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Bloody Shoeprints, Sheetz Video Shown In Trooper's Murder Trial

Kevin Foley Charged With Killing Girlfriend's Husband, Dr. John Yelenic

POSTED: 5:54 pm EDT March 13, 2009
UPDATED: 8:48 pm EDT March 13, 2009

Photos of Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Kevin Foley wearing an unpopular model of tennis shoe were used as evidence in his murder trial Friday, along with pictures of bloody footprints left in Dr. John Yelenic's house.

More Detailed Trial Notes: Read Jennifer Miele's Courthouse Blog

Indiana County prosecutors are using the pictures to help convince a jury that Foley -- in love and living with Yelenic's estranged wife -- killed the dentist during a violent struggle at his Blairsville home in April 2006.

Foley trial evidence
Indiana County Courts

Terry Schalow, of the Asics shoe company, testified that he thinks the footprints (right) were made by a Gel-Creed model tennis shoe which only sold 15,000 men's pairs in the United States.

Schalow said he believes the print was made by a size 10 to 11.5. Prosecutors said Foley wears size 10.5.

Prosecutors also showed the jury photos of Foley (left) wearing that same type of sneaker, specially ordered by state police, but the shoes were not found when police searched his home.

Foley trial evidence
Indiana County Courts

Defense attorneys said the shoe photos were circumstantial evidence. They got Schalow and another shoe expert to agree that it's possible the prints could have been made by a pair of Asics knock-off shoes.

Also shown to the jury were photos of a red sport utility vehicle that were taken by a surveillance camera at Sheetz gas stations in New Alexandria and Blairsville. Prosecutors said the SUV is Foley's, and they said the photos prove he was in the area at the time of Yelenic's death.

Foley said he went straight home from playing a hockey game in Delmont the night Yelenic was killed, so his attorneys said it would be no surprise if his SUV was seen on cameras at a Sheetz along Route 22.

Kevin Foley
Kevin Foley

But investigators said the red vehicle was also seen on tape that night at a Sheetz in Blairsville, just a few blocks from Yelenic's house. They say Foley wouldn't have driven that way if he was going directly home from the game.

Foley's attorneys said anyone could have been driving the vehicle, and neither the license plate nor the driver can be clearly seen on the surveillance video.

Testimony will resume Monday when the prosecution calls its final witness, Yelenic's divorce lawyer.

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