The Hamilton County medical examiner testified the locations of the knife wounds on Jasmine Pace’s body show that she was likely stabbed while in a fetal position.
Jason Chen, 24, was met with his fourth day of trial Thursday in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Pace, 22.
He is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.
Pace is believed to have been stabbed 60 times on Nov. 23, 2022, inside Chen’s Tremont Street apartment. Her body was wrapped in three black trash bags, stuffed in a hard-sided suitcase and disposed of in the Tennessee River.
A series of gory autopsy photographs were displayed for the jury and throughout medical examiner Steven Cogswell’s nearly six hours of testimony.
Her right ankle was handcuffed to her right wrist, and her left ankle was shackled to her right arm above the elbow, Cogswell testified Thursday.
(READ MORE: Detective describes blood-filled crime scene as Jason Chen trial continues)
The handcuffs and shackles were not heavy duty, law enforcement types, Cogswell said, but rather something that could be found at a novelty store such as Spencer’s.
Pace was stabbed repeatedly on and around her face from the scalp to the chin. Several audience members walked out when those photos were first shown, and one woman dabbed away tears.
A type of butcher knife went into and out of her neck, Cogswell said. The metal autopsy table could be seen through the exit hole.
Some of those stab wounds were perimortem, Cogswell said, which means they were inflicted while or very close to the time of death.
If an individual is in a fetal position, there are areas of the body that are very protected while others are vulnerable, Cogswell said.
Pace mostly or only had wounds and abrasions on the body surfaces that were exposed from her fetal position, Cogswell said.
It’s unknown exactly how long it took for those wounds to be inflicted, but it likely took several minutes and wasn’t an immediate death, according to Cogswell.
The state previously argued the theory that Chen shackled Pace prior to the attack.
While Cogswell did not make any testimony that directly confirmed or denied this, he said he believed Pace was mostly likely stabbed while in the fetal position due to the placement of the 60 wounds and the relatively small area in which they all occurred.
There was an area of carpet taken from Chen’s apartment with significant blood stains. The blood stains would also match up with a person of Pace’s size bleeding out in a fetal position, Cogswell said.
Chen’s defense attorney, Joshua Weiss, said straight out during opening statements that Chen killed Pace, but it was a crime of passion during a heated argument rather than premeditation.
Any arguments that Pace was restrained prior to being stabbed undermine that defense strategy.
Weiss has also alleged Chen and Pace were drinking excessive amounts of wine and consuming marijuana on the night of her death, and Pace allegedly attacked Chen with an empty wine bottle after she found him to be messaging other women on dating apps.
Cogswell said he couldn’t say whether there was THC in her system. It wasn’t tested.
There was also no alcohol found in her blood, and there was no odor of alcohol from her stomach, Cogswell said.
The trial is set to resume Friday morning, and prosecutors are expected to rest their case by end of day. Over a dozen witnesses have been called since Monday.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.