Kayla Allen’s first-grade instructor is among witnesses on stand Wednesday in murder trial

April 10, 2008 - 1:27AM

LINDELL KAY
THE DAILY NEWS

A former teacher of a 7-year-old girl who prosecutors say was killed by her legal guardian in August 2003 told an Onslow County jury Wednesday that the girl came to school hurt in March 2003 and claimed her guardian had thrown her against a wall for asking for lunch money.

Rebecca Watson, testifying in the first-degree murder trial of Carolyn Futrell, was Kayla Allen's first-grade teacher at the time of the incident, which she reported to Child Protective Services.

"Kayla often came to school with marks on her face," Watson said. "When I asked her what happened, she would say something like ‘I fell.'"

The Onslow County Department of Social Services investigated 13 allegations of neglect, physical and sexual abuse involving Kayla prior to her death, according to court records.

In cross-examination, Wilmington attorney Kevin Peters, Futrell's co-defender, asked Watson if she had told social workers that Kayla often told lies.

Watson said she told a social worker that either Kayla was telling the truth and needed help or was lying and needed help.

Futrell had cared for the girl since she was 2½ years old. Now 37 and living in Wilmington, Futrell was married to the brother of Kayla's biological mother, Nicole Allen. When Kayla was 5, her uncle divorced Futrell, who remained Kayla's legal guardian. Kayla lived with Futrell in Richlands at the time of her death.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Department arrested Futrell in May 2004 after Kayla's toxicology report came back stating the girl had insecticide in her stomach and other organs.

Sgt. Tom Robinson, a detective with the Sheriff's Department, testified Wednesday that he was present when a crime scene investigator found a Dasani water bottle in Kayla's bed the day she died. Robinson said that because of the appearance and consistency of the substance, he "initially thought the substance in the bottle was milk."

Instead, the bottle contained the insecticide Atroban, which was poured from a bottle of the pesticide found in the shed of a nearby piece of property, Robinson said.

The poison matched the chemical make-up of the contents of Kayla's stomach and other organs, according to medical experts who testified in court.

Futrell, Robinson testified, told detectives she kept bottles for drinking water under the sink on the left side, and the Dasani water bottle containing the poison was on the right side where she kept cleaning supplies.

But a recording of an hour-long interview with Futrell was lost, Robinson said, and he did not speak to any of Futrell's family members, friends or neighbors prior to her arrest in May 2004.

Futrell gave several different accounts of the circumstances surrounding Kayla's death, according to testimony from several witnesses during the prosecution's presentation.

Jessica Powell, a Wilmington psychological therapist who worked in Jacksonville at the time, had 24 sessions with Kayla in the months prior to the girl's death.

She testified that Futrell told her in October 2003 that she was concerned about the investigation and that she had placed a water bottle with boric acid under the kitchen sink. Powell said Futrell told her the boric acid was to kill ants, but she forgot about it once her husband used something else to do the job.

Another witness said Futrell told them a family member had poured the Atroban into the Dasani bottle, but Robinson testified Futrell had said she poured the insecticide into the water bottle herself.

On Tuesday, Kayla's second-grade teacher, Karen Huffman, testified that Futrell told her Kayla had died of a blood clot.

Defense attorneys have told the court during motions that Futrell will take the stand in her defense. The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. today.

Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at lkay@freedomenc.com or 910-554-8534.

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Emphasis added by H4K Editor