Detective: Sex offender said he'd apologize in heaven

Story Highlights

• Man has pleaded not guilty in death of Jessica Lunsford, 9
• Child was placed in garbage bags, buried alive
• Defense says accused is mentally retarded, mentally ill

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MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A convicted sex offender on trial in the abduction and slaying of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford told authorities that he hoped to meet her in heaven and apologize, a detective testified Tuesday.

Detective Gary Atchison, the lead investigator in the case, said defendant John Evander Couey talked with him about the slaying.

"He said he had to forgive himself before God could forgive him, and that someday he would see Jessica Lunsford in heaven and he would apologize to her," said Atchison of the Citrus County Sheriff's Office about the conversation in October 2005.

Couey, 48, is accused of sneaking into the Lunsford home -- about 150 yards from his home -- in February 2005, and abducting Jessica, then raping her and killing her by burying her alive.

Couey, with a record as a sex offender, was arrested during an extensive search for Jessica. Her body, encased in two large garbage bags and with two fingers poking out, was unearthed outside Couey's trailer. An autopsy showed she suffocated.

Jailers and investigators testified Tuesday that Couey repeatedly volunteered details about the slaying.

Citrus County jail guard John Read said Couey told him that he didn't intend to kill Jessica but "panicked" as police swarmed their rural neighborhood. Read said Couey told him how he put the girl into trash bags and buried her alive in his yard.

"He said he could not bring himself to directly kill her by his own hands," Read said.

Read said Couey told him that he intended to burglarize the Lunsford home and took Jessica "on an impulse." Read said Couey also described how he sexually assaulted her, a statement backed up by blood found on a mattress in Couey's room.

Jail guard Nathalia Windham said Couey told her he got Jessica to climb into the bags by telling her he was taking her back home as the search intensified.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday afternoon.

The defense ended after calling only one witness, a psychologist who said Couey suffers from mental retardation and mental illness that could have been intensified by isolation in jail, leading him to make ill-advised comments to guards.

Jurors are likely to begin deliberations on Wednesday after closing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys. Couey has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to death if convicted.

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