MORNING TESTIMONY CENTERED AROUND DNA EVIDENCE IN THE 3RD DAY OF THE FIRST DEGREE MURDER TRIAL OF 41-YEAR-OLD ALFREDO CASTELLANOS-ROSALES IN UNION COUNTY DISTRICT COURT AT ELK POINT SOUTH DAKOTA.

HE IS CHARGED IN THE APRIL, 2023 STABBING DEATH OF 23-YEAR-OLD JORDAN BEARDSHEAR AT HER DAKOTA DUNES APARTMENT.

JESSICA KIRKPATRICK, A FORENSIC INVESTIGATOR WITH THE STATE FORENSIC LAB IN PIERRE WAS QUESTIONED AT LENGTH BY ATTORNEYS ABOUT HER D-N-A FINDINGS FROM THE MURDER SCENE AND OTHER RELEVANT EVIDENCE GATHERED IN THE CASE:

SD DNA1 OC…..FROM JORDAN BEARDSHEAR. :28

BLOOD ON A KNIFE BLADE ENTERED AS EVIDENCE ALSO TESTED POSITIVE FOR BEARDSHEAR’S BLOOD, AS DID OTHER ITEMS PRODUCED AS EVIDENCE.

THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR CATELLANOS-ROSALES NOTED THAT HIS DNA WAS NOT POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED ON ANY OF THOSE ITEMS:

SD DNA2 OC……..COMPARABLE DNA RESULTS, YES. :25

THE PROSECUTION COUNTERED THAT IT DOESN’T MEAN SOME OF THE ITEMS ABSOLUTELY DIDN’T HAVE THE SUSPECT’S DNA ON THEM:

SD DNA3 OC…..ONE WAY OR THE OTHER….YES. :21

THE JURY TRIAL WILL NOT CONVENE THURSDAY BECAUSE OF THE JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY.

IT WILL CONTINUE ON FRIDAY AT 9AM IN ELK POINT.

AUDIO COURTESY KTIV TV

Milton’s Holley MacLellan has been named the Vermont high school girls soccer player of the year for the 2024 season, Gatorade announced Wednesday morning.The senior is the first ever girls soccer player from Milton to win this award which recognizes athletes for their on-field success, high academic achievement and exemplary character.More: Colchester star named Vermont’s best boys soccer player by Gatorade

The 5-foot-5 midfielder and forward led Milton to a 17-1 record in 2024 that ended with a state championship. MacLellan scored 27 goals including both goals in 2024 the D-II championship game and dished out 14 assists. MacLellan is a two-time state girls soccer champion helping the Yellowjackets win back-to-back Division II championships in 2023 and 2024.

The senior was the only Vermont girls soccer player to be named a 2024 United Soccer Coaches All-American and will be continuing her soccer career at Stonehill College in the fall.

“Holley is the most complete player in Vermont girls high school soccer,” Mount Mansfield coach Dustin Hess said in a press release. “She has all of the physical and mental skills to dominate and lead. She’s excellent on the dribble, can find brilliant passes, can shoot any time and is willing to do the work on the defensive side of the ball.”

Besides her talents on the soccer field, MacLellan won another state championship as a member of the Burlington/Colchester girls hockey team in 2024.

MacLellan has maintained a 4.34 weighted GPA in the classroom. Outside of athletics, the senior is a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) and Math Honor Society. MacLellan also serves on the school’s athletic leadership council. She has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives in association with the NHS.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every player of the year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.

Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.

High school sports coverage is very intense during the school year. There is only a small window between when one school year ends and the next school year begins. The Western Wayne News sports department will be taking a short break before summer and fall sports kick in. Before we do, we will recap some highlights from the 2025 spring sports season. This is not designed to be a comprehensive list of each and every event. It is more of a highlight reel of the spring season. The spring season for Wayne County athletes ended with the regional round of the IHSAA state golf tournament. 

