Police testify at trial of John Wilson Jr., accused in Kelli O'Laughlin murder

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (WLS) -- One of the first police officers to arrive at the Indian Park Head home where Kelli O'Laughlin was found dead said he quickly ruled out suicide.

Defense attorneys for John Wilson, Jr., had suggested the 14-year-old girl either killed herself or was killed by someone else during opening statements earlier this week. Prosecutors said she was stabbed to death by Wilson when she interrupted a robbery at her home in October 2011.

Sergeant Ray Leuser told jurors on Thursday that the kitchen knife used to stab Kelli was found in a different room than her body. He also said that the upstairs of the O'Laughlins' home was in disarray. Drawers had been opened, clothing and trinkets tossed on the bed and floor, he said.

Also on Thursday, a boy who was 11 years old at the time of the murder, testified he saw Wilson walking toward the O'Laughlin home on the day Kelli was killed. A Western Springs resident also testified that when she heard about the murder she called police to report seeing a man climbing an embankment up to Plainfield Road near the O'Laughlin home, located in a wooded subdivision, that same day.

On Wednesday, Kelli's parents took the stand. Her mother, Brenda O'Laughlin, told jurors she received taunting texts from her daughter's stolen cell phone the day after her murder. Police said cell phone records indicate Wilson's cell phone and Kelli's cell phone were with the same person.

Testimony continues this afternoon. The trial is expected to continue into next week.