Prosecution opens murder trial involving MSU student

On Sept. 29, 2008, hours after the Zimmer family reportedly enjoyed a meal with friends in their Wright Township home near Grand Rapids, investigators arrived to find the home ablaze and the bodies of four victims, including MSU student Katherine A. Brown.

Wednesday was the second day of trial for 31-year-old Troy Brake, of Grand Rapids, who is being tried in connection with the deaths in Ottawa County’s 20th Circuit Court. Brake’s attorney, Paul McDonagh, said his client is innocent and that the theory behind the prosecution’s argument is founded on unreliable information.

Investigators had to place beams under the staircase to access two of the bodies because the fire reduced the staircase leading to the second floor almost to ashes, witnesses testified at Wednesday’s trial.

“We had to lay two-by-fours on the stairs to remove (Brown’s) body,” said Detective Steve McCarthy, Ottawa County sheriff’s fire investigator. “Parts of the stairway fell away while doing that.”

Prosecution spent the trial painting a scene of the state of the Zimmer home and the four victims who were found dead when investigators arrived at the home.

Included as witnesses were medical and fire examiners and a forensic pathologist, who used photographs presented by Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney Ronald J. Frantz.

Frantz has said Brake killed Jeremy Zimmer, 20; Zimmer’s brother Tyler, 17; and his mother Sharmaine Zimmer, 52, because of a sexual interest in Brown. This theory stems from the testimony of an inmate who said Brake told him about the killings, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Brake’s lawyer, Paul McDonagh, said after the trial that the prosecution’s theory is not dependable.

“I just think the prosecution is continuing to advance a theory based on unreliable information from an inmate,” he said. Dale Wiersma, a medical examiner investigator for Muskegon, Allegan and Ottawa counties, said he arrived at the Wright Township home to examine the bodies, which he then prepared for examination by forensic pathologists.

Brown, he said, was found without a trace of clothing on her lower body, which had been severely damaged in comparison to her upper body.

Brown died from blunt trauma to the head, pathologist Stephen Cohle said, while the other three victims died from complications stemming from being shot.

Cohle said Brown’s body could not be tested for sexual assault because her body was too badly burned.

Witness and Michigan State Police forensic scientist Kevin Streeter said a sample of the floorboard near the location of some of Brown’s remains indicated the presence of gasoline.

Frantz declined to comment after trial, saying he cannot speak until its completion. The trial will resume today at 9 a.m. in Ottawa County’s 20th Circuit Court.