Roy Crawford was convicted of murder in the drowning death of Seliqueka Curry. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial,1 challenging the admission of his statement to police officers and the trial court’s failure to give certain charges. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. The evidence adduced at trial authorized the jury to find that, on the morning of the murder, appellant was outside the apartment where his brother-in-law, James Williams, lived.2 The teenaged victim, her mother who was Williams’s girlfriend and Williams’s teenaged son, Je’Vaun White, also lived in the apartment but on this morning the victim was the only one inside after White left for school. As White was walking to catch the bus, appellant questioned him about who was still inside; appellant specifically asked whether the victim was there. After obtaining answers to his questions, appellant seemed to drive away but White, while sitting in the bus, spotted appellant driving back into the apartment complex. When White returned from school that afternoon, he found the victim’s nude body face down in water in the bathtub; the bottom of the back patio door appeared to be kicked in. Appellant’s former stepdaughter testified that, when she told appellant the victim was dead, appellant’s response was to ask “was she naked.” Appellant’s former wife testified that appellant had previously made inappropriate comments about the victim and, when informed her body had been found, responded by saying that “somebody probably kicked the door in.” When questioned by police officers, appellant initially denied being in the victim’s apartment the day of the murder but then changed his account to say he had been there. After his arrest, a stain that was later determined to be blood from the victim was found on the mid to upper thigh area of the inside of appellant’s left pants leg. The medical evidence established that the victim died from drowning, which was complicated by blunt force injuries to the head and strangulation injuries. The medical examiner testified that, had the victim not been placed in the bathtub water, it was “a distinct possibility” she would have survived being beaten and choked.
The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of the murder of Seliqueka Curry. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.
