By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE officer testified that he photographed the burned safe and vehicle that Rodrigo Rolle allegedly stole from the home of an elderly American woman he is accused of killing in Cat Island in 2017.
Rolle, 33, is accused of killing 74-year-old Janice Kissinger during a home invasion in Orange Creek, Cat Island, on September 29, 2017. Kissinger had been living on the island for 17 years. Rolle is accused of stealing a 2006 Ford Explorer and a $500 safe containing a $5,000 Rolex belonging to Frank and Gabbi Wolf during the incident.
Detective Inspector Mario Durrell testified that on September 30, 2017, he and other officers went to the North Side Road in Cat Island and saw an SUV with extensive fire damage near the curb. This vehicle was found in the vicinity of a hose, a burned license plate and a Guinness beer bottle. The officer photographed and collected the evidence there.
The vehicle was reportedly burnt beyond recognition. Possible identification papers inside were destroyed in the blaze.
On October 1, Detective Durrell visited and photographed the scene of the murder, finding a cigarette butt.
On the same day, the officer went to a dirt road in the Bluff area, where he found a burnt-out cream coloured safe in the bushes. Near the safe was a burnt Rolex watch, notary documents and keys, which were photographed and collected by the police.
The following day, Detective Durrell reportedly went to a dirt road near Queen’s Highway, where he saw a blue Ford F150 truck with scratches to the truck’s bed. Near the truck, a green wallet containing Kissinger’s North Carolina driver’s license, a white face towel and a crowbar were also recovered, photographed and collected.
After saying he was present for an interview involving police and Rolle, Detective Durrell said he took the evidence he gathered to the forensic lab in New Providence for DNA testing.
A photo album of the scenes canvassed by Detective Durrell was presented to the jury.
When asked by Geoffrey Farquharson, the defendant’s attorney, if he photographed a pickax on October 2, the officer said no. He said although he saw a crowbar, he could not say if it was used to open the safe.
Marcelo Hepburn had earlier testified that he lent Rolle his pickax to break into the safe.
Detective Durrell said he did not notice paint matching the safe on the crowbar.
Mr Farquharson suggested it would’ve taken more than a Guinness bottle full of gasoline to burn the vehicle. Detective Durrell disagreed, saying the car could have been set ablaze if the flammable contents of the Guinness bottle were poured inside the car and ignited.
The officer could not say if evidence could have been gathered from the burnt papers.
When it was suggested that the burned remains of a Rolex watch showed theft was not a motive for the crime, but that the safe was instead taken to burn its contents, Officer Durrell said he could not speak to the suspect’s mindset.
Mary-Beth Sciarretta, a DNA analyst and quality assurance manager at DNA Labs International in America, testified that a buccal test on October 25, 2021, confirmed that Amy-Beth Kissinger was the deceased’s daughter.
The same test listed both Rolle and Marcelo Hepburn as suspects in Janice Kissinger’s murder.
Eucal Bonamy and Janet Munnings served as prosecutors. Justice Gregory Hilton is the presiding judge.
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