‘There was blood everywhere’: Witness to alleged murder testifies in trial
A bedroom scuffle caught Andrew Lindsey’s ear as he was on the phone in the kitchen of a mobile home. Lindsey claims he was in the trailer with Gary Bennett and Eva Marie Martin.
But, Martin and Bennett went back to the bedroom after a heated argument over a safe at the Surfside Beach Taco Bell, where Martin worked.
Lindsey went to the back of the home and found Martin face down on the bed with Bennett over her.
“I turned Marie over and there was blood everywhere,” Lindsey said as he sat in an Horry County courtroom on Thursday.
Lindsey was the lone witness during Thursday’s morning proceedings as Bennett faces a retrial on charges of murder in connection to Martin’s death. Lindsey’s testimony of what happened inside Martin’s mobile home on May 23, 2000, has been a major crux of the state’s case.
Prosecutors say Bennett grew obsessed with robbing the Taco Bell. Then in May, he murdered Martin. in 2003, Bennett was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison, but has maintained his innocence.
Bennett and his lawyers successfully argued his post-conviction relief request, which paved the way for the retrial being heard this week.
Defense attorneys have said Bennett was not at Martin’s home and lies by police led to his conviction. Investigators testified earlier in the week that Bennett’s fingerprints and DNA were not found in the home or on the evidence collected at the scene.
Lindsey details murder
Long before moving to South Carolina in the late 1990s with his wife Tara, Lindsey was convicted of second-degree murder in Illinois. He served six years of a 15-year sentence before being paroled. He moved to the Myrtle Beach area where Tara’s relative worked as a police officer.
He met Bennett in Horry County and the two participated in a string of burglaries.
Lindsey recounted his criminal history and the night of Martin’s murder as he testified. He wore a green polo and showed significant signs of aging compared to the man arrested months after Martin’s murder in 2000. He spoke calmly during the state’s questioning, but became more flustered and raised his voice as defense attorneys questioned his statements.
At several points, attorney Aimee Zmroczek asked Lindsey if he was telling the truth on Thursday. He insisted he was.
But, she asked him about discrepancies between his Thursday’s statements and previous comments to investigators.
Bennett readjusted in his seat at the defense table as he heard Lindsey say he was being truthful. Bennett took several notes or briefly spoke to his attorneys as he listened to his former friend.
Lindsey’s testified that on May 23, 2000, he and his toddler drove Bennett to Martin’s mobile home. She had rebuffed previous efforts to give up the combination to the Taco Bell safe, and Bennett said he wanted to talk to Martin. Bennett and Lindsey waited at a nearby church until they saw Martin’s car.
Bennett went to talk to her, and Lindsey drove the car up to Martin’s home a short time later, Lindsey said.
When Lindsey went inside the trailer, he said he heard a friendly conversation between Bennett and Martin. Lindsey said he asked to use the phone so he could call his wife, who was at work. The conversation between Bennett and Martin escalated. Lindsey said the conversation between Bennett and Martin grew heated as Bennett acussed Martin of meddling in the relationship between Bennett and his girlfriend Amber Vrooman.
Bennett and Martin went back to the bedroom, where Lindsey went in after hearing the scuffle. Bennett was going through the room and put a knife he used to kill Martin on top of a dresser, Lindsey said.
“I can’t really remember what he was saying,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey rolled Martin over on the bed and blood gushed out of the wound, he said. She was “already gone,” Lindsey said. Experts earlier testified that Martin’s throat was slit from ear to ear.
“I backed off, I was just freaked out by it,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey drove Bennett from the scene, and the two had several conversations.
“I was in shock about it,” Lindsey said. “I didn’t think it had to come to that.”
Bennett also had a purse, a bloody towel and the knife that he took from the scene, Lindsey said. That evidence was never found, and Lindsey said they disposed of it in two dumpsters. The duo went to a nearby convenience store and Bennett took one of Lindsey shirts and went inside to clean himself up.
Lindsey said there was blood on Bennett’s hands, but he didn’t notice any on Bennett’s clothing.
Lindsey dropped-off Bennett and then went to his own home. Lindsey said he went to bed and awoken around 3:30 a.m. by Bennett telling him something happened to Martin. That conversation left Lindsey confused.
There was little change in Lindsey’s routine the next day, he said. During cross-examination, Zmroczek asked him about calls the day after the murder from his phone number to the Taco Bell and the funeral home handling Martin’s remains. Lindsey said he didn’t remember those phone calls.
After the murder, Lindsey and Tara planned to leave South Carolina and go back to Utah, which is where they lived before coming to Horry County. Lindsey drove his car west and stopped at his brother’s home in Arizona. There, Lindsey was arrested in connection to the burglaries in the Myrtle Beach area.
He returned to South Carolina, where he spoke to investigators. Lindsey initially denied involvement in the case, but later gave the police a statement.
“I was trying to distance myself away from putting myself there,” Lindsey said.
Horry County police later charged Lindsey with being accessory after the fact to murder in connection to Martin’s death. He struck a plea deal and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, in conjunction with his sentence on the burglary charges. He then testified against Bennett in the case.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 2:59 PM.
