Cell phone data used to construct timeline in trial of man accused of kidnapping Shavon Randle
DALLAS - All proceedings at the Frank Crowley Courthouse, including the trial of Darius Fields, were paused late Thursday afternoon and the building evacuated after smoke was reportedly spotted on the seventh floor.
Dallas Fire Rescue says the source was burnt food and the situation was contained in about 30 minutes with no injuries were reported.
Fields is on trial for organized criminal activity linked to the kidnapping and murder of Shavon Randle. Three others were arrested and charged in relation to the crime, but no one has been charged for Randle's murder.
Jurors were in the middle of hearing from testimony in the case when a sheriff’s deputy came through and said there was smoke spotted somewhere in the building and everyone needed to leave.
Before the building was evacuated, jurors heard from an FBI cell phone data analyst who mapped out minute-by-minute where the phones associated with Fields, Desmond Jones, Devontae Owens and Laquan Wilkerson were during Randle’s kidnapping.
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Investigators say the phones of fields and his associates were in the same general area together the day before the kidnapping -- near where one of Shavon’s relatives worked at the time as well as near Shavon’s home.
Investigators believe they were doing surveillance, but by that night the phone associated with fields was moving toward the Ovilla area where he lives.
However, investigators say there is a lot of activity between the phones the morning of Shavon's kidnapping. That includes a long nearly 12-minute group phone call investigators think was used as an open line for a lookout to warn the others kidnapping Shavon.
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"This is indicative of there being one person outside and other people going inside, obviously I can’t say, I can only say the phones were in the area that includes the residence, I can’t say if they went in or not but obviously that is typical of a crew where they keep a lookout outside and the other members go inside," said Special Agent Mark Sedwick, Dallas FBI.
Investigators say Shavon’s number pops into the picture after that and is used to make ransom calls multiple times.
Testimony in the case will resume on Friday.
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