In court on Tuesday, the defense lawyer for Texas man on trial for the murder of a college student said her client didn’t murder his date, but instead panicked after the victim died during “kinky sex.”
People reports that Charles Dean Bryant, 31, is accused of the September 13, 2016, murder of Texas Woman’s University (TWU) student, Jacqueline Vandagriff, 24. The incident occurred after the pair met each other for the first time at a local bar in Denton. Hours later, after they visited another area bar together, Vandagriff was dead.
Bryant’s attorney, Glynis McGinty, argued in court on Tuesday that Bryant and Vandagriff engaged in rough, kinky sex which ultimately ended in an accidental death. The lawyer said Bryant became frightened afterward and instead of calling for help, buried McGinty’s body. McGinty asserted Bryant was only guilty of tampering with evidence, not murder.
Today is the 2nd day of testimony in the trial against Charles Dean Bryant, who is accused of killing TWU student Jacqueline Vandagriff pic.twitter.com/n0n9F0HjAO
— Claire Ballor (@claireballor) April 10, 2018
Prosecutors painted a completely different picture of the incident and argued that Bryant intentionally killed Vandagriff by using a knife, machete, a hacksaw, an unknown object, and a zip tie.
“Jackie had just started a new path at TWU,” Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Lucas Allen said. “It was a good path until an evil destructive figure, Charles Bryant, stepped into her path.”
Surveillance footage from two Denton bars, Public House and Shots & Crafts, showed Bryant and Vandagriff chatting with each other on the night in question; nothing seemed amiss in the videos. The following morning, authorities found Vandagriff’s dismembered remains hidden inside a blue, plastic child-size pool at Acorn Woods Park on Lake Grapevine, after an unidentified caller phoned police about a brush fire in the area.
“The body was burned to a certain degree,” Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said after authorities discovered the remains. “The body appears to be dismembered to a certain degree.”
The trial is underway for a Texas fitness instructor who is accused of killing 24-year-old Jacqueline Vandagriff https://t.co/8i2jHMnWXz
— Crime & Justice (@CrimeJusticeHLN) April 11, 2018
A medical examiner later listed Vandagriff’s official cause of death as “homicidal violence.”
“If she had indicated to the bartender that she was in trouble, we would have called the police,” Public House bar management said shortly after the discovery, according to the Dallas Observer. “But there was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Later, authorities discovered that Vandagriff’s cellphone pinged a cell tower near the suspect’s home in Haslet at around 1:30 a.m. on September 14. Evidence found inside the home included a hacksaw with “with potential hair on the blade,”numerous guns and knives, and Vandagriff’s in Bryant’s trash can.
A week before Vandagriff’s murder, the suspect’s teenage former girlfriend who attended the University of North Texas told police he had been stalking her. She also said she noticed while previously at his home that he had a blue “kiddie pool” in his backyard.
[Feature Photo: Jacqueline Vandagriff, Facebook/Charles Dean Bryant, Police Handout]
