By Talia Kruger
RIVERSIDE, CA — The jury trial of Kenyatta Crockett and Anthony Salcida, both of Eastvale, CA, for the murder of a 28-year-old woman shot dead in 2018 continued here this week in Riverside Hall of Justice.
A Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy cell records investigator testified Wednesday many calls between Crockett’s phone and a ghost phone were initiated in the hours leading up to the murder. Most of these calls were under one minute long, although an incoming call from the ghost phone ended up lasting 11 minutes.
The deputy also testified that through looking at cell tower data she found that at a time around the murder, Crockett’s phone pinged on a cell tower that was located only half a mile from where the victim’s car was parked.
The defense on cross-examination attempted to poke holes in the cell tower evidence. Defense Attorney Joel Renk asked the deputy if phones always ping to the cell tower closest to them.
The cell phone investigation responded there are instances where cell phones might not connect to the tower closest if there was something obstructing the signal such as a building or tree.
Renk asked if the deputy had been to the cell towers relevant to this case and had verified the range of the towers, to which the deputy responded no, and when Renk asked if it was possible to measure a cell tower’s signal, the deputy responded that specialized equipment was needed.
Renk then attempted to discredit the deputy’s testimony by suggesting that there would be no way to know if Crockett was moving between two towers or if he had stopped in the middle of them.
However, the deputy countered this conjecture by testifying the direction of the antenna the signal was picked up on was consistent with motion.
