Byington told police victim left house in white car; body later found in shallow grave on his property

A jury heard Kyle Byington's voice deny several times that he knew anything about Jennifer Porzeinski's death in more than a dozen clips from interviews he gave police.

But the first day of the murder trial ended with an investigator showing the jury how he dug up and pulled the victim's body from a shallow grave on Byington's property, with the victim's head covered by a plastic bag and attached with zip ties.

Jurors were selected and began hearing testimony against Byington on Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. Byington faces charges of first-degree murder and the abandonment of a corpse. The trial is expected to last three days.

Porzeinski, who had been living in the Park Hills area, was reported missing in January 2021 after her mother could not get a hold of her daughter. Porzeinski's body was discovered in April 2021.

Before the discovery, Porzeinski's mother received a tip from a woman via Facebook Messenger that the victim could be found on Byington's property, according to testimony given Tuesday. Byington lived in one of the two houses on his mother's property on County Road 362 in Bollinger County.

In his opening statement, Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Gray told jurors that Byington for some time stuck with a story that a man in a white car came to pick Porzeinski up from his house around 2 a.m. sometime in January after she had spent a few days there. Gray referenced how his story would change once he learned blood was found in his home.

In the recordings played for the jury Tuesday, Byington told state Highway Patrol detective John West that he and Porzeinski were friends and occasionally had sex, but he said they were not romantic long-term partners.

Jennifer Porzeinski

Byington told police every so often he and Porzeinski would arrange a rendezvous, and she would come to stay a few days, then take off again. He also told police he and Porzeinski had a minor argument, in which she may have pushed him in a light-hearted fashion, but she decided it was time to go. He told West she called someone to come pick her up, and he watched a white car pull up to his house and take her away. Byington told police on multiple occasions there was no way she could be on his property, even when officers suggested she may have been drunk, walked into the woods, collapsed and froze to death. He also stated when she came to visit him for the final time, she had been homeless, adding disparaging comments about her family, some of whom were in attendance at the trial.

Porzeinski's mother Sheri Cole testified that her daughter had a house and was not homeless, though she did sometimes stay with friends. Cole stated her daughter and Byington were on-again and off-again romantic partners. She said the last time she knew her daughter to be alive she was staying at the Red Cedar Lodge in Bonne Terre, Missouri, with Byington.

A state Highway Patrol investigator presented evidence in the form of drywall and plywood that had been cut out from Byington's home. The investigator said the walls appeared to show blood stains. The prosecution has yet to present evidence that this blood matches the victim.

Byington's defense waived its right to offer an opening statement. To this point in the trial, the defense has not disputed evidence or offered an alternative theory as to what took place.

The case was moved to Cape Girardeau County because the courthouse in Marble Hill, Missouri, is closed to trials due to the building's deteriorating condition.