Woman sentenced to 30 years for her role in 2011 murder, dismemberment of ex's wife

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

May 23, 2014

RICHMOND — Christina Tompkins Marcum was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison for her role in the murder and dismemberment of her ex-fiancé's wife, plus another year for promoting contraband while in jail.

Marcum, 30, was convicted in March of complicity to murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the death of Angela Frazier Singleton, 25, in January 2011. Singleton's dismembered body was found in six garbage bags tossed into a field in rural Madison County, near the Kentucky River.

Angela Singleton's husband, Jason Singleton, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder.

Steve Romines, defense attorney for Marcum, said he plans to file an appeal next week.

Madison Circuit Judge William Clouse denied Romine's motions for a new trial and for judgment of acquittal.

The basis of the appeal is that during Marcum's trial, a state police detective was allowed to read a copy of Jason Singleton's written plea statement in court without Jason Singleton being present for cross-examination by Marcum's defense. In that allocution, Jason Singleton claimed that Christina Marcum strangled Angela Singleton to death.

"That's a violation of the confrontation clause, of being able to confront and cross-examine witnesses against you," Romines said. "We think that's pretty much set-in-stone law that you cannot introduce testimonial evidence without the ability to cross-examine."

The promoting-contraband conviction stemmed from Marcum somehow getting tweezers and makeup into the Madison County jail.

Madison jury finds Marcum guilty of complicity to murder, other charges

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 27, 2014

RICHMOND — A Madison County jury found Christina Tompkins Marcum, the Georgetown woman accused in the death and dismemberment of her ex-fiance's wife, guilty Thursday afternoon.

A jury of seven women and five men found Marcum, 30, guilty of complicity to murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. The jury began deliberations about 1:05 p.m. Thursday. The verdict was returned about 6:30 p.m.

The jury recommended 20 years for complicity to murder, five years on tampering, and five years on hindering prosecution to be served consecutively for a total of 30 years. Formal sentencing is scheduled for May 23 before Madison Circuit Judge William Clouse Jr.

Marcum was on trial in the death of Angela Frazier Singleton, 25, in January 2011. Singleton's dismembered body was found in six garbage bags tossed into a field in rural Madison County, near the Kentucky River.

Angela Singleton's husband, Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder.

In his closing argument Thursday, co-defense attorney Steve Romines said he is sometimes asked how he can sleep at night representing people he knows are guilty.

His response is, "You can't sleep at night when you know they're innocent." And that's what he argued in this case, that Marcum is innocent.

Romines argued that Kentucky State Police "had an agenda to convict Christina Marcum."

"The evidence that points to the fact she didn't do this, they ignore," Romines told the jury. From the first interview with state police detectives on Jan. 20, 2011, "she cooperated with them on that day, and look what it got her," he said.

"You ever wonder why attorneys tell people not to talk to police when they're innocent, now you know," Romines added.

Madison County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Smith defended the investigation conducted by state police.

By Marcum's own admission to Detective Brian Reeder, "she was there when Angela dies," Smith said. Marcum told Reeder and a friend that she had tried to stop Jason Singleton from strangling Angela Singleton to death.

Marcum and Jason Singleton had been together for about two years and were engaged, but the relationship ended when he met Angela Frazier. Then, about a month after they were married in December 2010, Jason Singleton was back with Marcum and wanted Angela to leave their house in Richmond.

Smith said she doesn't think the murder was planned. But she called the murder "a crime of hate" and a crime of opportunity, in that Marcum hated Angela Singleton and used an opportunity when Angela Singleton had a high level of drugs in her system to kill her.

For that reason, Smith asked the jury to return a guilty verdict on murder, and not complicity to murder.

However, Smith also told the jury, "If you're not sure she was the actual strangler, find her guilty of complicity."

Smith said, "We're very satisfied with the jury's verdict."

Billy Roger Canada of Williamsburg, Angela Singleton's father, said he was happy with the verdict, noting that the recommended sentence "comes out to about the same amount of time" that Jason Singleton received for his role in the crime.

Witness says murder defendant Marcum stalked her

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 25, 2014

RICHMOND — Mariah Smith told a jury Tuesday how murder defendant Christina Marcum attempted to intimidate her after Smith was interviewed by a state police detective investigating the death of Angela Singleton.

Smith, who had known Marcum since middle school, described how Marcum had stalked her; went to Smith's place of work and got into a verbal altercation with her; and blocked Smith from pulling into her home driveway with a vehicle.

"I was terrified," Smith said. "...I had known of Christina being volatile with other people but never with me."

Marcum, 30, of Georgetown is on trial for the killing of Angela Frazier Singleton, 25, of Richmond. Singleton's dismembered body was found in January 2011 in six garbage bags tossed into a field in rural Madison County, near the Kentucky River.

Angela Singleton's husband, Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder. In addition to murder, Marcum is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. If convicted, she could face life in prison.

Before the alleged intimidation episode, Smith said Marcum had told her that she was present as Jason Singleton choked Angela Singleton to death.

"She said, 'He was choking her and I tried to stop him. I was beating on his back and tried to stop him.'"

Marcum had cautioned Smith that a state police detective might wish to speak to her. Furthermore, Marcum advised Smith, "you tell him you don't want to talk to him without an attorney."

"And I asked her why would I need an attorney to talk to someone? ...She said they were trying to implicate her or something," Smith said.

Indeed, on April 7, 2011, Kentucky State Police Detective Brian Reeder interviewed Smith. When Smith later told Marcum in a phone conversation about the detective's interview, Smith said Marcum's "demeanor instantly switched."

"She said, 'What did you tell him? What did you tell him?'" Smith testified. "I said, 'I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. I didn't know anything to tell.' And I remember her saying something about 'You just signed my prison sentence.' She was screaming at me."

Later that day, Smith said Marcum came to the Fayette Mall store where Smith worked and confronted her. "The level of her voice was getting louder and louder," Smith said, and drew the attention of customers. When Smith attempted to approach Marcum and calm her down, Marcum said: "Don't you come at me like you're going to do something because you know I'll beat your ass."

Later that night, as Smith made a night deposit at a bank branch in front of the mall, Marcum called Smith's cellphone. Marcum said she wanted to talk to Smith. Smith tried to put her off, and wanted to go home. When Marcum asked for Smith's location, Smith said, "I just dropped my deposit off."

Marcum expressed surprise over the phone, saying "I don't see your car anywhere."

"My heart just stopped," Smith said upon realizing that Marcum was following her. Moments later, Marcum's car pulled up next to Smith's at a mall exit.

"She's yelling at me," demanding that Smith tell everything about the police interview, Smith recounted. After two other similar confrontations, Smith tried to drive home but saw a car swerve into her driveway and block it. Smith eventually was able to park her car and run into the house.

"She was yelling something at me but I couldn't hear what she said," Smith said.

In July 2011, a Fayette County grand jury indicted Marcum on a charge of intimidating a witness.

In other testimony, Detective Reeder read an affidavit that Jason Singleton used as an allocution when he pleaded guilty to complicity last year.

In that statement, Jason Singleton accuses Marcum of killing Angela Singleton. Jason Singleton acknowledged that he attempted to cover up the crime by dismembering the body and destroying or concealing evidence used in the dismemberment.

Jury hears recordings of statements in Christina Marcum murder trial

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 19, 2014

RICHMOND — A Madison County jury on Wednesday listened to recordings in which Christina Tompkins Marcum gave conflicting statements to Kentucky State Police about the 2011 murder of her ex-fiancé's wife, Angela Singleton.

A 2011 indictment said Marcum, 30, and Jason Singleton killed his 25-year-old wife, then "removed, destroyed, concealed and altered" her body. Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder. Marcum is being tried on charges of murder, tampering with evidence, and hindering prosecution.

The dismembered remains of Angela Singleton were found on Jan. 19, 2011, in six black garbage bags in a field in northwestern Madison County. She is believed to have died three days earlier.

On Feb. 10, 2011, Marcum went to the state police post in Richmond to submit to a buccal swab, a way to collect DNA cells from the inside of a person's cheek. In a voluntary statement recorded by Detective Brian Reeder and played for the jury, Marcum indicated that she was present when Singleton was killed.

"I'm not saying that I'm perfect. I'm not by no means," Marcum told Reeder. "But I'm saying I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Absolutely the worst place at the wrong time. And I did what I could do to stop it from happening. And there was nothing I could do.

"You have seen Jason, correct?" Marcum continued, directing the question to Reeder. "He's what? Six foot (tall), 230, 240 (pounds)? I'm 5 foot, 130 pounds. He's a lot stronger than me. This is not something I thought him capable of. This is not something that had ever crossed my mind. I slept next to him for over two years, in the same bed with him every night. Do you know how easily it would have been for him to do that to me? And even as much as he threatened me, I did not think it was something he was capable of doing."

