Mom of cam-girl wife testifies on behalf of accused killer husband

The mother of an Alabama cam-girl allegedly bludgeoned to death with an absinthe bottle by her husband testified in defense of the accused killer Friday, saying her daughter was a heavy drinker who had problems stopping herself once she started indulging.

William Jeffrey West, 47, has pleaded not guilty in the January 2018 death of Kathleen Dawn West, a 42-year-old stay-at-home mom who lived a double life as “Kitty Kat West” on an adult subscription-only website.

Police said West, whose body was found naked except for a sports bra, died of blunt force trauma from being hit in the head with a bottle of Lucid absinthe by her husband on Jan. 12, 2018, an arrest warrant shows.

But West’s attorney insists the heavily intoxicated mother died from striking her head during an accidental fall. Her mother, Nancy Martin, took the stand on the fourth day of her son-in-law’s murder trial Friday and told jurors her daughter was a problem drinker, AL.com reported.

“She could not drink just one drink,” Martin said during questioning by defense attorney John Robbins.

Martin testified her daughter would “be up drinking” long after anyone else who joined her while imbibing – and frequently ran around or even danced outside once she was inebriated.

Martin said her daughter would typically go outside while drunk without wearing shoes or fully clothed, behaviors she witnessed in Florida and in Calera, Alabama, where she lived with her husband.

West’s mother said she last saw her daughter alive two days before she was found dead. Martin and her husband, John, took her to a follow-up doctor’s visit after getting a breast job six weeks earlier, she testified.

Martin – the lone witness for the defense — said she next saw West at a funeral home, where her husband broke down while picking out a casket, AL.com reported.

“I know it hurt me,” Martin said during her 30-minute testimony. “But I can’t imagine how he felt.”

Earlier Friday, a state medical examiner testified that the two-inch wound to West’s skull did not appear to have been caused by a fall. The force of the blow pushed the woman’s brain into its stem, pathologist Stephen Boudreau testified, according to the report.

“It was a considerable amount of force to cause an injury like that,” Boudreau told jurors. “Scalp wounds bleed like mad … [the brain is] a very vascular structure.”

Boudreau, who said West died from blunt force trauma, testified it wasn’t likely she was fatally wounded from falling, particularly since she was just 5-foot-2 inches tall.

Asked directly about the object he believed killed West, Boudreau replied: “Whatever it was had an edge but it wasn’t sharp.”

William West told police during questioning that he went to bed after the pair both had about six drinks. Kat West then put on lingerie to take photos while he went to bed, he told police.

William West awoke the next morning as police descended upon the couple’s home. A 19-year-old neighbor found her body while on her way to work, AL.com previously reported.

A cellphone was spotted near West’s body with the green absinthe bottle on top of it, which appeared staged, according to witnesses.

Boudreau also testified Friday that her blood alcohol content level was 0.23, nearly three times the legal limit – and would have been significantly higher the night before.

West, meanwhile, had been expected to testify in the trial, but decided against it after consulting with his family. Prosecutors rested their case following Boudreau’s testimony, AL.com reported Friday.

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