Trial opens for Collins, accused of killing woman in 2008 - Las Vegas Review-Journal
LeSean Collins robbed and killed Brandi Payton, gave the 29-year-old's jewelry to his then-girlfriend, and dropped Payton's body off on the side of the road, prosecutors said Monday during opening statements in his murder trial. Collins, then 33, gave Payton's necklace and bracelet to his longtime girlfriend as a birthday present only hours before leaving Payton's body in a ravine off a trail between U. S. Highway 95 and Lee Canyon Road, prosecutor Jacqueline Bluth told... They said Collins -- who faces first-degree murder and robbery charges -- disappeared for several hours after handing over Payton's jewelry to then-girlfriend Shalana Eddins, telling Eddins he was headed to Stateline. Cell phone tower evidence, Bluth said, suggests Collins was instead driving north toward where Payton's body would be discovered less than a week later. She said brown and red stains found on the wall at the home Collins shared with Eddins also belonged to Payton, as did forensic evidence found in the trunk mat of a Hyundai Sonata she had rented several days earlier. That Sonata was found several miles south of Collins' home about a month after Payton disappeared, partially burned and with its wheels removed. Source: www.reviewjournal.com
