HAMILTON, Ohio — Two more people involved in the initial murder investigation took the stand in the trial of Gurpreet Singh.
Prosecutors accuse Singh of killing his wife, Shalinderjit Kaur; her parents Hakiakat Singh Pannag and Parmjit Kaur; along with and Parmjit's sister Amarjit Kaur in the family's West Chester apartment in 2019.
Former West Chester police officer Adam Gecewich shed tears on the stand when prosecutors asked what he saw inside Singh's apartment the night of the murders.
Gecewich told jurors he was among the first officers to respond to Gurpreet Singh's 911 call. Gecewich's superiors assigned him to stand with Singh as paramedics examined Gurpreet for 15 minutes, Gecewich testified. The former officer described the defendant as emotional and hysterical.
However, Gecewich needed 44 seconds to compose himself before telling jurors about the scene inside Singh's apartment.
"Inside the door was the body of a female on the floor," Gecewich said on the stand. "In the middle of the apartment was another body of a female and then I could see the feet of the third body just on the other side of counter."
Gecewich also testified that Singh had blood on his pants, shirt, hands and repeatedly asked about his three children. The former officer then performed a welfare check on the children and found all three safe with Gurpreet Singh's sister.
West Chester Police Sergeant Travis Oakes testified that he interviewed Singh that same night. Prosecutors played another officer's body camera footage, which recorded the interaction with Singh.
"Could you please tell me if she's okay," Singh said from the back of a police cruiser in the video.
"Is your wife one of the people who are in there?" Oakes said in the footage shown in court. "She's deceased."
Prosecutors also called two former neighbors, Jeff Lewis and Donna Brown, to testify about the noises they heard the man Lewis twice saw walk out the back patio sliding door of the victim's apartment.
During opening statements, Singh's lawyers told jurors police zeroed in on the defendant despite a member of the victims' family telling police and the FBI that a known member of a land mafia in India could be involved.
They challenged Oakes on the stand about it Monday.
"During the course of the investigation, you interviewed multiple people who mentioned Kuldeep Sekhon as the mastermind behind the killings correct?" Charlie Rittgers, one of Singh's attorneys, asked Oakes.
"I did not personally but I know that several of the detective interviews gleaned that information," Oakes said.
Singh's defense team said Kuldeep Sekhon is wanted by Interpol and the FBI, and owed Hakiakat Pannag $1.5 million in a land deal that failed in 2011 and threatened one of Pannag's business partners. The defense showed jurors a document canceling power of attorney Hakiakat gave his partner because the man said Sekhon threatened him.
West Chester Detective Kevin Burger told jurors he found close to $10,000 in cash in Singh's apartment. Some of it was in his father-in-law's room, Burger testified. However, investigators also found a pink purse with more than $8,000 in Singh's room, the detective told jurors. They also found evidence that Gurpreet Singh spent $20,000 on a home down payment near Indianapolis, Burger said on the stand. The document shown in court suggested the house was a gift for a "relative" named Navkurian Kaur. The relationship, though, was more intimate, Burger testified.
"She was an extramarital affair with Mr. Singh, Gurpreet Singh," Burger said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations dive team recovered a 9mm Ruger pistol from a pond near the murder scene Burger testified. Prosecutors showed jurors photos of the serial number bored out by someone with a drill.
Testimony will continue Tuesday.
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