CHARLOTTE — Jurors in a Charlotte courtroom viewed body camera video Wednesday capturing the moment police discovered the body of 20-year-old Mary Collins concealed inside an apartment mattress in 2020.
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The footage was presented during the murder trial of Lavi Pham and James Salerno, who are charged in Collins’ death.
Police located the victim’s body at The Yards at NoDa apartments after an anonymous tipster called authorities twice regarding her location. The second call prompted Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers to secure a search warrant for the apartment.
The initial police response yielded no results until the tipster called a second time, urging officers to look again. The caller subsequently spoke with a detective, detailing that Collins was located inside or beneath a mattress in the apartment.
Officers executed a search warrant later that night at the residence. Suspect Pham walked out the front door and was detained alongside his girlfriend, Kelly Lavery. Police moving through the apartment found Lavery on a bed, gasping for air and allegedly impaired on drugs, before sweeping the back bedroom.
During the search, an officer lifted the mattress and found Collins’ body partially visible, wrapped in layered plastic and large trash bags stuffed into the box springs. Sgt. Ryan Leggett of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department testified regarding the scene.
“It appeared that something had been manipulated on the box springs and I saw the plastic and trash bags that were consistent with a body,” Leggett said.
Investigators confirmed the victim had sustained more than 130 stab wounds. As the body camera footage was presented to the jury, Pham wiped tears from his eyes with a tissue.
The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday.