Witnesses describe teen's erratic behavior after mother's slaying

EDINBURG -- Christopher Hughes stared at a photograph of his mother's burned corpse hours after her body had been discovered.

He tapped his finger against the grisly image three times before describing the dead woman as a "slut," Hughes' uncle testified Thursday.

"The conversation changed right then," said Michael Hughes, 43, of Victoria. "It got pretty cold."

His testimony came during the second day of his nephew's murder trial - one in which several witnesses described the teen's erratic behavior in the days after his mother went missing.

Prosecutors allege Christopher Hughes, 18, shot 44-year-old Laura Doyle eight times and then set her corpse ablaze in April 2007 on the family's property north of Monte Alto.

Defense attorneys have maintained, however, that their client is innocent and described the state's case against him as entirely circumstantial.

Nearly three weeks after Doyle first went missing, sheriff's deputies found her body in a trash pit just yards away from her home.

Crime scene investigators showed jurors graphic photos and videos Thursday of her decaying corpse, which eventually had to be identified through dental records.

"Mostly when someone tries to cover something up by burning them, they usually only char the outside," Hidalgo County pathologist Dr. Norma Jean Farley said. "But in this case, the organs were completely gone, whether by decomposition or being eaten by bugs."

Despite that brutal end, Christopher Hughes continued to talk about his mother in a "disturbing" manner, his uncle said.

"It was hatred like I've never seen before," he said.

Several of Christopher Hughes' friends and schoolmates also testified Thursday that they had seen the teen brandishing a gun in the days between his mother's disappearance and the discovery of her body.

That weapon, which was later found at the house of one of his friends, has since been linked to Doyle's slaying.

Sheriff's deputies found the .22-caliber semi-automatic in the bedroom of Tomas Arce, a man now in federal prison on drug charges.

In an attempt to suggest a possible alternate suspect in Doyle's death, defense attorney Roy Valdez implied Doyle may have known Arce prior to her death and bought drugs from him.

But Arce's younger brother, Raul, testified he had no knowledge of any prior relationship between the two.

Testimony in the case is expected to resume Friday morning.

If convicted, Christopher Hughes could face up to life in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.