Defense: Suspect dismembered student after she died accidentally during sex
FORT WORTH, Texas - The attorney for a man charged with murdering a Texas college student in 2016 says the woman died accidentally during sex. Charles Dean Bryant's attorney says her client then panicked and dismembered and burned the body of 24-year-old Texas Woman's University student Jacqueline Vandagriff.
Defense attorney Glynis McGinty laid out the defense in her opening statement Monday to a Tarrant County jury in Fort Worth, Texas. She said Bryant, who's 31, is guilty of evidence tampering for what he did with Vandagriff's body but not guilty of murder in Vandagriff's September 2016 death.
Vandagraff had studied nutrition at TWU. Her charred remains were discovered in a plastic kiddie pool near Lake Grapevine two nights after her fatal encounter with Bryant.
Surveillance videos released by a local bar recorded the moments before investigators say Vandagraff was murdered. In the videos, Vandagraff and Bryant appear to be seated next to each other at the bar, talking, and at one point laughing, according to CBS DFW.
The co-owner of the bar said he wanted to release the footage to give clarity to the community.
"I think what's striking is that there is no red flags. There is no glaring obvious issue and I think everyone who viewed that video said the same thing, You don't see a girl who's in fear," Mitchell Wilson, co-owner of Shots and Crafts, told CBS DFW reporters.
The final angle then depicts the two finishing drink and then leaving the bar. Police said Bryant initially denied leaving with Vandagriff.
Bryant had two prior arrests for trespassing and stalking a female student at the University of North Texas. He was also indicted for possession of child pornography last year.
