Jurors view graphic photos in murder trial: Body found in field showed massive blunt force trauma

McKINNEY -- Jurors got their first view of Susan Loper's body Friday morning during the fifth day of the Terrance Black murder trial.

Loper, 40, was killed April 19, 2011 after being abducted from Gleneagles Country Club, where she taught Pilates. Black, 50, is Loper's ex-boyfriend and has been charged with capital murder. If convicted he faces life in prison.

The images of Loper's body were shown by Robert Laughon, a field agent with the Collin County Medical Examiner's office. The body was basically nude, with Loper's jacket and arms up over her head, and her pants and underwear around her ankles.

"When you walk up and see something like that ... you can't help but think she might have been sexually assaulted," Laughon told the jury. "It didn't appear like a natural death. There was obvious trauma to the body. ... It appeared to me she had been struck with something."

Laughon described the back of Loper's head as like an eggshell, noting that it was completely caved in. He went on to say that he even thought the body was found nude, he discovered no signs of sexual assault.

While the photos were being shown, several jurors glared at the defendant. Black had no visible reaction during Laughon's testimony, but did stare intently at the video screen while the photos were displayed. However, when photos from the autopsy were shown later Friday, Black appeared to have a hard time viewing them, putting his head in his hands several times and using a tissue to wipe his eyes and nose.

Dr. Sheila Spotswood, a medical examiner with Collin County, said Loper died due to blunt force trauma after a beating she said could be described as "terrible" and savage."

"[There] were multiple blows on the back of the head with something hard enough to fracture the skull," Spotswood told the jury. "There is no way to give a number on how much force, but it is a lot. The minimum number [of blows] was seven, and that is if I count the very large, irregular wound as one blow."

No murder weapon has been identified, but Spotswood said it could have been anything, including a handgun or dumbbells. Prosecutor John Schomburger asked specifically about those two items because he told the jury during his opening statement that Black purchased a 9 mm handgun in 2010, and dumbbells were easily accessible at Loper's fitness studio. In addition, unfired 9 mm bullets were located at the crime scene, but no firearm was recovered.

Much of Thursday's testimony focused on text messages sent and received by Loper in the month before she was killed, as well as calendar entries recovered from the iPhone found in Black's Cadillac Escalade. Plano Police Detective Jeff Rich, a data recovery expert, was on the stand for several hours going over each text message and calendar entry.

The defense team continued to attempt to point the finger at Jayson Hayes, the man Loper was dating at the time of her death. Hayes was one of the people who first mentioned to police the possibility that Black was involved in the crime. His fingerprints were also found on a knocked-over privacy screen at the crime scene.

Text messages from Loper to her friends in March 2011, one month before she was killed, detailed how she and Hayes had broken up and how she wanted to cut all ties with him.

"Looks like I will be rejoining eHarmony real soon," Loper texted someone in her phone book named Gidget. "I am back on the market. We will have to swap stories from the good and bad matches."

Loper also texted Julie Mitchell about her breakup with Hayes.

"So I should have listened to you months ago," Loper wrote. "You saw things I didn't want to see. Jayson and I are over for good."

The defense team mentioned the breakup during its opening argument, and the text messages proved that Loper and Hayes had an on-again, off-again relationship. However, text messages sent in late March and early April detailed how the two were once again a couple.

Rich also read several dozen calendar entries Black made on his iPhone. One of the first entries came on Nov. 29, 2009. On that day, Black wrote "Lost her again. (Expletive) eHarmony." Another entry on April 19, 2010 -- exactly one year before the murder -- read "Buy G." Schomburger suggested that may mean "buy gun."

While no proof was provided that Black bought a gun that day, testimony from a Cabela's employee on Friday showed that Black purchased a Ruger P95 9 mm pistol, as well as two boxes of 9 mm ammunition, on June 21, 2010. The ammunition found at Gleneagles on the morning of the murder, Magtech First Defense 92.6 grain, is the same brand, caliber and weight as the ammunition contained in one of the boxes purchased by Black, Plano PD Detective Luke Grant testified.

Another calendar entry on May 2, 2010 read, "D-Day, SL gotta go. Can't let a bastard have my hard work." Several references were also made to Black's dates with other women. One entry mentioned how the woman better replace "SL," while another said to "smoke" someone if "SL" was not replaced. The word "smoker" was included in two calendar entries in March and April 2011. The prosecution asked Rich if Black typing "smoker" could mean "smoke her," or if it was a term for killing someone? Rich said yes to both, answers the defense objected to. However, Judge John Roach overruled the objection and allowed the testimony.

Texts sent and received by Black the day after the murder were also shared with the jury. Upon hearing of Loper's death from a friend, Black asked what happened and told the person he had been out of town since Monday, a statement seemingly proven false since records show Black's cell phone was in North Texas on the Tuesday Loper was killed. Black also sent a message to his sister, Wendi, on the afternoon of April 20, apologizing for being a "parasite" and hinting that he was going to kill himself.

He provided more details into why he was suicidal in a note found inside his vehicle at the Grand Canyon.

"Dear family, sorry I failed you all and caused you so much pain. I've been so tired of struggling mentally, financially and emotionally. My debts are too high and it would have taken me 20 years to pay them off. I made too many mistakes got too old too fast. I appreciate all that you did for me Wendi sorry to let you down. I just couldn't mooch any longer. Please pray that God will accept my soul into heaven. Love, Rance"

Another suicide note was recovered below the rim of the Grand Canyon, several miles away from where Black attempted to kill himself. On that note, Black also mentioned borrowing money from his sister, while also writing, "Extremely depressed. Someone killed Susan. She was amazing."

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