.

"All I want is my family back," Trumbull said, weeping.

"I know that. The problem is, this happened to part of your family," Mogg said.

"I miss my family," Trumbull said. "My family is bigger than you know."

He said he considers people he is not related to to be his family.

Trumbull admitted that when he punched Logan in the head, he fell. Then he got up, and they were listening to Adam Calhoun.

"Corey, you weren't listening to Adam Calhoun," the detective said.

"On my mother's grave, I swear to God, he got up, and we were listening to Adam Calhoun," Trumbull said.

The detective said Trumbull and Johnson both took Logan's body out of the room, as well as did other things.

Trumbull began weeping hysterically, saying, "I swear on my soul. I didn't touch him again."

The detective said he believed Trumbull, who calmed down.

Trumbull said Johnson punched Logan.

"What if Stormy said this was because Logan wanted food," the detective said.

"You've got to be (expletive) kidding me," Trumbull said.

The detective said he couldn't make this stuff up.

Shortly afterward, the interview ended. McKnight recessed the trial at 12:05 p.m. and sent the jury to lunch until 1:30 p.m.

Hull cross-examined Dean before Mogg's testimony, and the judge sent the jury out for a break. After the break, the DA's Office played Trumbull's interview with the Las Vegas detective.

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News in Wichita Falls, covers education, courts, breaking news, investigative projects and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Day 3 blog for Trumbull's murder trial: Trial recessed until Monday