Michigan EMT Faces Trial in Slaying

Lisa L. Upchurch told a fellow emergency medical technician she stuffed the body of a man she shot into an old body bag that she had taken from work to wear at a costume party.

Mary Muhlitner, who worked with Upchurch at Regional EMS, said she learned her co-worker placed the body of Dennis R. Mitchell in the bag. Muhlitner also said Upchurch asked her how to remove blood stains from carpeting and told her it took 20 minutes for Mitchell to die after she shot him.

Her testimony came during a preliminary examination before Flint District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III for Upchurch, 40, of Flint and a co-defendant who is accused of helping her dump Mitchell's body in Mott Lake.

Perry ordered Upchurch to stand trial on charges of murder, tampering with evidence and gun charges. She and Rodrick D. Phillips, 17, of Flint face Jan. 3 circuit court arraignments.

Phillips is charged with tampering with evidence, being an accessory after the fact to a felony, safe breaking, second-degree home invasion and car theft for allegedly entering Mitchell's house after he was killed and taking items.

Police and prosecutors said Upchurch shot Mitchell on Sept. 7 when another woman called his cellphone while he and Upchurch were engaged in a sex act.

Officials said Upchurch shot Mitchell, 46, and then enlisted Phillips, her own son and at least one other person to help her dispose of the body.

The partly nude body of Mitchell was discovered Sept. 11 in the Flint River off East Boulevard Drive near Whaley Park, south of N. Dort Highway.

Andre Hudak, 15, Upchurch's son, told assistant Genesee County Prosecutor Karen Hanson he was at his mother's home at 1321 Hughes Ave. but did not see the shooting.

Hudak said he saw Mitchell bleeding, slumped in a corner, while Upchurch was next to him screaming, crying and holding a gun.

He said his mother told him to call Phillips instead of police, and later

Upchurch moved Mitchell's body to another room.

After putting him in a body bag, Hudak said Upchurch and another male were able to get the body outside through a window and place it in a vehicle trunk.

He said Upchurch, Phillips and another co-defendant, Derrick L. Sias, 18, then drove a caravan of three vehicles to a bridge in the area of Branch and Carpenter roads.

As two of the vehicles parked on opposite sides of the bridge as lookouts, Upchurch and another person pushed the body over the bridge and into the water, he said.

He said his mother cut up bloody evidence and dumped it in a trash container. Hudak said Upchurch and Phillips used Mitchell's credit card to buy bolt cutters so Phillips could break into the victim's garage.

Hudak said Upchurch bought the gun in Saginaw several days before Mitchell's slaying. He is charged with tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact, but prosecutors said his case would remain in juvenile court in exchange for his testimony.

Hudak told attorney Michael D. Perkins, who represents Upchurch, that Mitchell punched his mother in the past.

Muhlitner said she learned of the slaying from Upchurch the following day.

Sias testified he was with the group when Mitchell's body was dumped in the lake and with Phillips when they broke into the victim's house.

He said he was unable to use Mitchell's credit card to get cash, but he and Phillips were able to use it to put gas in their vehicles. Sias is also charged with tampering with evidence and second-degree home invasion and hopes to get his case dismissed by providing testimony.

Upchurch was recently found competent for trial after a forensic examination at a state facility.

Court records indicate Upchurch was at one time a heroin-addicted prostitute who had a stormy on-and-off relationship with Mitchell, and that Upchurch has a prior car theft conviction and used at least four aliases.

She worked for several ambulance companies and was on probation at the time of the slaying.