Baseball — The four Wayne County rural schools have held a Wayne County baseball tournament for many years. A decision was made to discontinue it this season. Hagerstown repeated as the Tri-Eastern Conference champion in baseball. Hagerstown, Northeastern and Richmond all posted winning seasons, and Lincoln won 10 games, the most wins for the program in a decade. There were several no-hitters recorded. Tyson Tremain pitched two for Seton Catholic. Tremain no-hit Purdue Poly on April 3 and Liberty Christian on April 30. The Hagerstown all-freshman foursome of Jayke Troutwine, Kaden Hall, Heath Johnson and Fletcher Callahan combined to no-hit Muncie Burris on April 12. Centerville’s Chase Clark no-hit Tri High on April 15. The Lincoln duo of Dustin Lunsford and Braxton Dick no-hit Union on April 17 and the Lincoln duo of Ben Bates and Oliver Webb no-hit Seton Catholic on April 23. No Wayne County baseball team won a sectional. Kaagen Kendall, a left-handed pitcher from Hagerstown, was selected to play in the North-South All-Star baseball games by the Indiana Baseball Coaches Association. 

Golf — Centerville established a new school record for nine holes on May 19, when they posted a score of 153 in a win over Franklin County. Hagerstown won the Wayne County tournament and Northeastern won the sectional preview tournament. Northeastern also won the sectional for the first time in school history. Their sectional-winning score of 311 was a new Northeastern school record. Brady Moore from Centerville was the sectional medalist with a score of 69. Moore and teammate Boston Beatty both advanced to the regional as individuals. No Wayne County team or individual golfer qualified to advance to the state finals from the regional.

Tennis — The Centerville Lady Bulldogs continued their domination of Tri-Eastern Conference tennis. The program, coached by Randy and Susie Ecker, repeated as the Tri-Eastern Conference champion and as the Richmond sectional champion. It was the first time in program history that every Centerville player entered the TEC tournament finals match as the number one seed and won at every position to win the match 5-0. The Lady Bulldogs also swept the sectional championship match 5-0. For Makenna Hartman (No. 1 singles), Kylar Marshall (No. 2 singles), Ellie Cox (No. 3 singles), Myleigh Hartman and Madi Frakick (No. 1 doubles) and Natalie Hemlin and Kami Johnson (No. 2 doubles), it was their 12th shutout win of the season. 

Softball — Like the baseball tournament, a decision was made to discontinue the Wayne County softball tournament in 2025. After winning the Tri-Eastern Conference last season for the first time in program history, Hagerstown repeated as league champion in 2025, extending their TEC regular season win streak to 17 games. Hagerstown went on to win its first sectional in program history. Lincoln also won a sectional championship, their eighth in program history, but forfeited their regional game the next week. Centerville sophomore Madison Yount and Hagerstown seniors Allison Stinson and Rylan Young were named first-team all-state by the Softball Coaches Association. The Hagerstown duo of Young and Aaliyah Anderson combined to no-hit Morristown on April 21. The Northeastern duo of Makayla Hopkins and Hailey Elsrod combined to no-hit Richmond on April 28. Young and Yount both recorded perfect games during the season. Young pitched her perfect game against Cowan on May 13. Yount pitched her perfect game against Knightstown on May 15. Yount also established a new Centerville record for home runs in a season with nine. Stinson and Young were selected to play in the SCA North-South Softball All-Star games. 

Track and field — The Hagerstown boys won the 42nd annual Tiger Booster Invitational for the 11th consecutive year and the Wayne County meet. Centerville won the Wayne County girls meet. The Seton Catholic girls won the 12-team Park Tudor Invitational. Both the Richmond boys and girls teams won the 12-team Dean Stoltz Memorial Invitational in Eaton, Ohio. The  Richmond girls team was crowned the North Central Conference champion and Hunter Lambright was named NCC Coach of the Year. Sixteen Wayne County girls advanced from the sectional to the regional, but none of the regional qualifiers advanced to the state finals. 

Antione West from Richmond set a new sectional record with a time of 10.96 in the 100 meter as 15 Wayne County boys advanced from the sectional to the regional, with three advancing from the regional to the state finals. Maddox Pritchett from Centerville advanced in the long jump. Masson Heiny from Richmond advanced in the discus and Jacob Lindahl from Richmond advanced in the shot put. Lindahl was the only one of the three to make the awards podium, finishing seventh to earn a medal.