In a dramatic moment, Karen Bobo collapsed on the witness stand as she gave testimony to jurors about what happened the day her daughter disappeared. She can be heard crying and saying, “I cannot breathe,” after identifying several items that belonged to her daughter. Judge C. Creed McGinley called for a nurse and asked the press to shut down coverage of the case until they resume testimony.
After resuming the trial, the defense asked for a mistrial stating that the jury members might have been tainted by watching the emotional breakdown. The judge denied the motion saying that the event wasn’t faked to gain sympathy and was a genuine medical incident. He also denied the defense’s request for a recess before cross examination.
Karen Bobo, Holly Bobo’s mother, was called to the stand on Monday to recount what happened when she learned that something was wrong wither her daughter.
Bobo, 20, disappeared at 7:30 a.m. on April 13, 2011. A grand jury indictment originally charged Zachary Adams with premeditated murder, murder in the perpetration of aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape. He’s one of six people arrested in connection with the disappearance and death of Holly Bobo. Karen Bobo remembers being in the school that she teaches at when she received a phone call from a concerned neighbor that she heard screams from her house.
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Karen immediately called her son Clint Bobo to ask him what was going on. He revealed that Holly wasn’t in school and that he could see her walking into the woods with someone he thought was her boyfriend, Drew Scott.
Watch Karen Bobo’s testimony and 911 call here:
Karen Bobo said that for some reason she was overcome with fear and instinctively told Clint that it wasn’t Drew and he should call the neighbors. She panicked and told Clint to, “Get a gun and shoot him.” Clint who still believed that the camouflaged man was Drew was confused as to why his mother wanted him to shoot his sister’s boyfriend.
The prosecution then played a tape of the 911 call that Karen Bobo made on which Karen was crying and insisting that someone had kidnapped her daughter. “Someone in full camouflage has Holly!”
Karen Bobo testified that when she returned home, her house was filled with people and officers. When she was told that she couldn’t go outside by an officer, Karen pushed him and ran out. She said that she was just trying to find her daughter.
Updated at 4:09pm to reflect the defense’s motion of mistrial.
Aaron Keller contributed to this report.
