COLUMBIANA, Ala. (AP) — A man on trial for murder in the death of his wife, an online exhibitionist whose partially clothed body was found outside their suburban home, showed little emotion after finding out she was dead, according to evidence shown Wednesday.
Luigi Ragazzoni, who was working as an officer with the Calera Police Department at the time Kathleen Dawn West died in January 2018, told jurors he was at the scene documenting the first responders and witnesses who were present when William Jeffrey West approached him.
“That’s my wife,” West said, according to Ragazzoni.
Al.com reported that the officer, now a sheriff’s deputy in Shelby County, informed West that the woman was dead before the two walked inside the couple’s home. West showed little emotion in a 30-minute video recorded by Ragazzoni’s body camera as the two made small talk while waiting on an investigator.
West, 47, did tell the officer his 42-year-old wife drank a lot and often fell while she was intoxicated, and that she often would jump on a trampoline or do “cheerleader-type jumps” off of a utility box.
While prosecutors contend West killed his wife with a blow to the head from a liquor bottle, the defense contends she fell accidentally and died. Her body was found along a street in front of their home. Forensic tests showed she was heavily intoxicated.
Photos shown to jurors made it appear Kathleen West’s blonde hair was reddish because of blood from what prosecutors described as a head wound.
She publicly posted lingerie photos online and charged viewers to see sexier images. The defense told jurors during opening statements that Kathleen West’s adult photos — posted under the name “Kitty Kat West” — did not cause discord between the couple, and that the man assisted her.