ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – The trial for Jeffery Trevino, the St. Paul man accused of killing his wife, Kira Steger, resumed Monday.
Jurors heard from Ryan Wendt, the man with whom Steger was having an affair.
Wendt, Steger’s manager at Delia’s, testified that their friendship turned romantic about a month before she died. He said he knew she was married and their relationship was ending, though they didn’t discuss their relationships.
Steger told him she was separating from Trevino.
“I obviously cared about her and respected her situation,” Wendt said. “[I] knew she wasn’t in a place to be in a relationship, nor was I.”
Wendt left Minnesota for a ski trip in Colorado on Feb. 21. His last contact with Steger was that night via text message.
A forensic investigator with St. Paul police also took the stand, revealing Trevino didn’t call Steger for three days after she went missing and sent her one message a day to her cell phone asking her to call home.
In an early morning text from Monday, Feb.25, Trevino wrote: “Please call someone. We are all looking for you, as are police. We are worried beyond words.” He also called Kira’s cell phone four times that day – the first time records show him calling her since reporting her missing.
Feb. 25 is the same day police found Steger’s car in the Mall of America parking lot, and executed the first search warrant in the couple’s home.
Jurors also saw surveillance video from a neighbor’s house. It shows late night activity from within the Trevino home on Feb. 21, with lights turning on and off. An investigator also discussed two cars coming and going from the home.
Later on Feb. 22, prosecutors argued about a video showing a taxi dropping off a tall, thin person who is seen walking towards the Trevino home. The video does not show if this person did in fact come from the taxi or if they did go to the house.
Court resumes Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. in St. Paul.
