Andrew Compton (Source: WAVE 3 Archives)
Gregory O'BryanLOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A bomb was dropped by the prosecution during Friday's pretrial conference in the murder case of Gregory O'Bryan, the man accused of murdering Sullivan University student Andrew Compton. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Van De Rostyne disclosed that they have new evidence that now needs to be tested by the crime lab to see if it can be connected to Compton.
O'Bryan is facing charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in the death of Compton, a culinary arts student at Sullivan who was last seen leaving his dorm on October 28, 2010.
The arrest report filed at the time O'Bryan was taken into custody on November 9, 2010 stated that O'Bryan and Compton had exchanged emails before meeting in person. Louisville Metro Police say O'Bryan told them he picked up Compton, brought alcohol and took Compton back to his apartment where the two had sex.
O'Bryan originally told police that Compton walked away from the apartment that night. But after a search warrant was executed at the apartment on November 8, 2010, O'Bryan admitted Compton died during the sexual encounter and he disposed of the body in a dumpster.
Metro police spent nearly two weeks searching a landfill in Medora, IN where they believe the trash collected from that dumpster was taken. It was from that search where some of the evidence that is soon to be tested was found.
"We are sending out six additional items to be tested which are collected exhibits," Van De Rostyne said. "Three pieces of what we suspect are some type of flesh collected from the landfill and four unidentified fluids."
According to Van De Rostyne the unidentified fluids were found at O'Bryan's apartment on Lucia Avenue in Louisville's Highland neighborhood. The announcement took the defense team by surprise according to defense attorney Michael Ferraracio.
"Yes this is the first that we've heard about it and we know it's been awhile since they actually searched the landfill," said Ferraracio, "so presumably they've had this information for some time this is just the first that we've heard about it, so it came as a surprise and we'd like them to provide us with some documentation as to when it was found, how it was found, where it was found and so on."
The prosecution contends the information was mentioned before and they are surprised that the defense wasn't aware of it. Van De Rostyne said they hope to have all of the evidence examined and results returned in the next 60 days.
A trial date for O'Bryan has tentatively been set for November 2.
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