State's first witness says David Burns told him he smothered Courtney Coco with a pillow

David Burns' defense attorneys spent Thursday trying to show jurors how the person who killed 19-year-old Courtney Coco in October 2004 could have been any of the multiple men she was seeing, while the state's first witness said his longtime friend, Burns, told him he'd smothered the Alexandria resident.

Coco's body was found in a Winnie, Texas, building on Oct. 4, 2004. The case grew cold, and it wasn't until April 13, 2021, that Burns was indicted and arrested.

On Thursday morning, testimony began after opening statements. Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland told jurors Waylon Durison had been tracked to Joplin, Missouri, where he was arrested at a homeless shelter and brought back to testify.

Detective:David Burns told 5 people he killed Courtney Coco

David Burns:Arrest made in Courtney Coco cold-case homicide

Durison testified he's known Burns for 20 or 25 years and said once, years ago, the two were talking when he casually told Burns he didn't believe he ever could kill someone.

Burns told him it wasn't as hard as one would think, he said under questioning from Holland. He testified that Burns said he'd smothered her with a pillow and then wrapped her body in a blanket.

Holland asked if Burns mentioned Coco by name, and he said yes and described her as his girlfriend's sister.

"Is it every day you hear someone confess to murder?" Holland asked.

"Not every day, no sir," he replied.

As Holland told jurors during his opening statement, Burns was engaged to Coco's sister in 2004. But he said Coco and Burns were having an affair and that Burns bought a set of heart-shaped rings to give one to her sister as a promise ring.

The family discovered Coco had the matching ring, worn on the third finger of her right hand, after she died when her personal items were returned to them, he told jurors.

The indictment against Burns alleges he killed Coco during a robbery, and testimony from Skylor Hearne, a former Texas Ranger who responded to the crime scene and processed it, revealed that Coco was the beneficiary of a large amount of money.

The first lead detective on the case from the Alexandria Police Department, Cedric Green, testified Thursday afternoon that Coco's father suffered a work injury and received a "substantial" settlement. He died when Coco was around 9, and she was his beneficiary.

She received monthly payments once she turned 18, he said.

In his opening statement, Holland mentioned others to whom Burns allegedly confessed. Durison was the only one to testify Thursday, and one of Burns' defense attorneys repeatedly challenged him on statements he made about it in the past.

The comforter off Coco's bed was reported missing by her family, and speculation is that it was what was used to wrap her. It's never been recovered.

In one of his statements, Durison referred to it as "his blanket." LaCour repeatedly asked him to clarify whether he meant Burns' blanket or Coco's, flustering him at times.

"He's trying to say I'm lying. I ain't got no damn reason to be lying," he said as LaCour and Holland conferred on one of the statements.

The day was emotional for Coco's family and supporters who filled at least three rows on one side of 9th Judicial District Court Judge Mary Lauve Doggett's courtroom.

The Texas forensic pathologist who performed Coco's autopsy, now 88 and retired, testified about his findings. He said he ruled her death a homicide by undetermined means, but judged that she had been asphyxiated.

It was estimated that 52 hours passed between when Coco last had been heard from and when her body was found by a man driving a slow-moving, open-air tractor past the building where she was found. The man saw her body because he looked around after he "got a smell, like a dead animal."

When the pathologist, Dr. Tommy Brown, learned about the time frame, he said something wasn't right, he testified. Coco's body was in a state of decomposition that normally would be seen a week or more after death, he said.

"She was severely decomposed, and the stench was terrible," he said.

But, under questioning from Holland, Brown said Coco's body "absolutely" would decompose faster if it had been left in the trunk of her car. He and Tommy Henry, formerly with the Chambers County, Texas, Sheriff's Office, said the temperature in Coco's trunk would have been well over 100 degrees at the time she was missing.

Henry was the first officer on the scene in Winnie, Texas.

Brown said he found no external injuries on Coco. Because of the condition of her body, he squeezed blood from her spleen to send off for a toxicology report.

But after extensive questioning by both Holland and LaCour on why and what they showed, Brown testified he did it so he could know what Coco might have had in her blood. The report did show she had been drinking alcohol, but Brown testified the result could not be used to make any solid conclusions.

He said alcohol would have been concentrated in her spleen after death. In addition, the body naturally produces alcohol as it decomposes.

And as Hearne testified, Holland presented crime scene photos that included graphic photos of Coco's body. Coco's mother, Stephanie Belgard, left before they were displayed, as did others.

Those who remained huddled together, some crying, as jurors viewed the photos on a large-screen television. One woman held her hands over another woman's eyes.

Testimony will continue Friday morning. LaCour's co-counsel is Willie Stephens, while Holland's is Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Johnny Giordano.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Witness says David Burns killed Courtney Coco, but defense hammers him