State rests case, defense up next in Michael Zutten murder trial

The state rested its case against Micheal Zutten on Monday. The final testimony showed the jury Zutten’s suggestive social media posts.

After his fiance, Heather Grimshaw, disappeared he wrote disturbing posts on Facebook including one about dragging a body through the woods.

Zutten is accused of killing Grimshaw and dumping her body in a state forest in Collier County in 2015. Zutten was arrested in 2018.

Kevin O’Neal, a retired detective with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office testified he reviewed every one of Zutten’s social media posts in 2015.

The posts referenced hiding bodies and getting away with murder. Some were posted after hikers found heather Heather Grimshaw’s remains on Aug. 29, 2015.

O’Neal told the jury one post on June 19, 2015, stood out. “It says ‘one free murder, this voucher entitles you to commit one murder without legal, social or financial consequences.'”

Those posts are not proof Zutten killed his fiance, and that June 19th post came two months before Grimshaw disappeared.

The defense asked O’Neal if Zutten had created the images and posts, or if he was simply sharing them from another source. O’Neal told them he didn’t know.

The medical examiner in the case has testified that he believes Grimshaw was killed and did not, as the defense tried to argue, take her own life.

Prosecutors also brought attention to Grimshaw’s personal calendar and phone records during their arguments. Neither expert during that testimony was able to link Zutten directly to the murder.

On Tuesday, Zutten’s defense team will get its chance to plead his innocence in the death of his fiance. The defense plans to spend all day Tuesday making their argument.

The jury could begin deliberations as soon as Tuesday night.