The Roseville police officer in charge of the case of a missing and presumed dead Warren mother testified there were multiple inconsistencies in conversations with a suspect charged with her murder, surveillance video showing him pushing something heavy in a shopping cart to a trash bin and blood evidence that belonged to the missing woman.
There’s no proof that Ashley Elkins left the apartment of Deandre Booker, her ex-boyfriend who is charged, after arriving the morning of Jan. 2, even though Booker told police that she did. Her cell phone also pinged when Booker was at a beauty supply store, but Elkins was never there, Sgt. Matthew Lesperance testified Aug. 15, the third day of Booker’s preliminary examination in court.
Booker, 33, is facing murder and other charges in the Jan. 2 disappearance and presumed death of Elkins, a mother of two young children.
The exam will continue Aug. 22. Booker’s attorney, Robbie Lang, told the court that he plans to call a few witnesses, mostly police officers.
During cross-examination, Lang asked Lesperance how he knows Elkins is dead. Lesperance testified there has been no bank account or cell phone activity, and she hasn’t had communication with her family or children. When Lang asked whether Lesperance had definitive proof that she was dead, he answered, “No sir.” Lesperance also testified that he cannot say how Elkins died.
He testified that police did not find her remains after a weeklong search of a Lenox Township landfill in a large area where the contents of the trash bin were believed to have been dumped. The search included cadaver dogs and aerial drones. Roseville District Court Judge Joseph Boedeker asked Lesperance whether, in his opinion, it’s possible that her remains could be there. “Yes sir,” Lesperance said.
Lesperance also testified that Booker had DoorDash deliver heavy-duty garbage bags, disinfectant bleach and latex gloves. Such items were found by police during a search of his apartment.
On Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, Booker watched and listened to the exam from a courthouse holding cell via video. The exam began Aug. 6, when he appeared in a jail jumper and stood handcuffed in the jury box as each of the witnesses testified.
The second day of testimony included surveillance and Ring camera video, which included a man seen pushing a shopping cart with what appeared to be a large item it and putting the item in a dumpster near Booker’s apartment complex in the early morning hours of Jan. 3. Testimony included police finding suspected blood in the bottom of the nearly-empty dumpster where the large item was disposed.
Roseville Police Detective Patrick Taylor testified during that part of the exam that Booker was found at a house in Flint, where a similar coat with suspected blood on it, pants with tears, a hat and shoes that appeared to be similiar to those worn by the person in the videos were located.
Roseville Police Detective Chris Moran testified Aug. 8 that he reviewed a cellphone download from Booker’s phone, which included Google searches that included “telling god i want to kill someone” on Dec. 22; a 9 mm silencer on Dec. 29, and “what happens to trash after its picked up” on Jan. 5.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Roseville sergeant testifies of inconsistencies, blood evidence in missing mom case
Reporting by Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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