Local

Jury sees video of suspect on night of fatal crash

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — A jury in Burke County saw a video on Thursday of a Hickory woman the night she was accused of killing a father and son while driving under the influence.

Amie Jo Skeens closed her eyes at times as prosecutors played the Channel 9 video from 13 months ago, when she was arrested in the deaths of Brent and Kevin Moody along Airport Rhodhiss Road.

Skeens denied hurting anyone and repeated that as the Highway Patrol took her to Morganton.

State trooper Cody Smith showed the jury how he used his cell phone to get another video on the ride to the magistrate’s office.  After telling the trooper she didn't kill the men, she talked about zombies and crackheads.

The Highway Patrol says her blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit and that she also tested positive for cocaine.

“The first words I was able to understand from her was, ‘I wasn't driving. It was zombies,’” Smith said.

When Smith asked her about the wreck, he said she told him she didn't even know a crash had happened.

“I explained to her I was working a collision involving two motorcycles, two people lost their lives,” Smith said. “She shrugged her shoulders, grinned, and laughed and said she didn't know what happened.”

Audrey Moody, the mother and wife of the victims, fought back tears as the Highway Patrol described arriving on the scene. She too saw the videos shown to the jury.

“That was my family and it just upsets me seeing what she said and what she did and how she treated the police officer and how she treated you,” Moody said. “She was coherent to know it was Channel 9 news.”

Prosecutors hope to have their case wrapped up sometime Friday.  If convicted of the two counts of second-degree murder, Skeens could face a lengthy prison sentence.