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Jury selection and opening statements by attorneys were completed Wednesday.

The first round of state witnesses testified Thursday to establish the sequence of events before and after the discovery of Kelley's burning vehicle on a gravel road in northeast Minot in the early morning of June 3, 2021.

BNSF employee Matthew Phillips testified that he and a colleague were leaving Gavin Yard at the end of their shifts shortly after midnight on June 3 when they spotted a fire on a gravel road. Phillips said he initially thought it was a hay bale, but tried to approach the fire after realizing it was a vehicle.

Phillips, a former volunteer firefighter, said he feared someone might have been sitting on the wheel when the vehicle's horn sounded. Phillips called 911 to report the fire and recorded video with his phone to capture details of the scene for first responders.

Charles Crane/MDN A crime scene photo presented as evidence at Kamauri Kennedy's trial on Thursday shows the burned-out vehicle in which Dominique Kelley's body was discovered on June 3, 2021.

Minot Police Patrol Officer Amanda Somerville testified about what she observed after being dispatched to the scene. She said she recognized the silver Chevrolet Impala and its license plate from a traffic stop several hours earlier. Somerville and her colleague Dana Battinger described the traffic stop as part of an investigation by the Ward County Narcotics Task Force. Battinger said he initiated the traffic stop because Kelley failed to use his turn signal, and his body camera footage of the stop was briefly played to the jury. Somerville stated the traffic stop resulted in a search of the vehicle and Kelley was cited for marijuana possession.

Somerville said the vehicle burst into flames and everything inside was burned to ash. She said skeletal remains were found on the passenger side of the vehicle's back seat.

Crime scene photographs taken by Somerville were presented as evidence, showing the state of damage to the vehicle's interior and bodywork. Somerville testified that a stab wound was visible on the body's skull and a cigarette lighter was found on the gravel road approximately 10 feet from the vehicle.

Over the next 24 hours, Somerville testified, she was dispatched to three more fires that broke out within 30 minutes of each other. The first fire was at a residence in Minot, followed by a second vehicle fire and a grass fire. Somerville said the subsequent fires appeared to be a “Diversionary tactics” to limit the resources of the emergency services, as they were in close proximity to each other.

Former Minot Police Officer Kenton Kossan, who was with the Crime Scene Response Unit at the time of the initial fire incident, testified to evidence collected at the scene, including the body of the alleged victim as well as photographs, drone video and field prints of tire tracks near the burned vehicle. Kossan said the tire tracks indicated that a larger vehicle was found on the grassy shoulder/ditch north of the fire scene and drove away from the scene through a nearby field after failing to mount and driving away across the gravel road.

Kossan was later called to investigate the second vehicle fire, which involved a 2017 GMC Yukon. Kossan said he took prints from the Yukon's tires, but he was not trained or authorized to determine if they matched prints collected near the Impala.

When asked by Kennedy's attorney William Skees how the tire tracks could be used to identify the vehicle that might have left them, Kossan explained that the evidence could only help identify the type of vehicle, not the exact vehicle.

When asked by Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Sorgen about surveillance video from nearby businesses, Kossan said there was footage that showed a large SUV leaving the scene. Skees objected to the statement because the video footage had not yet been introduced as evidence, which District Judge Gary Lee affirmed.

The proceedings are expected to last until Friday, September 27.