PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — On day four of Blair Watts' trial, prosecutors heard from the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Watts’ 43-year-old business partner, Jennifer Brown.
Doctor Ian Hood explained his finding of homicide by unspecified means consistent with compression asphyxia, which he says is similar to someone being crushed or squeezed to the point they can’t expand their lungs to breathe.
Hood says Brown had three broken ribs, but there were no external marks that would indicate she was hit or kicked. He says there was damage to a muscle in her neck, but no signs she was choked or strangled.
He says her death is consistent with someone sitting on top of her, pressing a pillow over her face, and compressing her chest so she couldn’t expand her lungs to draw in a breath.
Hood says it would take at least three minutes of pressure to kill someone that way.
He says toxicology showed only prescription medication, caffeine, and marijuana, and there were no external signs of intravenous drug use.
When Brown was first reported missing on Jan. 4, Watts told police she was a heavy drug user. Prosecutors say Watts was trying to direct the investigation away from himself.
Brown’s body was found in a shallow grave two weeks later behind an industrial building in Royersford.
Testimony is expected to wrap up Tuesday, followed by closing arguments and jury deliberations.