Day six of the trial of Enrique Arochi, accused of kidnapping a Plano woman missing since 2014, began Wednesday with testimony from Arochi's ex-girlfriend.
Christina Morris was last seen on surveillance video with Arochi walking into a parking garage at the Shops at Legacy in Plano in August of 2014.
Rand Aridi testified Wednesday that she was dating Arochi at the time of Morris' disappearance.
Prosecutors showed a series of loving text messages Arochi and Aridi exchanged on Aug. 29, 2014, the last night Christina Morris was seen alive.
In them, Arochi told his then-girlfriend that he had a terrible headache and was going to sleep. This was around 10:30 p.m. In reality, Arochi was out that night with a group of friends, including Morris.
Arochi was supposed to call Aridi in the morning, but didn't reach out until around 11:00 a.m., saying he was late to work because his alarm clock didn't go off.
Aridi also said that she and Arochi went back to the Shops at Legacy for dinner the next day and he never told her he'd been there the night before.
She said he had cuts all over his knuckles and told her a tire fell on his hand while he was fixing his car. Other witnesses testified Tuesday that he told them he'd gotten the cuts in a fight.
Aridi said Arochi never told her he was with Christina Morris and she didn't know he was involved until police contacted her a week later.
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A Plano detective also testified Wednesday about placing a tracking device on Arochi's car shortly after Morris went missing. He said he noticed that the undercarriage of Arochi's car was "absurdly clean." That stood out to him as unusual in hundreds of car searches he had done.
In their last witness before a lunch break Wednesday, prosecutors showed evidence a Plano police officer pulled from Arochi's trash. It included black gorilla tape and empty bottles of a cleaning product and Odoban, used to mask odors.
The officer also found a Post-It note in the trash with the following bullet points written on it:
- Black shirt
- texts from 29-today's date
- bank bills
- cellular bills
The officer testified he thought it was significant because the items on the list were evidence that could be used against a suspect.
In cross-examination, the defense pointed out Arochi could have been making a list of evidence to gather to defend himself and show his innocence. The defense also said all of the other items found in the trash were common household items that could be used for any purpose and that police do not know when they were purchased.
Defense attorneys spent Tuesday questioning Plano Det. Aaron Benzick, who laid out his theory that Morris was not kidnapped while in the parking garage, but rather after she got into Arochi's Camaro willingly. He also testified that something happened after they left that made Morris change her mind about being in Arochi's car and he believes that's when things went wrong.
Prosecutors also reached an immunity agreement with Hunter Foster, Morris' boyfriend. In exchange for a suspended sentence on a drug charge, Foster testified Tuesday about text messages exchanged with Morris Aug. 29, 2014, the night she went missing. He said he was never anywhere near Morris the night she disappeared.
Arochi's former co-workers at Sprint also testified Tuesday, describing Arochi's strange behavior the day after Morris disappeared.
"He had a bite mark on his arm," one former co-worker, Jacob Talamontes, told NBC 5. "He told me his rim fell on him while he was changing a tire. He told two other co-workers that he got into a fight at the Shops at Legacy."
On Wednesday, Talamontes got in trouble with the judge for speaking with the media. At least for now, he will not be called to testify.
On Monday, attorneys looked at the cell phone records of Arochi and Foster.
Prosecutors spent last week calling friends who were with Morris and Arochi the night Morris went missing. They testified that they didn't recall seeing cuts on Arochi's hands or damage to his car, both of which appeared the next day.
NBC 5's Chris Jose contributed to this report.
