BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) - Attorneys are expected to deliver their closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of killing a Peru State College student whose body has never been found.
The defense rested its case Tuesday for Joshua Keadle, who's charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing Tyler Thomas, 19, of Omaha. Thomas disappeared Dec. 3, 2010, after leaving a party near the southeast Nebraska campus. Although her body was never found, the state issued a death certificate in 2013. Defense attorneys have said there's no proof she was a homicide victim.
A forensic pathologist testified Tuesday about what exposure to cold weather or water could do to someone, especially someone who was drunk. Witnesses have said Thomas was drinking heavily that night.
Authorities have said Keadle told investigators he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night at a boat dock on the Missouri River. They soon argued, and he told investigators that Thomas threatened to report he'd raped her. He's said he left her there and returned to Peru.
A jailhouse informant has testified that Keadle had told him he killed Thomas but "they'll never find the body." Defense attorneys have said the informant's use of methamphetamines might have altered his recollection.