That statement conflicts with an earlier interview that state police recorded for 2½ hours on Jan. 20, 2011. That was the same day Jason Singleton was arrested in Somerset after holding a group of people hostage, and it was the day after Angela Singleton's remains were found in Madison County.

Marcum told Reeder, "I don't have anything to do with it (the murder)."

When she was asked directly, "Have you tried to cover any thing up here?" Marcum answered, "No."

"You're the only one who can answer the questions the family's asking us," Reeder told Marcum.

"I don't know any details," Marcum said later on the recording. And she said, "I just don't feel comfortable talking without an attorney."

She also answered "no" when asked, "Did you see him (Jason Singleton) do it or did he tell you he did it?"

But later, Marcum told detectives Reeder and Joie Peters: "He told me that he strangled her. ... I just freaked out. 'No, you didn't. You couldn't have.' ... I don't want to say anything else without an attorney."

As the interview concluded, Marcum begged the detectives not to share what she had told them with Jason Singleton. The defense has said Marcum was afraid she could be the next victim.

But Reeder noted that Marcum attended Jason Singleton's court appearance in Somerset and visited him six times at the Pulaski County jail. Reeder said subpoenaed cellphone records showed that there were 85 text messages between Marcum and Jason Singleton from 5:58 p.m. Jan. 16, 2011, the day that Angela Singleton is believed to have died, and 2 a.m. the next day.

Richmond murder trial: Woman's body was cut up and put into six garbage bags

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 18, 2014

RICHMOND — The violence inflicted upon Angela Frazier Singleton before and after she died was the grisly focus of Tuesday afternoon testimony in the Christina Tompkins Marcum trial.

Marcum, 30, is accused of the 2011 murder of Singleton, 25. A 2011 indictment said Marcum and Jason Singleton killed his wife, Angela Singleton, then "removed, destroyed, concealed and altered" her body. Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder.

Dr. Victoria Shively-Graham, a medical examiner, testified that Angela Singleton's remains came to her as they had been found in a field in northwestern Madison County — cut up and put into six black garbage bags.

Angela Singleton's head had been severed and her nose had been fractured, Graham testified. Ribs on both sides of Singleton's rib cage had been fractured. She had been stabbed, and the remains showed evidence of a number of bruises, scratches and tearing of the skin. Tattoos that would have easily identified her had been sliced away from the skin.

The cause of Singleton's death was "asphyxia (lack of oxygen) via strangulation." Graham said she knows that because petechiae — tiny burst blood vessels — were found in the whites of Singleton's eyes and in her throat.

The defense, which casts Jason Singleton as a murderer and Marcum as having nothing to do with the death, had said during its Monday opening statement that Marcum had come in on Jason Singleton as he was choking his wife and kneeling upon her chest. The defense said Marcum heard Angela Singleton's ribs crack beneath the pressure of her husband.

Co-defense attorney Ted Shouse asked Graham if the injuries on Angela Singleton's remains were consistent with someone kneeling on her chest, choking her and banging her head against the floor.

"That is a possibility," Graham said.

Shouse asked if someone could have heard the ribs breaking several feet away. Yes, Graham said.

The prosecution's theory and stance is that Marcum and Jason Singleton acted together in Angela Singleton's death, so it doesn't matter who inflicted the fatal blows.

Jurors heard Kentucky State Police Sgt. Bill Collins narrate a 23-minute video taken during a search of Jason Singleton's house on Forest Hill Drive in Richmond. It is the prosecution's theory and belief that Angela Singleton was killed in that house.

State police searched the house for 28 hours after executing a warrant. State police took cushions from a sofa that had reacted to potential blood evidence that would have been undetectable to visual examination, Collins said.

Tuesday morning was taken up with testimony from Vanessa Goodin, a cousin of Angela Singleton. She testified that she had seen Christina Tompkins physically attack Jason Singleton at a barbecue in the late summer of 2010 after he had apparently shown too much attention to Goodin and another woman.

Tompkins and Jason Singleton were together at that time but Singleton would later dump her for Angela Frazier. The prosecution contends that Christina Tompkins Marcum was furious when Jason Singleton eventually forsook her for Angela.

Jason Singleton happened to be introduced to Angela as she and Goodin were at a bar listening to a live band.

"Do you wish you could do that night over?" Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Smith asked Goodin.

