Prosecutors revealed in court on Thursday that Jeff West’s fingerprints were found on a bottle of absinthe investigators believe was used to murder his wife Kat West in 2018.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Kat West was found dead outside her home in Calera, Alabama, on the morning of January 13, 2018, hours after a ‘date night’ with her husband Jeff. Investigators determined that Kat, who was a stay-at-home mom who ran a private business selling adult photos of herself online, died due to injuries sustained when her killer hit her over the head with an absinthe bottle.
The night before Kat, 42, was found dead, she and her husband were seen on liquor store surveillance video buying a bottle of absinthe.
Get your daily crime on! Breaking crime and justice news on ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’
A month after she died, Jeff West was arrested and charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty, and is currently on trial in Columbiana, Alabama.
According to ABC 33/40, a forensic expert testified in court on Thursday that Jeff West’s inverted thumbprint was found on the bottle in an area that indicated he had held the bottle by the neck. A forensic expert also testified that Kat West’s blood was found on the bottle and on a white shirt found lying on a hamper in the home’s master bathroom. Jeff West’s attorney reportedly noted during cross-examination that investigators could not determine how old the blood evidence was.
The defense attorney also reviewed what he claimed was the sequence of events the night before Kat West was found dead. The lawyer reportedly said that Kat had asked her husband to photograph her in sexy lingerie after they got home from their date. He claimed that West fell asleep downstairs at around 10:30 p.m., after consuming several alcoholic drinks, and not wake up until 5 a.m. the next day to the sound of a dog parking and police outside his home. A teenager had reportedly spotted Kat’s body that morning and called police.
Following testimony about a vaginal swab that detected the presence of sperm cells, but too few to complete an identification, Reed appeared to suggest that Kat may have been with another man not long before her death — despite his client’s own insistence, in interviews with police, that his wife had never been unfaithful.
“It’s kind of interesting evidence huh? I know what some people are thinking,” Robbins said in court, according to ABC 33/40.
Witness testimony is expected to continue on Friday.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to the latest episode:
