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The woman who claims she witnessed Frank Reyos murder 16-year-old Kenyatta Winston in a vacant Sugar House lot more than two years ago said she was afraid that she, too, would be killed if she told the truth.
It's what kept her quiet for weeks after the Utah teen's death, she said. And what landed her back in prison — on suspicion of obstructing justice while she was already on parole.
But on Thursday, Natasha Alvarado faced a jury and said she couldn't keep lying.
"I was having nightmares; it was eating at me," Alvarado testified, her voice catching in her throat as she fought back tears. "It's not fair to his family to not have closure. I've had people in my life who were murdered and we never knew who did it. He was 16. He was a kid. I have a kid."
Alvarado, 35, is the state's key witness in the case against Reyos, who is charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony aggravated murder and second-degree felony possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person in connection with the Aug. 26, 2012, slaying.
If convicted, Reyos, 32, could spend up to life in prison.
In her hours-long testimony Thursday, Alvarado detailed the events surrounding Winston's death.
On Aug. 25, 2012 — the day before Winston was allegedly shot in the head at point-blank range — Alvarado said she was driving around with Reyos and Winston when Winston got a text. His "kind of" girlfriend Shelby Reed was being harassed at a party in Rose Park by gang members from the east side of Salt Lake City.
They went to intervene, Alvarado said, but when they got to the party, Reyes and Winston told her to wait in the car.
Moments later, she said, she heard what sounded like screams and gunshots and saw Winston sprint past.
"They were yelling, 'Kill that scrap,' so I pulled the car up in front of the house and started honking my horn so they'd get off Frank," Alvarado said. "All I could really see were a bunch of guys in a circle and fists flying. I don't know how, but Frank got out of there and jumped in the back seat."
Reyos was angry Winston left him there to fend for himself, she said. When she saw Winston the next day, Alvarado testified, she told him Reyos was upset and that he needed to "lay low."
"I told him Frank's not gonna forget about it, so he needs to let things chill and let [Reyos] calm down before talking to him," Alvarado testified.
Winston said he wasn't worried and explained that his gun jammed at the party, Alvarado said. Later that day — Aug. 26 — the group decided to go to a gun range to get Winston's weapon checked.
Alvarado said she got into a car with Reyos, Winston and a man known as "Little D," later revealed to be David Montes.
They were looking for houses to burglarize, Alvarado said, when they pulled up to the back of a vacant lot in Sugar House. Reyos and Winston got out of the car and walked toward a wood fence.
She didn't think anything of it at first, Alvarado testified. She thought they were going to rob the house.
That's when she heard a bang.
"I heard just one — boom!" Alvarado said. "As soon as I heard it go off, I knew. I just knew. Something happened. I didn't know what yet, but I knew something happened and as soon as I looked over and saw Frank walking back, I knew, because I didn't see Keny no more."
As she spoke, members of Winston's family shifted in their seats, some walked out. One of the victim's sisters draped an arm across his mother's back.
On Wednesday, medical examiner Edward Leis testified that Winston died form a "contact gunshot wound," meaning the shooter had the gun pressed to the victim's head. The bullet passed through the back of his skull and lodged in his brain.
An autopsy revealed he was dead for some time when his body was discovered on Aug. 29, 2012, by a construction crew in the area near 1120 E. Crandall Ave. (about 2900 South). Traces of marijuana and methamphetamine were found in the teen's system.
Under cross examination, Alvarado said she had been on drugs that whole weekend. It made time hard to discern, muddled certain events in her memory.
"When you're high, it all kind of blurs into one," she said.
In an interview with detectives shortly after the shooting, Alvarado said "Saturday night's kind of fuzzy," according to police transcripts.
On Thursday, defense attorneys attempted to highlight inconsistencies in Alvarado's story: How she originally said she had been asleep in the car with Winston and Reyos; that she insisted she didn't know what happened to Winston until detectives threatened her with more prison time.
In opening statements Tuesday, defense lawyer Michael Misner told the jury that prosecutors can't specifically prove when or where Winston was killed without relying almost exclusively on Alvarado's testimony. Defense lawyers have alleged that Winston was not killed when or where Alvarado said he was, and that their client had nothing to do with it.
Police originally suspected Winston was killed in a hotel room at Zions Motel, 1829 S. State St., and his body dumped in the Sugar House lot.
On Thursday, they called a forensic entomologist — or bug scientist — to explain to the jury how the maggots, found on Winston when his body was discovered three days after he had allegedly been shot and killed, may eat away at Alvarado's story.
Because the bugs were well developed when Winston's body was found, Neal Haskell said, he was probably dead for more than three days.
It was hard to pinpoint an exact time of death, Haskell said. There were hundreds of maggots, but none had been properly collected to be scientifically evaluated.
Proescutors asked if the drugs in Winston's system may have caused the bugs to grow faster than usual. Haskell said maybe; there's not enough research to know.
They were expected to call their own maggot expert to rebut Haskell's testimony early Friday before the case is turned over to the jury.
Alvarado was initally arrested and charged with second-degree felony obstructing justice in connection with the case for allegedly cleaning a motel room where she, Winston and others had been staying and doing drugs. The charges have since been dropped without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile.
Twitter: @Marissa_Jae