Police Chief Testifies During Trial In Murder Of 14-Year-Old April Millsap

MACOMB COUNTY (WWJ) - The trial in the murder of 14-year-old April Millsap continued Tuesday in a Macomb County courtroom.

James VanCallis, 34, is accused of murdering Millsap on a wooded path in 2014 as she walked her dog Penny.

Millsap's parents sat in the courtroom listening to testimony from Armada's Police Chief Howard Smith.

Smith said there was strong evidence on the body of the young girl that tied suspect James VanCallis to the murder through his shoes.

"We were told that Mr. VanCallis favored a pair of shoes, a black and white pair of shoes ... (told to me) by his baby's mom," said Smith on the stand.

"The imprints on the victim's neck were so significant and vivid that we that if we could find those shoes that we could match it up. We couldn't find the shoes but we found the style of shoe that we believe it was and that style of shoe that he enjoyed wearing was white with black trim."

The defense argued that no DNA or fingerprints link VanCallis to the shoes described in court.

In ruling out a connection to the murder by close friends of Millsap, the police chief spoke of other video evidence that was brought forward in the case.

"Those videos showed Austin and Alex in Richmond at the time of the murder and they also showed us that they were in an automobile at the time of the murder," testified Smith.

Smith described video from a drone which showed where Millsap's body was found just off of a trail, and the roughly 1000 tips which came in on the case, including video from a resident which showed VanCallis on his motorcycle that day and the suspect's police sketch and eventual booking photo.

The defense argued that only one person thought it looked like VanCallis.

Millsap was reported missing July 24 by her mother after she failed to return home from walking her dog, Penny, which she did nearly every night. Her body was found hours later in a drainage ditch along the Macomb Orchard Trail near Fulton and Depot roads in Armada. Penny alerted a couple of joggers to the girl's body.

Less than a month later, police named VanCallis — who was arrested alongside his father on drug charges after a search connected to the murder revealed an alleged marijuana growing operation at their home — as a person of interest in Millsap's death.

Millsap died of blunt head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression, according to a medical examiner's report.