Family members of accused serial killer Matthew Macon and relatives of victims descended upon Lansing’s 54-A District Court on Tuesday for the first day of his preliminary examination.
A victim’s son, the crime scene investigator present at one of the murders and the woman who believes she survived an attack by Macon were among those who testified.
A preliminary examination determines whether charges filed against a defendant will proceed to jury selection based on evidence presented at the exam.
Macon made his first appearance in court Tuesday, clad in a red jumpsuit and waving to family members who gathered to support him.
Gerald Lehman, who found his mother, Sandra Eichorn, dead in the Lansing house she rented on Aug. 27, took the stand first. He testified that he entered his mother’s house and was immediately suspicious upon arrival.
Lehman said he noticed purse contents dumped out in a living room and a Bible pulled out from a coffee table before finding his mother’s body in the house. He also found a business card to Trouble Shooters Technical Support, a Lansing store, in a plate of spaghetti left on a table in the house.
The owner of the technical support store, Donald Lovell, later testified that he serviced a laptop brought in by Macon in August and didn’t know how his business card wound up in Eichorn’s house. A copy of Macon’s invoice was later found in pants belonging to Macon that were obtained through a search warrant.
Lansing resident Linda Jackson also took the stand and detailed the encounter she said she had with Macon.
Jackson testified that Macon approached her residence and asked if she had any odd jobs for him to do around the house. Jackson said that when she declined his offer, she told Macon she would take down his name and give it to neighbors who may be interested in hiring him.
Macon provided an alias, Jackson said — one that Lansing police later identified as one he had used in the past.
Jackson said that once their conversation was over and she had turned her back to Macon, she believes he attacked her by breaking two bottles over her head — although she never saw Macon during the assault. Jackson’s dog was credited with chasing Macon off after the attack.
The day wrapped up with the man who found the body of Karen Delgado-Yates testifying as to the conditions surrounding her death and a forensic pathologist detailing Delgado-Yates’ injuries.
The families of Macon and the victims were relatively subdued throughout the testimony, with the exception of one family member who choked up during the testimony regarding the discovery of Delgado-Yates’ body.
The preliminary examination, which was scheduled to continue tomorrow, has been postponed until 9 a.m. Monday.
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