The state’s key witness in the Richard Demello murder trial told an officer she got cold chills when she saw the defendant’s photo in a lineup.

Roanoke Rapids Police Officer Terrence Tyler was requested to show Mary Moore the photo lineup compiled by the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office when it was learned Demello was the alleged suspect in the March 28, 2010, murder of Michael Wayne Davis at 85 Mobley Street.

As required, Tyler said he entered her room at Halifax Regional Medical Center by himself.

Moore was being treated for injuries sustained when she was tied and held at knifepoint, allegedly by Demello.

Tyler showed Moore eight photos, which included one of Demello, of people matching the characteristics of the alleged suspect. She pointed out Demello. “She said, ‘I just got cold chills.’”

Tyler, under cross-examination from the defense said, “She had been through something traumatic. She was visibly shaken. You could tell something traumatic had happened.”

Much of the testimony in the morning session of the trial centered on the photo lineups, which Captain Jay Burch compiled at the Roanoke Rapids Police Department the morning the murder was discovered.

A canvass of the neighborhood led investigators to determine Demello, who was living with Davis, was the alleged suspect in the case.

Tyler was chosen to show Moore the lineup because he was not directly involved in the case. After the results of the lineup, Burch drew warrants for Demello’s arrest.

Demello’s attorney, Steven B. DeCillis, asked Burch questions on his client’s description; whether Demello’s tattoos were mentioned in a be on the lookout notice issued after the warrant and whether the description said Demello was wearing no shirt, blue jeans and was covered in blood.

Burch said the notice simply stated the sheriff’s office had a warrant for Demello’s arrest.

Burch, answering questions from DeCillis, said he had been to the house “quite a few times” in the past because it was known for drug activity. He said, however, it was probably a year to a year and a half before the murder since been to the house on drug complaints.

Meanwhile this morning, out of the presence of the jury, the court questioned witness Richard Mayton Sr., who was shown a photo lineup by Roanoke Rapids Police Officer David Brown the day the murder was discovered.

DeCillis wanted a ruling from Judge Alma Hinton that testimony Mayton was scheduled to give did not show he learned Demello met Davis while the two were in prison.

Mayton said on the stand he talked to Davis about getting some work done on rental property he owned. “I asked Mike. He had a guy at his house. He (Demello) performed some very good work. He was supposed to finish up.”

That is how Mayton became a witness because the morning of the murder he went to Davis’s house to find Demello.

Hinton instructed Mayton that he could only say he met Demello through Davis but could not repeat in court that he knew Davis met Demello in prison.