Shavon Randle’s mom gives emotional testimony about searching for her daughter
DALLAS - Jurors heard emotional testimony from the mother of a 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in 2017.
Darius Fields is on trial for organized criminal activity related to Shavon Randle’s kidnapping.
Prosecutors said Fields ordered the abduction in retaliation for stolen drugs the victim had nothing to do with.
Randle’s mother’s testimony was short but emotional. Several family members had to leave as she broke down in tears on the stand.
"I don’t know, I didn’t know what to do, y’all. It was like, get there, we just got to get there," Randle’s mother, Shaquna Persley, recalled.
Persley was in tears as she recounted the moment she found out her daughter was missing.
It was the summer of 2017, and Persley said her daughter was at her aunt’s house in Lancaster, where she usually stayed during the school year.
Persley said she had three missed calls from her daughter that morning, but when she called back, it went straight to voicemail, then Randle’s aunt called her with the news she was gone.
"It was like my mind was just all over the place. I was trying to get a ride at that point, it was like we got to go," Persley said.
[PROSECUTOR: "Where were you going?"]
"I was on my way to Lancaster, we were going to do what we had to do to find my baby," she said.
Police later found Randle’s body inside an abandoned drug house in Dallas. She had been shot multiple times.
RELATED: Darius Fields trial: Jurors see inside drug house where Shavon Randle was found murdered
Jurors also heard from a jailhouse informant who was in custody with the Fields, Jean Molina, and he described a conversation he took as Fields admitting to his involvement.
"He said he got robbed for the marijuana, that they knew who he was and they knew how he got down, they didn’t want to listen so he had to do the little b****," Molina said.
Molina is serving a 21-year sentence on drug charges and previously had his sentence reduced for cooperating with federal authorities, but prosecutors said he hasn’t been promised anything for Monday’s testimony.
Defense attorneys noted it wasn’t exactly clear what Fields said he did.
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY: "Did he tell you who kidnapped her?"]
"No, he didn’t tell me that," Molina said.
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY: "Did he tell you what he did to her?"]
"No," he responded.
RELATED: Dallas investigators knew names of suspects within 24 hours of Shavon Randle's kidnapping
Molina also told jurors Fields seemed to be gloating about what he did and didn’t appear to be worried.
"My son was around the age of the little girl, so you get to thinking, what if that was your kid, you know?" Molina testified.
The prosecution rested its case.
The defense will get a chance to present their case Tuesday morning starting at 8:45 a.m.
Fields is not expected to testify.
RELATED:
FBI agent calls discovery of Shavon Randle, Michael Titus' bodies the worst of her career