WESTON, W.Va. — The trial of Lena Lunsford resumes Monday morning in Lewis County Circuit Court with the defense scheduled to present its case.
The prosecution rested Friday morning after calling one of Lunsford’s daughters, identified as KC, to the stand as its final witness.
KC was 11 when her three-year-old sister Aliayah Lunsford disappeared in September 2011. KC, now 18, testified she didn’t see her mother hit Aliayah with a bed board but she heard it. She told the jury her sister was unresponsive the next morning and she went with her mother and siblings to a remote area. She testified her sister’s body was left there.
Defense attorney Tom Dyer’s cross-examination focused on Aliayah’s vomiting in previous days, raising the possibility she may have succumbed to sickness rather than the blunt force trauma prosecutors allege. Dyer pointed out how KC told police in 2016 about opting to sleep on the couch instead of the bedroom the daughters shared because Aliayah “was sicker than usual” that night.
The defense also highlighted KC clarifying her account of the fateful night after being foggy during previous interviews with police.
“That was a few years ago and memories change,” KC said. “The things that I tried to block out have come back.”
Dyer may only have a few witnesses when the trial resumes Monday morning in Weston. He told MetroNews last week it was doubtful he would put Lunsford on the stand.
If there are only a few witnesses it’s possible the jury, made up of 10 women and 2 men, could get the case late in the day.
MetroNews reporter Allan Taylor contributed to this story.