Friend testifies Chance Loftis confessed to beating man to death

Chance Loftis appears before Judge Don Poole on Jan. 5, 2015.
Chance Loftis appears before Judge Don Poole on Jan. 5, 2015.

In tearful testimony from the witness stand Monday, Jennifer Bales recalled what Chance Loftis told her the day after Donald "PeeWee" Rogers died.

"He told me that they had beat the man to death. They beat him and he was coughing up blood," Bales said.

Bales testified during the fifth day of Loftis' second-degree murder and aggravated animal cruelty trial Monday.

Loftis, 27, and Travis Jenkins, 31, are both accused of beating Rogers to death in 2012, drowning his dog and leaving the man's body hanging out of the side of a fishing boat on the Tennessee River.

Loftis is being tried first. Jury selection began last Tuesday, Jan. 20, and opening statements were delivered Jan. 21.

During testimony last week, Jenkins said Loftis alone beat Rogers and arranged his body in the boat so he wouldn't fall out. He said Loftis flew into a rage when Rogers couldn't find the campsite the three men had planned to stay at near Grasshopper Creek Recreation Area.

Assistant District Attorney General Jason Demastus displayed text messages between Bales and Loftis, who she said was just a friend, after she dropped him and Jenkins off near a boat landing the day of Rogers' death.

The next day she picked Loftis up, she said, and he seemed shaken and cold.

He asked to be taken to Jenkins' house in Cleveland, where Bales said he sat in a bedroom and admitted to the killing.

Afterward, she said, she considered jumping out of a window to get away from him.

"I didn't ask for him to tell me this," Bales said. "I wish I could forget, but I can't."

The prosecution is expected to continue its case Tuesday.

Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at cwiseman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.

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