Jurors Get Conflicting Views of Murder Suspect

BARTOW | Jurors began Thursday trying to decipher who Roy Ballard is.

His lawyers described him as a man concerned for the well-being of a 14-year-old female relative and whose poor health make it impossible for him to have made his stepdaughter, Autumn Marie Traub, disappear without a trace.

But prosecutors described the 67-year-old Zephyrhills man as a calculating killer who traveled to Lakeland to kill Traub because she was preventing him from regaining custody of the 14-year-old female relative Ballard was molesting.

Ballard faces a charge of first-degree murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Traub was 33 years old when she disappeared Sept. 13, 2006. Her body has not been found.

Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo told jurors during opening statements that Ballard's motive for making Traub disappear was so he could regain custody of the female relative to continue a sexual relationship with her.

The Ledger is not naming the girl because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime.

Castillo explained how the case began as a missing person investigation and evolved into a complex murder case.

Ballard and his wife previously had custody of the girl and wanted to get her back.

However, Traub was preventing that from happening. She went missing Sept. 13, 2006, after meeting with Ballard.

Castillo said Ballard told detectives that he traveled to Lakeland to speak with Traub about his concerns for the girl.

He told detectives that he drove Traub in his car to a CITGO gas station on Memorial Boulevard, Castillo said.

Ballard told detectives that he bought a Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew, and that he and Traub spoke to each other.

Detectives later reviewed receipts from the gas station and couldn't find a Diet Pepsi or Mountain Dew being purchased around that time, Castillo said.

After driving around together, Ballard told detectives, he dropped Traub off outside a Walgreens at Massachusetts Avenue and Memorial Boulevard.

Videotape surveillance footage collected from the Walgreens and the nearby Life Skills Center didn't show Traub in the store or Ballard dropping her off, Castillo said.

Castillo said detectives conducted interviews and discovered the female relative has accused Ballard and other men of having sex with her.

Neighbors testified that on occasions they witnessed inappropriate hugging and kissing between Ballard and the girl.

In addition to Ballard, the girl has also made sexual abuse allegations against other men, including Traub's husband, John.

John Traub, who now lives in Alabama, testified Thursday that he reported his wife missing to police when she didn't return after Ballard picked her up.

When asked whether he had sexual contact with the girl, John Traub replied, "I don't know of anything ever happening that I'm aware of."

Ballard's lawyer, Byron Hileman, told jurors during his opening statement that his client might take the stand to testify on his own behalf.

Hileman said Ballard has been so weakened by health problems, including multiple seizures and strokes, that he couldn't kill a woman half his age weighing more than 200 pounds, and then dispose of her body.

Detectives early in the investigation concluded Traub was dead, Hileman said. But her body has not been found and neither has any murder weapon, he said.

Crucial evidence will likely be items that detectives say they found in the trunk of Ballard's 2004 Saturn, including a shovel with dirt on it, plastic bags, a roll of duct tape and a sex toy.

Detectives also found a receipt from a home improvement store inside Ballard's trunk dated Sept. 2, 2006, for an 18-inch metal pipe and a roll of duct tape, according to court records.

Castillo said test results showed Traub's blood was on some plastic Wal-Mart bags found in the trunk. DNA material matching the female relative was also found on the sex toy, he said.

Hileman said the blood identified as belonging to Traub amounted to only about two drops.

[ Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536. ]