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HARRISVILLE -- Local law enforcement officers called by the prosecution on Tuesday shared audio recordings of their interviews with Adrienne Pavelka with the jury during Aaron Trout's trial.
Trout faces murder and child abuse charges for the alleged killing of 2-year-old Jayde McDonnell, the child of Trout's then-girlfriend Pavelka.
The interviews in question both took place on July 22, 2022, at the MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena with the first interview being conducted by Mark Bluck, a sergeant with the Alpena Police Department, and Anthony Utt, a detective sergeant of the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post.
Both officers asked Pavelka about the events that occurred in the days leading to McDonnell's death, which were recorded and presented to the jury on Tuesday.
Pavelka's account, in both interviews, was largely similar with her recounting that Trout's alleged abuse of McDonnell really took shape when he was trying to potty train her and the two-year-old was having difficulty.
"He was punching her in the face when she had accidents," Pavelka said in her interview with Utt.
Pavelka then alleges that after an incident in which McDonnell allegedly used a practice bathroom without telling anyone, Trout threw the child in the air multiple times and slammed her head into a wall.
In the interviews, Pavelka said that Trout refused to take McDonnell to a hospital until a few days later when she was completely unresponsive.
"I went up in the bedroom to go check up on her," said Pavelka in her interview with Utt. "And she was just gone."
As an additional part of his testimony, Utt also read a written report from Pavelka to the jury that conveyed the same information as her interview.
The jury also heard on Tuesday the rest of the testimony from Jacob Strong, a state trooper at the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post-Lincoln detachment.
As a part of his testimony, the jury was presented with footage from Strong's dash cam and body cam of his interactions with Trout on July 22, 2022, which consisted of driving him to the Iosco County jail.
During the car ride to the jail, Trout insisted that he had not done anything wrong and that all he had done was take Pavelka and McDonnell to the hospital at Pavelka's request.
"I'm literally just an innocent bystander, man," Trout said to Strong in the dash cam footage. "I literally just did what she asked me to do."
The court was adjourned before Utt could complete his testimony, so it was planned for him to resume it this morning.