Uncle arrested in rape/murder of 14 y/o niece
Uncle arrested in murder and rape of California City teen last year
Finally some closure for a Kern County desert community, one year after a teenager was found killed. Friday morning 40-year-old Phillip Ellison was arrested for the murder and rape of 14-year-old Jamesha Terry in California City.
California City Police say they found evidence early in the case that linked Ellison to the victim, but it’s taken this long to get the evidence analyzed. Police Chief Steve Colerick says investigators had evidence from where the body was found, two dumpsters, from Ellison’s apartment, and a sample from the suspect himself.
Chief Colerick says although it took a long time to get all the work done, the crime lab “made the case.”
‘It was a forensic processing of DNA matching, and analysis that ultimately linked Mr. Ellison to the body,” says Chief Colerick.
The 14-year-old girl was last seen March 19, 2007 after she got off a school bus. Her body was found 13 days later in the vacant lot — and the only building nearby is an apartment where Ellison had lived for a couple years.
“We profiled all the tenants, visitors and residents that did live there,” Chief Colerick told Eyewitness News. “He was the one that came to the forefront.” Why? “Due to the relationship specifically to her.”
