Pinhoti Trail killing case sent to grand jury; 18 year old girlfriend found near bottom of rock clif
By William Thornton | wthornton@al.com AL.com
Clay County, AL
A Clay County district judge today sent the case of a Vincent man accused of killing his girlfriend on the Pinhoti Trail to a grand jury.
Loren Daniel Bunner, 20, of Vincent, is currently out on bond, charged with the murder of 18-year-old Jolee Nicole Callan. The body of the Vincent teenager was found just off the Pinhoti Trail near the bottom of a rock cliff in a densely wooded area just south of the state park in Clay County on Aug. 30.
At a preliminary hearing this afternoon in Ashland, new details of the investigation emerged during testimony.
Shanon House, lead investigator for the Clay County Sheriff's Office, said her first contact with Bunner came about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at the trail.
Earlier in the day, Bunner called 911 in Oxford from an area off exit 179 of Interstate 20, which is in Oxford police's jurisdiction. House said Bunner told dispatchers he needed to talk to police because "he had murdered his girlfriend" on the trail.
"He used the term 'murder?'" Bunner's lawyer asked. House said yes.
Oxford contacted Cleburne County investigators, thinking the murder occurred in their jurisdiction. It was only after Bunner took lawmen to the area that they discovered it had actually taken place in Clay County.
House said investigators found Callan's body at the bottom of a 40-foot cliff with her backpack. House said Bunner told investigators that he and Callan had a suicide pact. Bunner was supposed to shoot her and then kill himself according to the plan, House said.
"She didn't want to see it coming," House said Bunner told them, "so he was supposed to shoot her from behind. But he couldn't follow through on his end."
He said he then threw her body off the cliff, House said.
An autopsy revealed Callan had been shot twice - once from behind and once between the eyes. Police recovered a Bear Claw .22 from Bunner, and observed "a large amount of blood" at the area where the shooting apparently took place. There was also blood on Bunner's steering wheel.
However, House said under questioning that parts of Bunner's story did not appear to be borne out by evidence. Bunner told police he had only shot her once. In addition, Callan apparently texted a friend a few hours before leaving for the trail that day.
"She said if she came up missing, (the friend) would know where she was and who she was with," House said.
House also indicated investigators might have other statements showing Callan was not contemplating suicide. No suicide note was ever recovered for Callan, she said. Bunner told police they would find a suicide note in a notebook at his grandmother's house, she said, but the note recovered dealt with a pact between Bunner and "another buddy."
House said investigators are still waiting for forensic examinations of text messages between Bunner and Callan's phones.
During questioning, Bunner sat at a table, staring ahead. When his attorney asked House about his demeanor during questioning, she said it was "about like what it is now - no remorse."
"You can tell right now he's got no remorse?" he asked, standing near her on the stand and looking at Bunner.
"He was sitting like he is now," she said.
House was asked about, but did not mention, any evidence related to the two's social media accounts. Bunner's Instagram account showed several pictures of Callan from the day of her death, but the last few are related to a hike. On one posted that Saturday, Bunner took a selfie with the caption, "Taking Kiba on a hike tomorrow, so I guess things are looking up."
The next day, Callan appears in four photos. One shows her in the passenger seat of a vehicle with a dog, presumably Kiba. The caption reads, "On our way to go hiking <3." The next shows Callan with the dog on a leash. The last two show Callan from behind, looking out over a mountain view. In one, she holds a dog with her back to the camera, while in the next, she appears to be taking a picture of a cloudy mountaintop.
"Oh, @joleeisakitten the photographer," the caption reads.
A few hours later, Bunner phoned Oxford police.