"Absolutely," Goodin said.

Vastly different stories told about 2011 slaying during opening of Richmond trial

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 17, 2014

RICHMOND — Christina Tompkins Marcum is either a "masterful liar" and manipulator who helped her ex-fiance kill his wife, or she had nothing to do with the murder and dismemberment of Angela Singleton and feared the same could happen to her.

A Madison Circuit Court jury must decide which of those two vastly different characterizations is true of Marcum, 30, a Georgetown woman who is on trial for the 2011 murder of Singleton, 25. The prosecution and the defense presented the two stories to a jury during opening statements on the trial's first day.

Singleton's severed head was found on Jan. 19, 2011 in a black trash bag, and her other body parts were discovered in other bags tossed in a field on Tattler's Branch Road in northwestern Madison County. Angela Singleton had been stabbed and strangled, an autopsy would reveal.

A 2011 indictment said Marcum and Jason Singleton killed his wife, Angela Frazier Singleton, then "removed, destroyed, concealed and altered" her body. Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in Morgan County after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder.

In addition to murder, Marcum is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

The defense and prosecution agree that Jason Singleton was engaged to Christina Tompkins, and that they lived together at a home on Forest Hill Drive on Richmond's west side.

They agree that Jason Singleton, who was married twice before, fell out with Tompkins and later married Angela Frazier after a two-day courtship. Tompkins, meanwhile, had married high school boyfriend Nick Marcum. The prosecution and defense even agree that Angela and Christina did not like each other.

But defense attorney Steve Romines said Marcum was "not involved in the murder of Angela Singleton in any way." He said "suspicion and innuendo and half-truths" are all that the prosecution has to offer the jury.

"Nothing connects her to any of it," he said.

Romines points the finger at Jason Singleton as Angela's sole killer. The reason: Angela Singleton had told Kentucky State Police about Jason's criminal activities, including the making of fake Florida driver's licenses that were used in the drug trade funneling prescription pills into Kentucky.

"The reason she is killed is she has ratted on the organization," Romines told the jury. "The last person who told police about his crimes got cut up and put in garbage bags."

Marcum did come back to the Singleton house to find Jason Singleton choking his wife, and he had both of his knees on top of her rib cage, Romines said.

Kentucky State Police talked with Marcum a couple of times, but she didn't tell them everything she knew because she didn't want to wind up like Angela Singleton, Romines said.

"Better to be tried by 12 than to be carried by six," he told the jurors.

But in her opening statement, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Smith painted an entirely different portrait of Marcum.

Marcum was the one who inserted herself into the lives of Jason and Angela Singleton, Smith said. Marcum harassed the couple with repeated telephone calls, went to their house at all hours of the day, broke their windows, and urinated on their front porch door mat.

The day after Angela Singleton's body was found, Jason Singleton was arrested in Somerset after holding several people hostage. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing Nick Marcum's clothes and carrying Nick Marcum's credit card — items that Christina Marcum had given him.

Marcum was not scared of Jason Singleton, Smith said. Rather, after his arrest, she visited him in Pulaski County jail. She used a false name — "Wiggy Wiggy" — when she put money on his jail account. Marcum visited him in jail and discussed strategies to employ for his defense. One idea was for her to try to have sex with the lead detective in an attempt to influence his investigation. She also attended Jason Singleton's court appearance in Somerset and visited him while at the facility where he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

Smith said Marcum repeatedly told state police detectives, "I can't tell you anything until I have a deal."

Smith said the jurors should ask themselves a series of questions when the case is finally presented to them for deliberations.

"Does an innocent person stalk a person for weeks?" Smith asked. "Does an innocent person lie about their involvement? Does an innocent person demand a deal before telling what they know?"

And Smith added: Does an innocent person continue to seek out the company of the very person they say choked the life out of his wife?

Georgetown woman accused of killing, dismembering ex-fiance's wife in 2011 goes to trial

By Greg Kocher - Kentucky.com

March 16, 2014

RICHMOND — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of Christina Tompkins Marcum, the Georgetown woman accused of murder in the death and dismemberment of her ex-fiance's wife.

A 2011 indictment said Marcum and Jason Singleton killed his wife, Angela Frazier Singleton, 25, then "removed, destroyed, concealed and altered" her body, which was found dismembered on Jan. 19 that year near Valley View in northwestern Madison County.

Jason Singleton, 37, is serving a 30-year sentence at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in Morgan County after pleading guilty last year to complicity to murder.

