Overview
- Opening statements began Wednesday, and jurors on Thursday heard emotional testimony from Allison Feldman’s boyfriend and the first Scottsdale police witnesses.
- Investigators say a 2018 familial DNA search identified inmate Mark Mitcham as a close relative of the suspect, leading to a match between crime‑scene DNA and Ian Mitcham’s blood from a 2015 DUI case.
- A trial judge suppressed the DUI-derived DNA in January 2023, an appeals court reversed in August 2023, and the state’s high court in December 2024 allowed the evidence under the inevitable discovery doctrine.
- Prosecutors outlined DNA comparisons alongside banking records, witness accounts and details about Mitcham’s car, and described bleach at the scene and missing jewelry, a wallet, a phone, a key and cash.
- The defense maintains Mitcham did not know Feldman, is pointing to another man as a possible suspect with limited testimony allowed outside the jury, and the capital trial is expected to last for months.