WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A loyal Labradoodle named Titan that didn’t leave the scene of his owner’s burned body helped Robinson police identify the victim’s charred remains and led authorities to the arrest of Derek Joseph Daigneault, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

In opening statements, McLennan County First Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Calvert wove a complicated thread of evidence he said he and prosecutor Alyssa Killin plan to present in Daigneault’s murder trial.

Daigneault, 29, of Wichita, Kansas, is on trial in the 19th District Court in Waco on an aggravated murder charge in the April 6, 2023, death of his 26-year-old cousin, Amanda Rose Reynolds. .

Reynolds was living with Daigneault in San Marcos at the time, and neither had ties to McLennan County, Calvert told the jury.

Reynolds was shot in the head, her body stuffed into a large plastic storage container and set on fire in a new Robinson subdivision on Heston Circle, just off Greig Drive and east of Interstate 35.

Reynolds’ father, Randy Reynolds, a Nevada resident, opened prosecution testimony by telling jurors that his daughter expressed fear of Daigneault in late March. He told her to get rid of him and said he would come to San Marcos to help her pack and move when she was ready. It was the last time he spoke to his daughter, he said.

Robison police, firefighters and animal control officials tried to catch the white Labradoodle that was barking at them and did not leave the scene of the fire that night, Calvert said. However, the dog proved elusive, and then a heavy storm hit the area as authorities tried to process the crime scene, he said.

The next morning, a Robinson resident looking for his own lost dog happened upon the Titan, which was sitting on the exact spot where Reynolds’ body was discovered. The man opened his car door and Titan jumped inside.

The man called Robinson Animal Control officers, who were already in the area, again trying to find the dog. Titan was microchipped and authorities were able to identify Reynolds as its owner, Calvert said.

Calvert apologized to the jury for the gruesome crime scene photos they will be subjected to during the trial.

Defense attorney Jason P. Darling warned jurors in his opening not to be fooled by the state’s “dog and pony” show, which he likened to “smoke and mirrors.” He said that while there may be incriminating evidence against Daigneault, there is no direct evidence linking him to the crime scene and his cousin’s slaying, and urged jurors to keep an open mind.

Calvert showed the jury stills from surveillance video showing Daigneault at a Walmart in San Marcos buying a large storage container, a shovel and a gas can. As he backed out of the store’s parking lot in Reynolds’ Honda Accord, Titan’s head could be seen sticking out the passenger side window. Reynolds was not seen in the store video.

Two days later, a license plate reader in Wichita, Kansas, captured Reynolds’ car there, and state troopers were on the lookout for the Honda, Calvert said. A Wichita officer spotted the car and tried to pull it over. However, before the officer could turn on the cruiser’s emergency lights, Daigneault sped off, leading officers on a 30-minute chase through the city at speeds sometimes reaching 100 mph, Calvert said.

He rammed the car into another vehicle and crashed into a grocery store, which was also filmed. Police eventually arrested him after finding him hiding on the bottom shelf in the canning aisle, Calvert said. Authorities also found what was determined to be the murder weapon in Reynolds’ car.

Daigneault was sentenced to just nine years in prison in Wichita for fleeing police and a variety of other charges. The felony charge against him in McLennan County is enhanced because of a 2013 conviction in Kansas for aggravated burglary.

If convicted of murder, the expanded charge increases the minimum sentence Daigneault faces from five to 15 years in prison. He faces a maximum term of life.

Prosecution testimony will resume Tuesday morning.

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