Former inmate testifies in Frank Choate murder trial - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

(11/09/12) - Testimony continues Friday for the man accused of murdering 86-year-old Marie Warren in Lapeer County.

Frank Choate is charged in her October 2006 beating death.

Testimony started Wednesday, and on Friday we heard from a former inmate at the Lapeer County Jail. He says Choate said there were three others with him and they had been breaking into other homes.

"They woke her by breaking into the house. That's when she went into defense mode, trying to protect herself and that's when the altercation occurred," the former inmate said. "They killed her and that they cut the fingers off because of the possibility of skin being under her fingernails from DNA and they disposed of her body in a ditch."

Warren's body - her fingers and thumbs removed - was found in a ditch about five miles away from her home.