YORK, S.C. — She laughed, cried and reminisced, but the woman charged with killing the former mayor of York, S.C., told detectives that she was stunned by his murder outside his home in February 2010.
The interview Julia Phillips did with detectives in York hours after Melvin Roberts was murdered was the centerpiece of the prosecution's case as her trial moved into its third day at the York County Courthouse.
Wrapped in a blanket and with duct tape still around her head, neck and wrists, Phillips rambled at times and choked back tears at others as she told detectives during the five-hour interview that a man had duct taped her and tried to rob her outside Roberts' home.
"And I tried to keep my mouth wet so that I couldn't be taped up in case I needed to call for help," she said between tears.
Phillips said the attack happened so fast that she did not get a good look at her attacker's face, but she knew he was Hispanic and knew exactly what he wanted.
"He kept saying 'money, money!' He was so wanting money," she said.
Detectives had doubts about her story from the beginning. The jury has seen pictures of her clothes that were not muddy or wet as they would have been if she had been tied up outside.
Prosecutors said Phillips' story is full of inconsistencies and that she and an unknown accomplice had strangled Roberts because he was going to end their relationship.
The jury also heard from several police officers, crime scene technicians and state investigators, but will hear more of Phillips' interview with detectives when the trial resumes Thursday morning.
WSOC
