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Roommate testifies during trial of slain Temple University student Jenna Burleigh

Published  January 11, 2019 5:20pm EST
U.S.
FOX 29 Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Joshua Hupperterz is charged with killing Temple University student Jenna Burleigh. The defense says it was his roommate, Jack Miley, who was back on the stand Friday.

The defense claims Miley, 24, is the true killer of 22-year-old Burleigh.

During Friday's cross examination, they tried to prove him a liar.

Ed Burleigh, Jenna's father told Fox 29 that he did "absolutely not" believe the defense's claims that Miley was his daughter's killer.

Miley, also a Temple University student, says he and Hupperterz hit the bars in the hours before the killing.

He says he drank heavily, took drugs went home early and fell into a deep sleep.

He stated that he heard and saw nothing of what prosecutors say was a brutal 4 a.m. murder of Burleigh by Hupperterz in the North Philadelphia apartment.

Under cross examination, Miley admitted he returned calls to Hupperterz after 1 a.m. on the day of the killing.

The defense pointed out he didn't give a statement to investigators until months after the killing.
Prosecutors allege Hupperterz, 29 at the time, killed Burleigh in late August 2017 after she cut short sexual activity and moved the body to the poconos to hide it.

In four days of testimony, jurors have seen texts from Burleigh calling for help, bloody photos of the crime scene, and a plastic bin prosecutors claim Hupperterz used to transport the body.