Trial begins for Cary man who admitted to killing girlfriend, mother in 2015
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The trial is beginning for a Cary man accused of keeping his mother's body on ice in her bathtub for nearly a week before confessing to murdering her and his girlfriend in 2015.
Brandon Lee is facing murder charges for the deaths of his mom Christa Lee, 58, and his girlfriend, Krystal Hylton, 28.
WATCH OPENING STATEMENTS:
Opening statements for the prosecution:
Opening statements from the defense:
The defense right from the beginning said Lee did admit to killing his mother and girlfriend
RELATED: Warrants reveal new details in Cary double murder
911 calls from Dec. 20, 2015 reveal Lee confessed to strangling the women in their homes.
LISTEN: 911 call: Man confesses to mom, girlfriend's murders
"How did you do it?" the 911 dispatcher asked when Lee said he killed his mom nearly a week earlier.
"She came at me with a knife and then I ended up choking her," he said.
When asked about his girlfriend, Lee said, "My girlfriend was seeing someone else and lying to me and I ended up choking her too."
Lee said over the phone, officers would find his mother's body in her bathtub.
Search warrants show Cary police had to force their way into Christa Lee's bathroom where they found her fully clothed, lying in the bathtub with fresh ice scattered on and around her body.
On the same day Lee said he killed his mom, Cary police charged him with trespassing onto Time Warner Cable property in Morrisville and threatening to hurt a man who worked there with Hylton.
Hylton's friends told ABC11 she had just started dating her coworker and that Lee was jealous.
In November of that year, Lee was also charged with damaging Hylton's car.
The prosecution argued Lee's phone call to police and video interview with investigators showed a "cool state of mind" -- an element of first degree murder.
The defense said Lee's state of mind around the time of the murders will show he's not guilty of premeditation.
The trial will resume at 9:45 a.m. Thursday morning.
