BOULDER, Colo. – Opening statements began Thursday in the trial of Adam Densmore, who’s accused of killing and dismembering his ex-girlfriend back in early 2017.
Inside a Boulder County courtroom, the prosecution grabbed the jury’s attention right away by displaying the purple suitcase where Ashley Mead’s torso was found just outside Shreveport, Louisiana on February 12, 2017.
Prosecutors also played several voicemails in which Densmore is heard trying to get a hold of Mead, telling her he will be taking their daughter to Louisiana to his parents’ house. Prosecutors used the recordings to show how manipulative Densmore was after Mead disappeared.
But the defense team tried to poke doubt at all of the theories presented by the prosecution during the opening statements.
Inside the courtroom, Densmore’s defense said no one “will be able to give to give concise answers as to what happened, when it happened and how it happened.”
The defense said they are highly doubtful that prosecutors will be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Densmore gruesomely murdered his estranged ex-girlfriend.
Seven witnesses took the stand for the prosecution. Among them was Mead’s mother, Claudia Bunce.
The woman’s mother spoke about the last time she had seen and heard from her daughter.
Several other witnesses close to Mead testified and read text messages sent to them by Mead detailing the feud she had with Densmore over wanting to end the relationship just days before her disappearance.
Eric Machedo, who worked at the daycare where Mead also worked, testified that she had seen Mead and Densmore get into at least four altercations at work, all of which were started when Densmore showed up at Mead’s work place. He described Densmore as always short tempered.
More witnesses from the prosecution are set to take the stand on Friday.
Densmore faces first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence charges. He pleaded not guilty last September.
Densmore is accused of killing 25-year-old Ashley Mead in February 2017 in Boulder, then scattering Mead’s body as he drove to his parents’ house in Louisiana, then up to Oklahoma, where he was caught and found with his and Mead’s year-old daughter.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
