MACHIAS, Maine — The murder trial of Kailie Brackett and Donnell Dana continued Monday, with the state calling three witnesses to testify, including a podiatrist who claimed Brackett’s footprints match the ones found in blood at the apartment of the victim, Kimberly Neptune.
Neptune was found dead in her home on the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy reservation in April 2022. An affidavit reveals she had been stabbed more than 480 times and left covered in a weighted blanket.
Much of the trial Monday focused on the blood found at Neptune’s apartment, concentrated mostly in the bedroom and on the stairs.
Two members of the Maine State Police Evidence Response Unit testified, including an expert in blood forensics, Larry Morrill, who interpreted the different patterns of blood at the crime scene. Morrill said he saw no evidence of a two-sided fight or of any effort by those responsible for Kimberly Neptune’s death to clean up the scene or hide it of evidence.
Attorneys for Dana and Brackett questioned certain processes involved in blood testing.
The third witness, a forensic podiatrist, Michael Steven Nirenberg, continued the discussion of blood stains, focusing on the footprints discovered at Neptune’s apartment, using prints and images of the defendant’s feet taken by law enforcement.
After study, he claimed the prints at the scene bear a resemblance to Kailie Brackett’s, in the width of the foot. The defense questioned the field of forensic podiatry and pressed Nirenberg on whether the measurements would be altered depending on how thick the sock covering the foot was.
The defense is expected to call an expert witness who disputes Nirenberg’s findings. The trial will continue on Tuesday.