In addition to murder, Marcum, 30, is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Asked if a plea deal is in the offing, co-defense attorney Steve Romines of Louisville said, "We're not pleading guilty. She didn't do anything. ...You don't plead guilty when you didn't do anything."

The defense team, which includes attorney Ted Shouse of Louisville, has said Marcum was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the abuse she allegedly suffered from Jason Singleton.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jennifer Smith writes in court documents that to understand Marcum's motive to kill Angela Singleton, "it is necessary to understand the obsessive and volatile nature of her relationship with Jason Singleton."

"The increasingly bizarre and hostile behavior of Christina toward Angela proves she had the motive, intent and opportunity to kill Angela," Smith wrote.

Smith wrote in court documents that she will present evidence that nullifies a PTSD defense and that "negates the notion that Christina was a victim and an unwilling participant in Jason Singleton's crime."

Before he married Angela Frazier, Jason Singleton was engaged to Christina Tompkins. They lived together at 110 Forest Hill Drive in Richmond.

Their rocky relationship was marked by several incidents of domestic violence, including a time in August or September 2010 when she assaulted Jason Singleton "because she thought he had looked at another woman," according to court documents.

Jason Singleton obtained an emergency protective order against her in 2010. In October 2010, Christina Tompkins was charged with assaulting Singleton by throwing a cellphone at him, causing an injury to his head.

She pleaded guilty to the assault, and after being released from jail moved in with her high school boyfriend, Nick Marcum. Within two weeks she and Marcum were married.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 17, 2010, Jason Singleton was introduced to Angela Frazier, and they were married three days later, on Dec. 20, 2010.

Jason and Angela Singleton lived at the Forest Hill Drive house that Jason and Christina had shared. Christina Marcum "expressed outrage" that Angela was living in what Marcum considered "her house with her belongings."

To express her ire, Marcum would park in front of the house as early as 4 a.m. and honk her car horn until Jason Singleton came out of the house.

Marcum would "call Angela and Jason numerous times (up to 20 or 30) every day. ... Others heard Christina threaten to physically harm and kill Angela on numerous occasions," court records say.

In the month that Angela and Jason were married, there were at least six calls to 911 involving the couple and Marcum. One man who had driven Marcum to the Singleton house said he had seen her breaking windows. Marcum had also told her husband that she had urinated on the Singletons' porch door mat, court records say.

On Jan. 14, 2011 — two days before she was killed — Angela Singleton called 911 at 2:26 a.m. and reported that Marcum had shown up at the house, damaged her car and threatened her. Later that day, at 8:10 a.m., Jason Singleton called 911 to report that he was trying to remove Angela Singleton from the house but she was refusing to leave.

Angela Singleton eventually went to Shawn Frederick's house. Angela called Jason, but during this call Marcum told Angela that "Jason was her (Christina's) husband and that Angela needed to get her stuff out of the house. She also told Angela that she didn't make threats, she made promises."

The next day, at 12:43 a.m., Angela Singleton called 911 reporting an altercation at the Forest Hill Drive home, and that Marcum was present.

Finally, at 1:10 a.m. on Jan. 16, Angela Singleton called 911 to report that Jason Singleton had changed the locks on the Forest Hill Drive house. At 3:30 a.m., Angela Singleton called 911 again to report that Jason Singleton, Marcum and Jason's parents were attempting to remove Angela from the house. Angela Singleton also reported that her car had been stolen, but it was found nearby. Angela was allowed in the house while Marcum and Jason Singleton left with his parents.

Around 9 a.m., Angela Singleton talked to a Vanessa Goodwin on the phone. That was the last contact she had with anyone.

Angela's mother reported her missing on Jan. 17, 2011. Two days later, Angela Singleton's dismembered body was found at the end of a road in Valley View.

Last year, Singleton pleaded guilty to participating in the death of his wife and the subsequent cover-up of her murder. He was already serving a 10-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful imprisonment and criminal mischief for holding several people hostage in Somerset.

Under the terms of the May plea deal, he will serve 30 years in prison for complicity to murder, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse.

In a formal statement or allocution filed in court, Jason Singleton accused Marcum of killing Angela Singleton. Jennifer Smith, the assistant commonwealth's attorney, said at the time that the prosecution "doesn't embrace that (statement) as entirely accurate," but said it was enough to satisfy Jason Singleton's guilty plea to the charge of complicity to murder.

