He has confessed but claims it was an accident.[/QUOTE]
hes using the rough sex excuse and it didn't fly, I think he was who people saw her with medical examiners proved she was beat to death. They upgraded charges to open murder from second so jury can play with that and rule murder1
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/02/chelsea-bruck-murder-daniel-clay/93198642/
http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ed-of-bruck-murder-preliminary-exam/93121552/
Daniel Clay, 28, faces charges of murder and concealment of a body in connection with death of 22-year-old Chelsea Bruck
or follow this link.
A six-month search involving numerous volunteers ensued after Bruck's disappearance. Her
remains were found in a wooded lot in Ash Township in April 2015. The location was 12 miles from the site of a Halloween party in Frenchtown Township where she was last seen Oct. 26, 2014, walking with an unidentified man. Parts of Bruck's party costume, that of Poison Ivy, a villain in the Batman superhero series, were found in an abandoned industrial site in Flat Rock, about 15 miles away.
Monroe County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Michael Roehrig previously said investigators and the prosecution team have combed through about 2,000 pages of evidence and photographs in the case. Law enforcement officials have said they conducted more than 840 official interviews and received about 1,000 tips throughout Bruck's disappearance.
Chelsea Bruck went missing on Oct. 26, 2014 after last being seen at a Halloween party in Frenchtown Twp. (Photo: Monroe County Sheriff)
During questioning by police, Clay, who has a lengthy criminal record, admitted he was involved in Bruck's death, Monroe County Sheriff Dale Malone previously said.
Clay's girlfriend, Kelli Richter, previously told the Free Press that he confessed to the crime, saying it was an accident in a phone call from Monroe County Jail. Roehrig has declined to comment on how the investigation may have connected Clay to the crime, but he said a first-degree murder charge wasn't sought because they had no reason to believe it was premeditated.
Bruck died of blunt force trauma, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. The Michigan State Police crime lab processed evidence that enabled deputies to make the arrest, Malone previously said.
Free Press staff writer Katrease Stafford contributed to this report.
Maybe a bit redundant but added info
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/02/chelsea-bruck-murder-daniel-clay/93198642/
Medical examiner testifies 22-year-old Monroe County woman has multiple fractures to jaw, nose and eye sockets
WXYZ-TV and the Monroe News reported. Under the open murder charge, a jury could consider a first-degree premeditated murder charge, which carries a mandatory life sentence, Second-degree murder is a lesser offense, allowing for the possibility of parole and a lesser prison term.
Earlier in Wednesday's preliminary examination, Monroe County Sheriff Detective Brian Sroka testified that after Clay was arrested in July, he admitted he had killed Bruck but maintained it was an accident.
Sroka said Clay told detectives he and Bruck were having consensual sex, and that she'd asked him to choke her, and he did with his hands for about 20-30 seconds. She stopped breathing and he tried CPR, he claimed, but he couldn't revive her. He told detectives he "freaked out," Sroka said. "He didn't call the police, so he began to drive around... for 30-45 minutes."
►
Detective: DNA on costume connects man to Chelsea Bruck
Clay said he drove to some train tracks about 10 miles from the party's location, then carried the body from the vehicle into a wooded area until he became tired and hid it under some tree branches, Sroka testified. Then he moved the body farther into the woods before leaving it hidden under more tree branches, Sroka said.
Bruck of Maybee was wearing a handmade costume of "Batman" villain Poison Ivy when she met Clay at a large outdoor Halloween party on Oct. 26, 2014, in rural Frenchtown Township. As Clay was leaving, he saw her walking on the side of the road, carrying her wig, Clay told detectives.
"He pulled up next to her, asked if she wanted a ride. She said she did. She got in the vehicle," Sroka testified. "He stated that they drove down the road a little bit and they proceeded to have sexual relations there."
It was DNA on part of a Halloween costume, discovered in a wooded area of Monroe County, that led investigators to connect Clay to Bruck's death, Sroka said. Clay initially fled a mobile home when deputies tried to arrest him, but he then confessed for two hours about how Bruck died and how he tried to cover it up, Sroka testified.
Monroe News reported.
Monroe News reporter Ray Kisonas tweeted from the hearing that Hlavaty discounted strangulation as the cause of death. "The act of killing someone takes several minutes," he quoted Hlavaty as testifying.
After Bruck was reported missing, a six-month search ensued. In April 2015, John Marcon was using heavy equipment to level the ground where he intended to build a house when he
discovered Bruck's unclothed remains under a heavy log and some tree branches. In September, Bruck's red shoe and green leggings were found nearby.
Crime-scene investigators found enough DNA on the leggings to connect it to an unknown man. In July 2015, the same month Clay was charged in the separate criminal sexual conduct case, the crime lab confirmed a hit connecting Clay to the DNA sample, Sroka said.
►Related:
Girlfriend says Bruck slaying suspect claimed it was 'an accident'
►Related:
Hunt for Chelsea Bruck: A million flyers, a mother's hope
Also Wednesday, Bruck's friends and acquaintances she worked with at a local restaurant described what happened at the party. Several of them testified that she had been drinking before accidentally banging her head on a pole, hurting her nose.
Jessica Pridyl, who worked with Bruck and had a child with Clay, said she remembers Clay and someone else approaching a group including her and Bruck, but that she didn't remember much if any conversation between them. Pridyl said she briefly smoked marijuana with Clay later that night, and that she last saw Bruck at about 1 or 1:30 a.m.
In the many months since Bruck's disappearance, Pridyl said, she doesn't recall Clay saying anything about Bruck. But the day he was arrested, she received two voicemails from him while she was at work.
Clay said he was "extremely sorry," "that he f***** up big time" and was going to be "gone for a really long time," Pridyl testified.
Bruck homicide case timeline
Oct. 26, 2014: Chelsea Bruck, 22, is last seen at a large Halloween party at a rural property in Frenchtown Township.
April 24, 2015: Human remains are discovered in a heavily wooded area about 10 miles away.
Sept. 2, 2015: Leggings discovered near site of human remains; DNA of "unknown" male analyzed.
July 21, 2016: Detectives learn DNA database CODIS has produced a hit connecting Daniel Clay to the leggings.
July 22, 2016: Clay is arrested at a mobile home and confesses in an interview, according to Monroe County Sheriff's Office detective.
Contact Robert Allen: rallen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @rallenMI.