GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The trial of Garry Dean Artman continued Wednesday. The 65-year-old is charged in the 1996 sexual assault and murder of a young mother.
Artman was arrested last year for the once-cold murder of Sharon Hammack, who was 30 at the time of her death.
Hammack was pregnant with a son at the time of her murder, already a mother of two young children.
Artman was connected to her murder last year after investigators linked DNA found at the scene of Hammack’s murder to him.
A result from a third-party genetic genealogy company, Identifinders, told detectives that the crime scene DNA belonged to one of four people. They narrowed the suspect down to one of four Artman siblings.
Eventually detectives decided that Artman was the likely suspect, based on where he was living at the time Hammack was killed.
He is charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and then killing Hammack.
Following the filing of charges in Hammack’s case, Artman was subsequently charged with the 2006 murder of 24-year-old Dusty Schuck.
Schuck’s body was found near a truck stop in Frederick County, Maryland.
Maryland State Police said in a press release that they had linked the suspect DNA discovered at Schuck’s crime scene to the 1996 cold case out of Kent County back in 2009.
He will face those charges after his trial in Kent County.
Kent County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cohle began testimony Wednesday morning as prosecutors continue presenting their case.
Dr. Cohle spoke about the condition Hammack’s body was in when he examined her.
“She was wrapped in a blanket, like an electric blanket. She had numerous segments of cord that secured her in the blanket. That was removed and I saw her arms and legs were extensively tied up with electrical cords, as well as a shoelace,” Dr. Cohle explained.
Dr. Cohle described seeing signs of petechiae on Hammack’s face during his investigation.
Petechiae are often observed as little “purple pinpoints,” as Dr. Cohle explained.
“These are pinpoint hemorrhages.”
Petechiae results from the rupture of small capillaries in the face because blood flow is being restricted. It is often seen in eyelids and in the area around the eyes.
“That would have to be quite a bit of pressure around the neck,” Dr. Cohle observed while prosecutors showed photos from Hammack’s autopsy in court.
He recalled “numerous abrasions, some bruises all over her body, two stab wounds in the scalp, and there was some blood that leaked from these onto her clothing and front of her body."
While her body was apparently covered in these wounds, Dr. Cohle said her actual cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation.
He said during a cross-examination by Artman’s lawyer that he believed her death could have been caused by a pearl necklace that was still around her neck when her body was found.
Following his testimony, prosecutors called the founder and owner of Identifinders, Colleen Fitzpatrick, to the stand.
Fitzpatrick said her company has helped to solve about 300–400 cases using genetic genealogy technology.
Continuing on the topic of DNA testing, Katherine Meredith with Michigan State Police (MSP) took the stand.
“In 1996, the MSP would have been at the very early stages of doing DNA in the state police system,” Meredith explained.
She spoke at length on how DNA-testing technology has progressed significantly over recent years.
“We are able to detect DNA profiles from less quantity of DNA in a sample than what would have been required in the 1990s,” she said.
Meredith explained that some early DNA testing took place on samples in Hammack’s case all the way back in 1996, using technology that is no longer used in the industry.
She joined the investigation herself in 2019, running some tests on a white blanket from Hammack’s crime scene, which allegedly had semen stains on it.
Through an intricate process, they were able to obtain a large-enough DNA sample from the blanket stain to test it in the realm of genetic genealogy.
She said their testing found that it was “770 trillion times” more likely that the DNA originated from Artman than if it did not.
Meredith explained that in the world of DNA testing, this provided “very strong support” that Artman contributed to the DNA sample they were looking at.
A former roommate of Artman took the stand next, talking about some of the more disturbing qualities Artman exhibited at the time.
"Did he ever tell you he used prostitutes?" prosecutors asked her.
"Yes, he did. Two different times, he told me," his former roommate answered.
She spoke about a time while she was living with Artman when she began experiencing "visions" about him committing violence against women.
She says one night, she confronted him about this.
"He, at first, said he hadn't done anything. Then, he admitted he had and if I told anyone, I would be killed," she recalled. "He admitted he had been involved in satanic worshiping in the past, ritual abuse."
Fearful at this point, she didn't push the issue or ask for any details.
She started making plans to find somewhere else to live.
Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday. The defense will not call any witnesses. Closing arguments begin Thursday morning.
READ MORE: Friend of woman killed in 1996 testifies on day 2 of murder trial
