Jessie Laintz

Lieutenant Jessie Laintz testified for the prosecution on Day 11 and Day 12 about investigative work involving a Samsung Galaxy Note Three and the search for the missing children. She described a 2018 warrant seeking a physical extraction of the phone after it had previously been collected, explaining that newer forensic capabilities could recover a broader range of data, including potentially deleted material. She also described the return documenting physical and file-system images of the phone and a logical image of its SIM card.

Laintz further described the response after concern arose that the children were missing: deputies conducted a welfare check, entered the children into NCIC, and attempted to contact people connected to the case. She testified that Mississippi authorities later reported locating the Escalade and the defendant.

On cross-examination, defense counsel explored Laintz's supervisory role, when she became involved, the early focus on possible mental illness, and efforts to build a travel timeline from receipt information. She said she became more involved after the car and defendant were found without the children, and that possible undiagnosed mental illness was not her focus when she began working the case. The court admitted Defendant's Exhibit 7, a whiteboard summary created from receipt information. On redirect and recross, Laintz addressed the limited early information about the reported possible illness and said investigators did not then know the children were dead.