Day two of the Enrique Arochi trial began with Christina Morris’ father on the stand, testifying against the man charged with kidnapping her.
Arochi was the last person seen with Morris before she disappeared on Labor Day weekend two years ago.
Morris’ father, Mark Morris, listened on the stand while prosecutors played the nine-minute 911 call when he first reported his daughter missing.
Two years later, he said he still goes out and searches for her every weekend.
Mark Morris described those first few days when he found out his daughter was missing and when he learned Arochi was the last person seen with her. Arochi and Morris were shown in surveillance video walking into a parking garage at the Shops at Legacy in Plano.
The Plano police officer who found Morris’ car still parked in the garage several days after she went missing also testified. Arochi’s car had been parked very close by Morris’ when they went out together with friends that weekend. The officer said there was nothing suspicious in the garage or nearby trash cans.
A Plano police lieutenant testified that he does believe Morris was abducted from the parking garage. But a crime scene technician who photographed the parking garage and searched it for evidence testified that she found no signs of blood or any other fluids at the scene.
Morris’ DNA was later found in the trunk of Arochi's car. Mark Morris and three close friends all testified about that Thursday, saying Christina was afraid of the dark and claustrophobic. Her father said she would never willingly get in a trunk because it would terrorize her "beyond belief."
The defense, meanwhile, keeps steering each witness back to another man, Christina Morris’ boyfriend Hunter Foster.
Her father testified that he knew Foster was into drugs, the jury heard that a friend described him as a "thug" and that her friends were concerned about their relationship.
Police also said they Foster didn't report Morris missing for several days and that they couldn't reach him on the phone after the disappearance.
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Foster was expected to take the stand Thursday. But instead he exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
His lawyers argued he couldn't testify without incriminating himself for drug dealing that night. On Wednesday, the defense showed the jury what they said were text messages of Christina Morris asking Foster for drugs that night. He is already in prison serving time for separate drug charges.
The jury did hear from several friends sharing new details about the last night they saw Christina Morris.
Prosecutors say Arochi kidnapped Morris with plans to sexually assault her, after another friend turned him down.
That friend testified Thursday, saying that Arochi was mad when she wouldn't lie down on the couch with him at a party with friends. He left with Morris shortly after that.
The friend also said she asked Arochi what happened later and that he didn't remember because he was drunk.
Two friends also testified that they saw no injuries on his hands and arms that night, though the defense challenged whether they could be sure of that.
Arochi did have cuts the next day – the first day Morris was missing. He said he'd gotten in a fight.
The trial resumes again Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
