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15 Years After Slayings, Murder Trial Finally Under Way

Posted: 5:51 pm EDT July 31, 2008Updated: 6:16 pm EDT July 31, 2008

Disturbing details of two teenaged girls' deaths filled a Charlotte courtroom Thursday.

The trial finally began for Antwan Sanders, one of three men accused in their killings. Raylynn Chelton and Tasha Lopes, both 15, were kidnapped, robbed, sexually assaulted and shot in the head back in 1993.

Prosecutors said the men kidnapped the girls from the Emerald Bay Apartments, took them to an industrial area in northwest Charlotte and killed them.

The jury saw pictures of the girls’ bodies and gunshot wounds on Chelton's remains.

At times, some of them had difficulty watching and listening to the evidence.

Chelton's sister left the courtroom as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer and the medical examiner took the stand and the pictures were shown.

Prosecutors said the three men went to the apartment complex to rob a drug dealer. They said he wasn't home, so the girls standing in the parking lot became an easy target.

Sander's attorney called the evidence horrible, but said his client is not guilty.

  • RELATED STORY: Pre-Trial Procedures Begin For Men Accused Of Killing Teens 15 Years Ago
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