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Trial for man accused of killing April Millsap

Posted at 5:45 PM, Jan 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-22 17:55:30-05

Testimony continued on Friday in the trial of the man accused of murdering Armada teen April Millsap.

In court, the jury was shown horrifying crime scene photos of April's body, found on July 24. Her body was found by a man on the Macomb Orchard trail. He called 911.

Dispatcher: "911"
Caller: "Um, yeah, I'm fairly certain we just found a body along the mountain bike trail."
Dispatcher: "Is it a male or female?"
Caller: "Female...she's off the trail, back in the woods. Her clothes are all taken off."
Dispatcher: "Okay. You don't believe she's breathing?"
Caller: "I don't believe so, no."

Investigators say the 14-year-old had been beaten and stomped to death.

Armada police officer Philip Neumeyer was the first investigator on the scene.

"Her blouse and bra were pulled down to about her waist area. Her blue shorts and undergarments were pulled down to about her ankles," Neumeyer said.

April had been walked her dog on the trail that day when prosecutors say James VanCallis killed her.

Eric Reschke testified he was on the trail that day and saw April and a man with a motorcycle. He said from body language it seemed like they had been talking. When he was shown VanCallis' motorcycle, he couldn't say exactly that it was the bike he saw that day.

Testimony is expected to continue next week with the trial lasting 2-3 weeks.