Trial resumed Monday and continued into the evening in the murder case against Terrence Stepp, the man accused in the 2018 death of Tamara Dragoo at the King’s Court Motel.
The jury heard from multiple witnesses, including detectives with the Hopkinsville Police Department, individuals who had once been a person of interest in the case, and Stepp himself took the stand. Stepp told the jury that he did not really know Dragoo and while he did say that he thought she looked familiar, he didn’t remember if he ever had a sexual relationship with her.
He says he willingly gave a sample of DNA to detectives, because he feels he didn’t have anything to hide and wanted to clear his name.
Stepp’s DNA was found under one of Dragoo’s fingernails and other locations on her body. Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Bolen questioned Stepp’s memory—he says he doesn’t remember where he was the night of the murder, but he argues he was not at the King’s Court Motel.
Bolen pressed him on the statement he gave detectives in 2020, where he said he didn’t have sex with people he didn’t know, and he said in court that it was embarrassing to admit the number of sexual relationships he had previously.
The defense rested its case late in the afternoon. Proceedings will begin early Tuesday morning, when the jury reconvenes to hear their instructions and closing arguments from both the Commonwealth and the defense.