Crime scene supervisor Robert Koteles Jr. testifies finding firearm, 32 cartridge cases from Oxford shooting in James Crumbley trial
PONTIAC, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Robert Koteles Jr., the Oakland County Sheriff's Office latent print and crime scene supervisor, testified on Friday on the second day of the trial of James Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooter.
Crumbley, along with his wife Jennifer Crumbley, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting that killed four students, injuring six others and a teacher.
The Crumbleys' son, who was 15 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison in December. Both parents were accused of not taking the necessary steps to get their son help after being notified by school staff and purchasing a firearm that was used days later in the shooting.
Day one of the trial included testimony from Molly Darnell, the teacher who was shot, and Edward Wagrowski, a former detective and computer crimes analyst for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
Koteles testifies collecting several cartridge cases
Koteles, who has been working with the sheriff's office for 17 years, said he and his team are tasked with identifying evidence at crime scenes, documenting them and collecting them. He said his team is usually called for major crimes, such as murders and sexual assaults, on average twice a month.
Koteles testified that on Nov. 30, 2021, he was working in the laboratory when he was called to Oxford High School. When he and his team arrived at the school at about 2:40 p.m., they were informed that a firearm needed to be collected.
The firearm, identified as a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, was located in a small waste paper basket garbage can and was placed by a deputy who took it from the shooter.
Koteles testified that evidence showed the gun was fired 32 times at the school on the day of the shooting. Eighteen live rounds were recovered, indicating that 50 rounds were brought to the school.
The prosecution presented several photos were taken at the scene, some of which could not be shown on TV because they included photos of victims.
In two of the photos, Koteles described that he recovered 14 cartridge cases in one portion of a hallway and 18 more cartridges in another part, as well as an empty magazine.
Koteles said they used trajectory rods to show where the bullets were fired, indicating that the shooter fired into several classrooms.
Koteles said one of the bullets could not be recovered because it went through a door and then a window. A bullet ricocheted and was found in a file cabinet, another ricocheted and hit the back of a chair, and a bullet was found in a bookshelf behind a teacher's desk.
In one of the crime scene photos, Kotels described finding a live round just outside of a men's bathroom and a pool of blood inside the bathroom where one of the victims was shot.
