James C. Koepp during his Rock County Court House appearance at a preliminary hearing in the triple homicide.
JANESVILLE — After three people were found murdered, investigators secured the crime scene and began collecting evidence.
The trailer home where Danyetta Lentz and her teenage children, Nicole and Scott, were killed was under lock and key from January 2007 to August 2007.
Fingerprints, blood samples and other evidence were collected, but the man charged in the triple homicide believes evidence was destroyed when the trailer was recycled for scrap metal.
James Koepp, 49, wants the case dismissed based on his claims of lost evidence, but law enforcement officials testified Wednesday in Rock County Court that all relevant evidence was properly secured, collected and photographed.
Attorneys for a second day Wednesday argued a motion to dismiss the case.
James Dilley, a lieutenant with the Rock County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the January 2007 murder, testified Wednesday the trailer was secured after the homicide was discovered.
A list of items taken as evidence was logged, Dilley said, and the scene remained secure after investigators left.
Seven months later, Rock County Sheriff’s Deputy John Paulson returned to the trailer to take photographs and collect a rug.
When he arrived, Paulson said, the trailer was locked with a metal latch. He said screws had to be removed to open the door.
A month later—August 2007—the trailer was destroyed.
In addition to the motion to dismiss, several other pretrial motions are pending in the case, including a motion to suppress evidence.
Koepp wants evidence collected off his shirt and jeans thrown out from trial, claiming the clothing was taken from an illegal search.
Judge Alan Bates will decide on the motion to dismiss after attorneys submit final arguments in writing in December.
Koepp remains in prison serving a sentence for felony fleeing. A trial date on his three murder charges has not been set.