A man murdered his girlfriend out of jealousy because she began having an affair with his other girlfriend, a court heard.
William Hargrove, 29, is said to have shot Anna Repkina, 27, dead near the rural town of Alsea, Oregon, in April 2017 and dumped her body in a wood.
Prosecutor Amie Matusko says Hargrove was jealous that Repkina was seeing her landlady, Michelle Chavez, who was married, and who was also in a relationship with Hargrove.
Matusko explained: “Ms Chavez gave the defendant an ultimatum: her or me. And the defendant decided.”
However, Hargrove’s defence team deny the murder claims. They claim it was actually Chavez who pulled the trigger, but she faces no criminal charges in relation to the case.
Speaking during cross-examination, Chavez said: “(Hargrove) knew when I met him that I’m not into monogamy.”
Hargrove was fingered as a suspect thanks to a KFC receipt found close to the corpse of his girlfriend, who emigrated to the US from Russia after Hargrove promised to marry her. According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, the receipt contained the name of one of Hargrove’s friends, Kevin Thomas.
During a subsequent chat with Thomas, police discovered that Hargrove had asked to borrow his friend’s shotgun several days before Repkina’s murder, and had not given it back.
Prosecutor Amie Matusko told jurors: “He took the victim out to a very remote logging location and she was found shot dead in the back of her head, execution style.”
Matusko and her team say the shotgun used to kill Repkina was later found in Hargrove’s car, and that cellphone data puts him at the scene of the killing.
Jurors have so far been shown photos of Repkina’s lifeless corpse at the crime scene, which showed the victim’s eyes wide open after she was killed. They also now face being shown multiple gory post mortem photos.
Hargrove’s trial is set to last for most of November.
