Mother recounts learning daughter’s body was found as NoDa murder trial continues

Kasei Canfora, the mother of Mary Collins, continued her testimony in a Mecklenburg County courtroom, describing the moment police told her they’d found her daughter dead.

“Two officers came, we went inside, they told us to sit, and they told us they found her body,” Canfora said.

The news came on Canfora’s birthday after days spent desperately searching for Collins, who police say was stabbed to death.

James Salerno and Lavi Pham are charged with her killing.

At times, Pham’s defense team questioned Canfora about what exactly she told police, frustrating her on the stand.

“I honestly don’t remember what I said six years ago when my daughter was missing for eight days, and I didn’t know where she was or what was happening to her, and the only people who did were not making sense,” Canfora said.

Jurors also heard from a detective with CMPD’s Missing Persons Unit, who told them about the anonymous tip that led them to an apartment complex in NoDa and ultimately to Collins’ body.

“She mentioned that she may have been hidden in a mattress or under a mattress,” said Det. Adam Bonaparte of CMPD’s Missing Persons Unit.

Later, America Diehl took the witness stand.

She is charged with concealing Collins’ body and failing to report her death, among other charges.

“Do you know James Salerno?” the prosecutor asked Diehl.

“Yes, ma’am, I used to,” Diehl said.

However, Diehl’s potentially damaging testimony was abruptly cut short.

She was experiencing a diabetic emergency and was wheeled out of the courtroom on a gurney.

It is unclear if she will return Wednesday or later in the trial. She was supposed to testify about what Salerno and Pham told her they did to Mary.