Jason Singleton is listed among the witnesses the prosecution intends to call to testify in the Marcum trial.

Asked whether Marcum will testify, defense attorney Romines said, "We'll just have to see how the trial goes. We never make any commitments on that."

The trial is scheduled to go six days before Madison Circuit Judge William Clouse Jr.

Pair pleads not guilty to murder charges

By Sarah Hogsed - The Richmond Register

January 06, 2012

RICHMOND — Judge William G. Clouse Jr. denied a request Thursday to reduce the bond for Christina Thompkins Marcum, who is charged with murder in the death of Richmond woman Angela Singleton.

Marcum appeared before in Madison Circuit Court along with her co-defendant Jason Singleton, Angela’s Singleton’s husband, who also is charged with her murder.

The pair pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, and several other related charges.

Both Singleton and Marcum are being held on a $500,000 bond. Marcum’s attorneys argued for a reduction, saying Marcum was not a flight risk because she willingly turned herself in after she was indicted in December.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jennifer Smith argued against bond reduction, saying Marcum had a history of violent behavior and was under indictment in Fayette County for witness intimidation related to the Singleton murder. She also said Marcum was a flight risk.

“Based on that, she’s clearly a danger to the community,” Smith said. Clouse agreed and refused to lower the bond.

Marcum’s attorney asked Clouse if when her case in Fayette County is resolved, the judge would consider lowering the bond then. Clouse said he is always willing to hear arguments for prisoners’ bond amounts.

Angela Singleton was reported missing Jan. 17 by her mother. Two hours later, Angela Singleton’s empty car was discovered on fire at mile marker 101 on I-75.

On Jan. 19, Angela Singleton’s dismembered body was found in trash bags at the end of Tattler Branch Road in the Valley View community. Singleton was arrested Jan. 20 after an armed standoff with police in Somerset, during which he held four hostages at gunpoint. He later was sentenced to 10 years in prison for that incident.

Marcum was interviewed Jan. 20 by Kentucky State Police detectives. She allegedly told them that Singleton had “strangled Angela on Tuesday (Jan. 18),” according to court records.

KSP officers collected evidence at the Singletons’ house in the Deacon Hills subdivision and seized several items, including a circular saw, several types of knives, blood samples from carpet and drain traps, and several boxes of trash bags.

In addition to murder, Singleton is charged with tampering with physical evidence and third-degree arson, both Class D felonies, and abuse of a corpse, a misdemeanor.

Marcum also is charged with tampering with physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution/apprehension, which are Class D felonies.

The pair is housed in the Madison County Detention Center.

Affidavit details gruesome murder

By Bill Robinson -  The Richmond Register

February 05, 2011

RICHMOND — (Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic information some readers may find offensive.)

When State Police and Madison County Sheriff’s detectives obtained a warrant to search the Richmond home of Jason Singleton, they told Madison District Judge Brandy O. Brown they were looking for “any item,” including “power tools” or “any item that could be used as cutting/chopping instruments in the dismemberment” of Angela Frazier-Singleton’s body.

Her dismembered body was discovered Jan. 19 at the end of Tattler’s Branch Road in the Valley View community near the Kentucky River, the search warrant affidavit states.

“The victim had been killed, dismembered and placed into plastic bags before being left beside the road before being discovered by the land owner,” according to the affidavit.

KSP Trooper Bubba Botkin said the body’s description matched that of Frazier-Singleton, who had been the subject of a missing person’s investigation he had been conducting since Jan. 17.

Her body’s identity later was verified by finger-print analysis, state police said in a Jan. 21 press conference.

Based on the missing person’s investigation, Botkin also stated, “he felt strongly that Jason Singleton, 34, the victim’s husband, was responsible for the murder.”

In addition, state police had responded to “domestic disturbance” involving the couple in the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 16.

At that time, Frazier-Singleton, 25, gave troopers evidence that her husband “was involved in making counterfeit (automobile) operator’s license.”

The search warrant request also stated that investigators were seeking items such as “weapons, firearms, knives blunt objects, (and) tools” that may have been used in the victim’s murder.

The search-warrant affidavit submitted to the judge stated that investigators also were looking for items that may have been used in the concealment/disposal of her body.

Those included concrete mix, garbage bags, tape, string, rope, carpets and cleaning products.

