Blue suitcase that held the body of Jasmine Pace is in upper right
Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson has declined to rule out any evidence the state plans to bring in the murder case involving the grisly death of Jasmine Pace.
The judge earlier upheld the use of items found at Jason Chen's apartment on Tremont Street, though Pace family members went into the unit several times and took some items.
After a lengthy hearing on Friday, Judge Patterson overruled objections by attorney Josh Weiss to other evidence and searches.
An out of town jury is to be selected the first week of January, then the trial will take place the following week.
During the hearing, the state showed a photo of the location by Suck Creek Road where the victim's body was found stuffed into a large blue suitcase. It was testified earlier that she had some 60 stab wounds.
The location was next to a 20-foot slope leading down to the Tennessee River, but the suitcase was in plain view.
Investigator Zackary Crawford said it is believed that Ms. Pace was killed in Chen's apartment in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, and the body was discovered after an extensive search in the early afternoon of Dec. 1.
He said cameras at the apartments where Chen lived showed his comings and goings. He said one video showed Chen leaving the evening of Nov. 23 with a suitcase and returning in less than an hour without it. He said Chen left the apartment at 6:06 p.m. and returned just before 7 p.m.
The investigator said there was a smaller suitcase in Chen's closet and a bare spot next to it where a larger suitcase may have been kept.
There were skid marks in the back of Chen's Toyota Camry that matched up with the wheels on the suitcase, he stated.
He said there were widespread searches for the victim, including in North Chattanooga and Mountain Creek, and he himself spent eight hours one day combing the Moccasin Bend area.
The witness said Suck Creek Road became a focal point, noting it would have been within reach from the time that Chen was gone with the suitcase. He also said it is a remote location where bodies have been found in the past.
Investigator Crawford said on Dec. 1 he asked several detectives to meet at a place on Suck Creek Road where there had been a fire on the day it is believed Ms. Pace was murdered. He thought that could be a tie-in.
He said the detectives decided to stop off at 1600 Suck Creek Road, which is the first available pulloff coming from Chattanooga. There one of the detectives discovered the suitcase.
The witness said that location is close to where Ms. Pace's car was located at a Mountain Creek Road apartment complex and where her phone went silent after a visit to the Walmart on Signal Mountain Road.
Investigator Crawford said he was alerted to the fact that Chen bought cleaning supplies at a nearby Walgreens by finding at his residence a Walgreens tag for the North Market Street store on a roll of paper towels.