CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW)- Quentin Bird rarely looked up from his notepad Tuesday as a jury sat before him taking in evidence to later decide his fate.
Bird wrote on the notepad keeping his head down and eyes averted looking up briefly to look at autopsy photos presented to his attorneys, Reid Poland and James Phillips.
The photos showed his deceased pregnant ex-girlfriend with multiple stab wounds to her body and wounds to their unborn child.
Bird, 25, is charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder on allegations he stabbed 20-year-old, Allison Tenbarge, at least 21 times inside their Sonoma Ridge apartment on April 18, 2017. She was found in the early morning hours of April 19. Their unborn child also died.
Tenbarge was at least 35-36 weeks pregnant with her son, who she’d named Parker, and had a due date of May 16, 2017.
Monday, Regene Gill, Tenbarge’s best friend, testified she accompanied Tenbarge from Evansville to Clarksville to get the last of her belongings from the apartment and go to an ob-gyn appointment. Bird and Tenbarge had broken up a week prior.
While at the apartment, Bird accused Tenbarge of cheating, which Tenbarge vehemently denied.
Tenbarge asked Gill to wait in the van for a few minutes and handed Gill her cell phone and keys so she and Bird could talk.
Tuesday, the state represented by Robert Nash, assistant district attorney, presented witnesses and evidence to organize a timeline for the jury.
Robert Nash, assistant district attorney, shows evidence to Quentin Bird’s defense attorneys Reid Poland and James Phillips.
Texts of Deception
Gill gave the two privacy and went to the van as Tenbarge asked. Gill then began to receive text messages from Bird to Tenbarge’s cell phone. She thought the messages were coming from Tenbarge.
- 10:00 a.m.: “Hold on 2 more minutes.”
- 10:30 a.m.: another message came from Bird’s phone to Gill that said: “Coming.”
- 10:44 a.m.: Gill texted Bird’s phone and asked who she thought was Tenbarge: “Are you ok?”
- Within seconds, a reply came back from Bird’s phone that said: “Yes.”
- Another one followed seconds later from Bird that said: “Ok we are almost done. Trying to figure out what to do when Parker is born.”
- Gill replied: “Gotcha.”
- Bird texted at 10:46 a.m. “Sorry girl. Has my mom texted me?”
- Gill replied to who she again thought was Tenbarge: “It’s ok and no.”
Suicidal Searches
Debra Kolofsky, a mobile forensic examiner, examined both Tenbarge and Bird’s iPhones. Bird’s internet search history had been deleted, but she recovered the files.
- At 10:47 a.m. on April 18 Bird searched: “How to hang yourself?” multiple times on Google and then went on YouTube to search for “how to hang yourself?”
- At 11:08 a.m., Bird text messaged Gill, again still pretending to be Tenbarge: “…I admitted to him about the other guy?”
- Gill replied: What other guy?
- Bird: “Just the one at the baby shower.”
Cheating Accusations
Kolofsky said Bird’s iPhone records showed on April 16, 2017, two days prior, he logged into Facebook from his internet browser and searched Jami Carlson’s Facebook page, and photos.
Carlson, Tenbarge’s mother, testified Monday she had a baby shower in her backyard for Tenbarge on April 16. Several photos of Tenbarge with her friends were posted on Facebook, including her hugging her longtime friend, Dylan.
Dylan, testified Monday he and Tenbarge were platonic friends from high school and they were never romantic and he attended her baby shower as a good friend.
- At 11:18 a.m., Bird, acting as Tenbarge, texted Gill asking her to drive to a store ‘for Quentin’.
- Bird called Gill twice and gave her directions.
When Gill returned to the apartment from buying Bird’s gum, his black Camero was gone. Several more text messages came to Tenbarge’s phone detailing errands to a bank and other places.
His phone history showed he’d continued researching how to commit suicide several times that day.
He later deleted his search history and all text messages he’d sent to Tenbarge’s phone.
Medical evidence explains attack
Dr. Thomas Deering, the pathologist who performed Tenbarge and her baby’s autopsies, gave the jury a real look into exactly what injuries Tenbarge sustained that led to her death and her baby’s death.
Deering said Tenbarge bled to death after being stabbed multiple times, several wounds being fatal and significant.
Several photos were shown to the jury of Tenbarge’s body and each wound, on the left side of her body, was explained in detail.
Deering said a wound to her neck severed her carotid artery and jugular vein and she would’ve bled to death in minutes from that one wound. The stab wound was at least 3 1/2 inches deep and hit her vertebrae.
He went to explain wounds to her chest, left breast area, shoulder, abdomen, arm and leg and the damage it did to her internal organs.
He described multiple defensive wounds that went through her left arm and into her body and two to her legs.
“These appear to be defensive to protect herself with her arm and a raised leg and cover up as much of her and her baby as she could,” Deering said.
She had two lacerations to her uterus and the baby sustained two to three stab wounds to his back and leg. Photos of the bloody slash marks on the baby were shown to the jury.
Despite those wounds, Deering said the baby did not die from being stabbed.
“The child died due to the fact that the mom died,” Deering said, adding if delivered within a short time the baby could’ve survived.
“The baby died due to hypoxia. The mom died so the baby wasn’t getting oxygen. The baby died after the mom died,” Deering said.
“He was calm.”
Several Kentucky State Police testified about recovering evidence from two locations in Kentucky including Tenbarge’s family lakehouse and an RV at a campground in Kutawwa. Both locations had broken windows and blood evidence inside the home from Bird cutting himself on the window.
His black Camero was found at the RV camp and appeared to have been attempted to be set on fire.
State Troopers surrounded the RV and called for Bird to come out, which he did voluntarily.
“He was covered in suspected blood, shirtless and he looked exhausted,” said KSP Detective Brian Hill.
Once Bird surrendered, he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital for treatment.
“He was very calm,” said KSP Detective Cory Hamby, who said Bird began to tell him what happened while riding in the ambulance. “He was very …I don’t know how to describe it. He was calm, laid-back, kind of nonchalant about the whole thing.”
Bird continued to look down and write on his notepad throughout all the detailed testimony showing no emotion.
Court will resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning in Judge Jill Ayer’s court.