Medical examiner: Blow to head caused Antioch woman's death
A medical examiner testified Wednesday that a 40-year-old Antioch woman died almost instantly in 2012 after a blow to the head lacerated an artery in her skull.
The statement is a potential setback for the defense of Michael Shane Axtell, who's on trial in a Lake County courtroom this week on charges he killed longtime girlfriend Tammy Stone during a domestic dispute.
Dr. Nancy Jones said Stone experienced blunt trauma at about 10 p.m. Oct. 4, 2012, forcing her head to twist in an awkward direction and stretching her cerebral artery to its breaking point. The force of the blow caused Stone's brain to move inside her head, and the cerebral artery was cut on a bony ridge inside her skull, Jones testified.
"(Stone) could sustain this type of injury and we may not see any external signs of trauma," Jones said. "It's very unusual ... but I have seen this injury before."
Jones said she checked to see if Stone could have died from a brain aneurysm or a fall, but those checks were negative.
Defense attorneys are expected to put their own experts on the stand later this week in an attempt to refute Jones' conclusions.
Axtell faces up to 60 years in prison if found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder stemming from Stone's death. He's being held the Lake County jail on $3 million bond.
Stone and Axtell had recently rekindled a relationship they had more than a decade earlier and had been living on-and-off together since 2011, authorities said.
The two had been drinking the afternoon and evening of Oct. 4 when got into a physical fight in Stone's home in the 26000 block of West Bond Avenue, according to authorities.
During the altercation, Stone phoned the couple's daughter, Meghan, for help, and she came over with two friends. Following a verbal and physical confrontation with Axtell, the daughter went to the garage to cool off, authorities said. That's when she heard a "loud thud" from inside the home, officials said.
Meghan Stone testified Tuesday that when she ran inside to check on her mother, she found her laying unconscious on the floor.
Axtell had rejected two plea deals with prosecutors before the trial started Tuesday.