Suspect tells police victim “Got what she had coming to her.”
Casillas
PORT HURON — Nearly one month after an alleged attack took place in Capac, claiming the life of a 44-year-old Almont woman, details have begun to come out as to what happened on June 5 and 6.
Capac homeowner Adam Duquette, Raquelle Casillas and Winona “Tegan” Day were all together at Duquette’s home on S. Main St. on the night of the alleged attack.
A preliminary examination, held in District Courtroom 2500 in the St. Clair County Courthouse in Port Huron on June 27, exposed the three-way love triangle.
During the nearly three-hour proceedings, prosecution witnesses took the stand and described what had transpired in the early morning hours of June 6 in the tiny village in western St. Clair County.
Following the testimony, Honorable Judge John D. Monaghan ruled there had been enough evidence presented to bind the case over to Circuit Court.
No date has been set for the next court appearance for the defendant, 44-year-old Raquelle Casillas, but it’s expected to take place within the “next four or six weeks” according to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Sodberg.
Two detectives and one sheriff deputy, all with the St. Clair County Sheriff Department, testified during the examination.
Det. Kelsey Wade shared her expertise on forensics of cellular devices, stating she had examined three cell phones, owned by the defendant, victim and homeowner.
A photograph extracted from a phone owned by Duquette revealed “a picture of the victim with multiple injuries,” Det. Wade testified. Wade said the injuries were to Day’s face and torso.
One of the deputies that responded to the scene around 4:45 a.m. stated he was going to a call of a fight between two females with one being unconscious.
The deputy testified that Casillas told him the two had gotten in to a “boxing match” and that she “beat the [expletive] out of her (Day) striking her several times.”
During the interview at the scene, the suspect told the deputy she (Day) “Got what she had coming to her.”
Casillas, the deputy said, stated she had been “sucker punched” by Day several times before the fist fight broke out.
Dressed in work boots, blue jeans and a plaid shirt, Duquette took the stand and confirmed he was the homeowner and that the two women came to his home often, despite each owning homes elsewhere.
Duquette said Day would come to his home “on and off” and that he considered her to be his girlfriend. He also identified Casillas as being his girlfriend, “for about the last three months.”
The homeowner told the Court all three of the adults slept in the same bed together and often the two women would get into fights, after drinking vodka and that there was jealousy between the females over Duquette.
He stated the two women loved each other too, “I saw affection shown many times between them”, adding “we all slept together in the same bed.”
The Capac man said he witnessed Tegan attacking Casillas for three months before the June 6 attack. “All three of us drank all day” Duquette testified.
He described the alleged attack by Casillas. “She sat on her (Day’s) chest and with a closed fist, just punched one-two, one-two, one- two, at least 10 or 15 times. They were power punches too. Tegan’s head was bouncing off the floor with each punch. She tried to get up, but couldn’t. It was a violent attack.”
After the fight ended Duquette said, “the two of them sat up and laughed about it. Tegan said, “Oh my God, you beat my [expletive]”.
He said the two girls stood up and Tegan told Casillas, “you got me good.”
Duquette said he later fell asleep, waking just before 4 a.m. and found Tegan snoring on the bedroom floor.
“It was not a regular kind of snoring either,” he told the Court. “I knew it was a different kind and she was in trouble. I tried shaking her, to wake her up, but she wasn’t responding, so I called 911.”
He finished his nearly hour-long testimony saying, “Raquelle told the cops that she ‘beat that [expletive’s] rear end and I thought she seemed like she was proud of it.”
During a brief break for a conference amongst lawyers, Duquette was observed to mouth the words “I love you” to Casillas.
After his testimony and taking a back seat in the courtroom for the rest of the proceedings, she turned to him and smiled.
Duquette told Prosecutor Soderberg he did not take the pictures that were found on his phone, of Tegan’s body, due to the fact that he was sleeping at the time of the photo, at 10:32 p.m.
He admitted all three drank heavily on a regular basis, downing a half gallon of vodka between them at times.
The final witness, Det. Edward Silver with the Sheriff Department, said he responded to the scene and interviewed Duquette and Casillas.
He said they both appeared to be drunk, using slurred speech and having glassy eyes while trying to maintain their balance.
Det. Silver said, both at the scene and a day later at the county jail, after she appeared to be sober, Casillas told the same story of what happened in the home in Capac.
The detective said a black eye that Casillas had was from a fight earlier between the two women, not on the night of June 6.
Det. Silver also went to McLaren Lapeer Regional in hopes of speaking with Day, but she never regained consciousness.
After she passed away, as a result of her injuries sustained in the altercation, Day was taken to Ann Arbor where she had her organs harvested to help others.
In making his ruling, Honorable Judge John D. Monaghan said the case “went way beyond the limits of self-defense” by Casillas and bound the case over to Circuit Court.
