A paraprofessional who worked with Chandler Grafner in kindergarten says she noticed redness around his eyes and asked what was wrong.
“I know,” he said, putting his finger up. “I was supposed to tell you I had pink eye.”
This was in early 2007, after she first noticed a blackened ear and red marks on his neck. The first time she asked about them, Chandler had said “My dad clobbered me.”
Amy Sellard Domanski grew very close to Chandler at Holm Elementary in Denver, she said through tears today on the witness stand at his murder trial.
Chandler was found dead in May 2007, from what prosecutors say was starvation and dehydration. His guardian, 27-year-old Jon Phillips, is on trial for his murder.
Also in court today, a voice mail message left by Sarah Berry, who lived with Chandler and is also facing charges in his death – paints an ugly picture of what conditions were like in the Denver home.
On April 27, 2007, Berry left the message for Phillips: “Hey babe. Sorry to bother you. I just had a question. Dominic just called me over and said Chandler told him that if he doesn’t get a drink he’s going to get out of there, come to the kitchen, get a knife, and kill us. I don’t know how to handle it. Not sure what to do.”
Just over a week later, Chandler’s emaciated body was found.
Earlier today in Denver District Court, a homicide detective testified that the linen closet where Chandler was allegedly forced to live had “a smell that was almost overwhelming.”
Det. Larry Moore said the bottom of the small closet had brown smears on it that looked like feces.
“It looked like it had been wiped, like somebody had tried to clean the walls,” he said.
Chandler died on May 6, 2007 weighing only 34 pounds.
Phillips’ lawyers are arguing during the three-week trial that the boy died of acute diabetes that went undetected.
Moore testified this morning that the brown stains were on the front of the closet door, as well as on the floor inside.
Chandler was kept in a space about the size of an oven, in the bottom of the closet – 29 inches deep, 35 inches wide and 18 inches tall, said deputy district attorney Larry Lamb.
The actual metal, white, door — about 20 inches wide and 7 feet tall — was shown to the jury.
The hinged door had been modified to prevent it from sliding open along tracks. The exterior door knob also had a four-foot piece of twine tied around it, used to tie the door knob to something outside the closet, preventing the door from being opened from the inside.
Moore testified about a drill found near the closet, which had a Phillips-head bit.
He also spoke to other evidence introduced by the prosecution, including a pair of pliers found nearby, an air filtering device, and an air freshener.
Moore said an air mattress and a section of carpet were recovered from a garbage truck after the investigation into Chandler’s death began.
Lamb also introduced photographs of Chandler found in the home, taken months prior to his death. He is shown with his hair styled into spikes, and his hair bleached. Moore said he looked completely different in the photos than he did when he died.
“At autopsy, his cheeks were sunken in. they weren’t fleshy like you can see in that picture,” Moore said. “His eyes were sunken in.”
A young woman in the jury held her head in her hands and looked distressed during this portion of testimony.
One photo from January 2007 found on the nightstand by investigators showed Chandler with a blackened ear, possibly discolored from a blow. His cheek is swollen.
On cross examination, defense attorney Dvid Jones challenged Moore’s sole focus on the starvation theory during the investigation.
“Did you ever investigate any of the medical conditions that would fit the symptoms of headaches, stomach aches, rapid weight loss, trouble breathing, flu-like symptoms?” he asked Moore.
“I’m a homicide detective, not a medical doctor,” Moore said. “I was trying to understand how Chandler Grafner died. I didn’t make an assumption of long-term starvation.”
“But you told Jon Phillips in your interview of him in no uncertain terms that you didn’t believe him?” Jones asked.
“Yes,” Moore said.
In a recording of a conversation between Moore and Phillips, introduced during Wednesday’s court session, Moore said Chandler looked like “a walking skeleton … like he was in a concentration camp.”
Phillips responded on the tape: “He’s always been thin. He was sick.”
Chandler and his younger half-brother, Dominick Phillips, lived with Phillips — Dominick’s father — and his girlfriend, Sarah Berry. Both Phillips, and Berry, 23, are charged with first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death and other charges. Berry’s trial begins next month.
