Murder suspect’s behavior revisited

Baby sitter testifies about events around Carmin Ross' death

One by one, a group of Kansas State University English students took the stand in a Douglas County courtroom Tuesday and described their former professor, Thomas E. Murray, as level-headed and brilliant — a calm, engaging teacher who always had the answers.

But Murray’s baby sitter testified that when Murray dropped off his daughter on the mornings of Nov. 13 and 14, 2003, his behavior was unusual. The first day, he arrived about 20 minutes early. He said he’d be grading papers all morning but didn’t say he was going antique shopping in Paxico — something prosecutors say he later told detectives he’d done that day.

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The second morning, he seemed shaken and said his “mind was mush” from grading papers, the sitter said.

Prosecutors allege that Nov. 13 was the morning when Murray drove to Douglas County and stabbed to death his ex-wife, attorney and mediator Carmin D. Ross, 40, at her home northwest of Lawrence.

Tuesday was the second day of what’s expected to be a weeklong preliminary hearing for Murray, who’s charged with one count of first-degree murder.

Witnesses Tuesday included five students who took a linguistics class with Murray that met the day before and after Ross’ death. On the day after the killing, about the time Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Ross’ body, Murray was teaching class in Manhattan.

Students say Murray told the class he was unusually tired that day because he’d been up late with his 4-year-old daughter, Ciara, whom he said had a cold. He told them he had an injury on his finger from Ciara stomping on it while they played a game of “octopus.”

All the students said they considered Murray an exceptionally good teacher.

“He is very knowledgeable about his subject, and he obviously is interested in passing on his information and his enthusiasm to his students,” said Katherine Buel, who told detectives she didn’t think Murray could have killed his ex-wife.

Students said Murray didn’t talk about Ross but regularly mentioned his daughter. He told the class earlier in the semester that he was going as the ogre Shrek for Halloween at his daughter’s insistence, and one student made him a mask.

“I liked him,” student Jessica Grant said. “He was a very nice man.”

Detective Zach Thomas testified much of the morning about the weeklong crime-scene investigation. He said detectives found blood throughout the first floor of the home, much of it on the carpet and spattered on walls and bookshelves. Other traces were found on the ceiling in the dining room, on a sink in the bathroom and on the dishwasher in the kitchen.

Thomas testified that Murray’s fingerprints were found in only one place at the home: on a brown dropper bottle found in a tote bag on the back porch. Thomas testified that the substance was never identified, but tests showed it was not a poison or Rohypnol, a sedative commonly known as a “date rape” drug.

Lacey Bonine, of Manhattan, Murray’s baby sitter, testified it was unusual for Murray to tell her details of what he planned to do in the morning. But on Nov. 13, she said, Murray told her he’d be grading papers because all his students had turned in their midterms at once.

Other witnesses Tuesday included Sharon Wright Kellstrom, a Manhattan attorney who handled the couple’s divorce in summer 2003, and Ross’ acupuncturist, Josyln Dugas, with whom Ross missed an afternoon appointment Nov. 13.

Testimony continues today.