Among the items obtained in the search, according to court records, were:

• A Black and Decker Firestrom Circular Saw and an extension cord

• Two Chicago Cutlery knives

• A Farbreware knife

• A Model 119 Buck Knife

• Several blood samples, from the carpet and several other locations in the house

• Drain traps from the kitchen and bathrooms

• A box of Glad Force Flex X-large trash bags

• A box Husky drawstring trash bags

• A box of Kroger drawstring trash bags

The victim’s husband was arrested after an alleged armed standoff in Somerset, Jan. 20, in which hostages were held at gunpoint.

He was charged with murder late the next day after state and county detectives executed the warrant and searched his home on Forest Hill Drive in the Deacon Hills subdivision.

The following details are contained in the search-warrant affidavit on file in the Madison District Court Clerk’s office:

The state police had their first contact with Jason Singleton on Oct. 22, 2010, when he called the Richmond Post at 1:46 p.m. to report that a Christina Thompkins has stolen his white, 2009 Lexus. He called again at 3:36 p.m. to report that Thompkins had assaulted him at his 110 Forest Hill Drive home. In another call, at 6:41 p.m., Singleton said he needed assistance in obtaining an emergency protective order, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 11 at 2:46 a.m., Singleton again called the Richmond KSP Post to report that “a black Camry had pulled into his driveway and someone (suspected to be Thompkins) had thrown a rock through his window.”

On Jan. 14 at 2:29 a.m, Angela Frazier-Singleton called the state police post to report that Thompkins “had been threatening her, and she had showed up at 110 Forest Hill Drive.”

At 8:10 p.m., also Jan. 14, Jason Singleton called the post to say Angela Frazier-Singleton was refusing to leave his home.

At 1:10 a.m. two days later, Frazier-Singleton called the KSP to report that “her husband had told her not to come home, and he had changed the locks on the house at 110 Forest Hill Drive.”

(State Police then responded to the scene but took no action because a friend had arrived to pick up Frazier-Singleton, and the two left safely in the friend’s car, according to Master Trooper Chris Lanham, Post 7 spokesperson.)

Frazier-Singleton’s mother, Nancy Canada, told Trooper Botkin at 7:10 p.m., Jan. 17, that her daughter was missing. Less than two hours later, Lexington Police responded to a vehicle fire at Mile Marker 101 on Interstate 75, just inside Fayette County. No one was at the scene when a Lexington officer arrived, however, but the vehicle was registered to Frazier-Singleton. The fire had been confined to the vehicle’s engine area.

After Jason Singleton surrendered to Somerset Police, he made “a voluntary, unsolicited statement that he had done a terrible thing,” something that was “too terrible to talk about” and that the state police were looking for him.

A Somerset Police officer said he heard Singleton say “he wished the police would have killed him” in the armed standoff.

When two KSP detectives interviewed him at the Somerset Police Department, Singleton allegedly said “he would be willing to tell them everything” if they would give “Christina Thompkins a deal where she would not be arrested.”

The detectives noted that that Singleton “smelled strongly of smoke, and his clothes and vehicle were covered with a black film that was possibly soot from a fire.”

When two KSP troopers and a detective arrived at Singleton’s home Jan. 20 to secure it prior to the search, the garage door and a door into the house were open, and they could see a knife lying on the floor just inside the house.

They also “noticed a film of black soot on the walls and ceiling inside the house, and the smell of the house indicated that something had been burning.”

The detective also “observed a large area of carpet and subfloor that had been removed from a room” and “an electric saw beside the hole.”

At 7:45 that morning, a neighbor had called the Madison County Fire Department to report that “heavy smoke was coming from the house” at 110 Forest Hill Dr. However, the department was told soon afterward to disregard the call.

At 9 p.m. Jan. 20, two KSP detectives interviewed Christina Thompkins at the Richmond Post.

She told them she had spoken with Singleton the day before, and he told her “he had strangled Angela (Frazier-Singleton) on Tuesday (Jan. 18). Thompkins also told them Singleton was “covered in ashes and soot and smelled like smoke” when they spoke.

His car also “smelled like smoke and another smell that smelled very badly,” she told them.

Singleton remains in the Pulaski County Detention Center under a $100,000 cash bond or $200,000 property bond, pending a grand jury hearing in Somerset from the alleged armed standoff there.

When brought to Madison County to face the murder charge, the warrant obtained by County Attorney Marc Robbins and signed by District Judge Earl-Ray Neal, calls for Singleton to be held on a $1 million cash bond.

Robbins said Friday he was unsure of when Singleton would be transferred to Madison County.