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it was October 30th 2017 and 19-year-old Kaylee mandad should have been enjoying
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her sophomore year of college instead she was lying unconscious in a hospital bed with severe bruises from head to toe
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kayle's mother and stepfather were awakened at 4 in the morning with horrifying news that changed their lives
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forever your daughter's been involved in some incident and she's been LIF flighted to Kyle Texas they raced from
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their home in Houston to the hospital praying Kaylee was okay what was it like when you entered that room what did you
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see I saw my daughter's body smashed doctor came in and we asked what's the prognosis and he said there
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is none he said she's not coming out of this I'm telling you right now I'm sorry
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but where did those bruises come from and how long have they been there as Kaye was taken off life support all
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suspicions quickly turned to her sometime boyfriend Mark Howton on the night of October 29th Howton had rushed
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an unconscious Kaye to the hospital in his car after the couple attended a music festival while medical staff
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tended to Kaye police officers interviewed Howton who wasn't charged with a crime until months later after
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the autopsy report was released the medical examiner had ruled that Kaye had died from blunt force face and head
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drama and labeled her death a homicide in open and shut case defense attorney John Hunter says not so fast Mr Howton
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brought the deceased to a hospital which is something you don't typically see murderers don't usually do that no in
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2019 two years after kayle's death the trial began and both sides had their own theories prosecutors say Howton had a
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stormy relationship with Kaye I think the best way to tell this story is to start where Kaye mad's life ended and
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that's in the car of this defendant Dr Susanna Dana who performed the autopsy gave her account of the evidence she had
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a number of what I call blunt forceing injuries to her face and her head but the defense attorney suggested it was
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the medical staff not Mark Howton who created much of that bruising so CPR can cause a lot of different injuries not
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just simply superficial ones right yes in this case a rib was broken is that correct I believe so yes Dr William
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Anderson reviewed the autopsy for the defense and disagreed with the medical examiner findings saying K's bruising
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was caused in part by resuscitation efforts at the hospital in the organ donation process
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Anderson goes one step further pointing to a thin line in a photo of kayle's skull starting here we have this Jagged
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line it's like I said just like a crack in an eggshell and that is a skull fracture a skull fracture which Hunter
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says could indicate that kayle's brain bleed was caused by a fall she was in a car she was in a car for portions of
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that day hematomas don't kill people instantaneously thank you Dr prosecutors bring the medical examiner back to
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challenge Dr Anderson's testimony is that a school fracture no it's not jurors were unable to reach a verdict
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and a mistrial was declared Howton walked free but prosecutors wanted to try again in May 2023 more than 5 years
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after kayle's death Mark Howton went on trial for the second time