Thomas Lorigan was stabbed 17 times and a forensic pathologist with 15 years’ experience said the autopsy was one of the most difficult he has done.

Friday was the second day of the prosecution’s case before Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge John C. Reed in the homicide trial of Krystle Sue Weaver, 22, Fowler.

She’s accused of killing Lorigan, 44, of 183 Ray Road, Greene Township, and seriously wounding his daughter, Heather Turk, 22, on May 20, 2008, in Ms. Turk’s former home at 94 Clinton St., Apartment 103, Greenville.

Ms. Weaver’s boyfriend, Ronald Victor Machado, 21, Jamestown, was also charged, but he hanged himself May 24, 2008, in his Trumbull County jail cell. The couple once lived with Ms. Turk in the Greenville apartment.

Dr. Eric Vey of the Erie County Coroner’s Office performed the autopsy at 11:45 a.m. May 20. He said Friday Lorigan’s size – 6 feet tall and about 220 pounds – made some of the exam difficult.

The procedure took about eight hours and Vey said he can usually do four autopsies in that time.

Lorigan had four stab wounds about his head and neck, two of which could have been the fatal blow: one to his left temple that went through his skull and almost all of his brain and the other through his left cheek and out of his neck.

“It’s an immediately fatal wound,” Vey said of either of those injuries, adding major blood vessels and arteries were severed.

It’s impossible to tell the order in which the wounds were made, he said, describing the autopsy photos displayed on computer screens for the 12 jurors.

Lorigan had other stab wounds and a broken arm. A stab to Lorigan’s right bicep went through the bone and broke it in half, Vey said. He also had cuts, scrapes and bruises, some of which Vey called “defense wounds.” Lorigan likely fought his attacker and tried to grab the knife, making some small cuts on his hands.

Vey compared the two knives police believe were used in the attack to the wounds: a folding knife with a blade almost 4 inches long and another knife with a 7-inch blade. Some of the deeper wounds were likely made with the longer knife while the others could have been made by either weapon, he said.

Later test results showed Lorigan had caffeine, acetaminophen, prescription pain killers, a muscle relaxer and anti-depressant and marijuana in his system.

Vey collected Lorigan’s fingernail clippings and blood from his heart to ensure it wasn’t contaminated. It would have been up to investigators to test the nail clippings for DNA from the attacker and Vey said he didn’t know if they were sent to a crime lab.

Police didn’t ask Vey to collect hair samples or blood stains from Lorigan’s clothes, he said.

“Just because I didn’t collect it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there,” he said.