Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

Jennifer Millsap started texting her daughter, April, then called her when the 14-year-old didn't respond more than two hours after leaving their Armada home to take one of their dogs on a walk on a popular nearby trail on July 24, 2014.

The mother left a voice mail, but got no return call. She texted her daughter over and over again, Jennifer Millsap testified today, and texted her daughter's boyfriend to see whether he had seen her that day.

Millsap, 44, testified that she got into her car and went looking for her daughter, heading to the Macomb Orchard Trail where the teen went to walk the dog. She found nothing and enlisted the help of April's boyfriend — who at 6:28 p.m. that day told her that he received a text from April indicating that she almost got kidnapped.

Trial begins for man accused of killing April Millsap

In the search, near the trail, they came into contact with a police officer and Jennifer Millsap testified that she went to the police station, where she stayed for about 10 hours knowing something was found. The next day, at her home, she testified, an FBI investigator came with picture of April and asked her to identify her.

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Jennifer Millsap was calm and composed as the first witness today in the murder trial of James VanCallis, 34, of St. Clair County, who is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, kidnapping and assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in April's death.

April died of blunt head trauma and asphyxia because of neck compression.

"She was literally beat and stomped to death," Assistant Prosecutor William Dailey told a jury of seven women and seven men and a packed courtroom during opening statements in the high-profile murder trial.

He said April was found in a nearby wooded area, injuries all over her head, face and neck. He said she was found with her bra "literally ripped off her," her shorts and underwear around her ankles and her shoes off. Her backpack was taken; her cell phone dumped nearby — all by her killer, he said.

"You will have no doubt who took her property," Dailey said.

He told jurors while the prosecution doesn't have fingerprints or DNA, the prosecution can show VanCallis "is the one who did it."

VanCallis was charged in October 2014 before — his attorney Azhar Sheikh told jurors — lab results came back without DNA, fingerprints, hair, semen or anything connecting VanCallis to April's slaying. He said of the 900 to 1,000 tips that came in to authorities on the slaying, none of them had to do with VanCallis.

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Police said VanCallis attacked Millsap with his motorcycle helmet, dragged her into the woods and stomped on her.

Testimony on Thursday is to include that of Matthew Sadaj, who found April's body. Today, Dailey alluded to Sadaj's testimony about how he and his wife saw April's dog, Penny, bounding out of the woods while on the trail and how, on their return trip, they checked the area where the dog was and how Sadaj found April's body, initially thinking it was a mannequin.

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Dailey said authorities were able to track the fitness app on April's cell phone, which she activated at the start of her walk. It will show, he told jurors, that the pace sped up around the time of the crime and through GPS tracking followed her path off the trail. Then, he said, the tracking continued past a home, where authorities believe VanCallis' motorcycle is seen on video riding by at the same time on the home's exterior video.

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He said there also is to be testimony by VanCallis' girlfriend about how he acted the night of the slaying, telling her: "I messed up. I need you to stand by me."

Sheikh called the crime brutal and told jurors, "It's horrible, whoever did this to this young girl."

He told jurors that April told her mother she was worried about a black pickup she had seen that she thought was following her, though Jennifer Millsap testified that her boyfriend checked out the vehicle and the family was not concerned. Sheikh also told jurors that after April sent the text to her boyfriend she made three calls to an 810 area code phone number, but no one knows to whom the number belongs.

Sheikh told jurors that VanCallis' girlfriend came up with a story about the shoes her boyfriend was wearing the night of the crime and said prosecution witnesses have different accounts, such as the color of April's dog.

"This is the kind of sketchy stuff they have," he told jurors.

Sheikh told jurors VanCallis "is no angel" but asked them to listen to the testimony.

"The biggest injustice is to let the culprit go free and convict an innocent man," he said.

Jurors were instructed not to watch five TV crime shows — "CSI," "NCIS," "Castle," "Making a Murderer" and "Criminal Minds" — for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last about three weeks.

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.