CONCORD - Lisa Greene’s screams for help were muffled by her loud crying during much of the 911 call made to police the night of her children’s deaths.
Jurors in Greene’s capital murder case heard Wednesday the 911 call made by a neighbor who found Greene lying near a ditch on Jan 10, 2006, the night of the mobile home fire that killed Greene’s two children.
On the tape, Greene can be heard in the background yelling, “They need to hurry up!” and “My house is on fire!” Her voice wasn’t audible on the tape until two minutes into the five-minute call.
Wednesday was the second day of testimony in Greene’s double murder and arson trial. The Cabarrus County dispatcher, Curtis Anderson, who took the 911 call, testified in court.
Anderson, now a Concord Police officer, testified that the call seemed “unusual” because there was no mention of the fire during the first two minutes. The caller, Teresa Diss, originally only told the dispatcher about Greene’s hurt ankle and mentioned that Greene had lost her cell phone, Anderson testified.
“At a home where someone is potentially dying and the person reporting is more concerned with the cell phone and ankle injury just didn’t sit right with me,” Anderson told the court.
Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorney, rebuffed Anderson’s statement and asked if he knew if the neighbor had walked too far away from Greene and that’s why he couldn’t hear her on the recording. Anderson said he was unsure of Diss’ movements and didn’t know how far she was while the two were speaking.
When Greene was audible on the tape, she was screaming and coughing, pleading for help, but Anderson testified that he believed she was acting because Greene knew police was on the phone. “It seemed like she was fake coughing and crying,” Anderson said. “I wanted to jump through that phone and save those kids … her actions just didn’t seem genuine.”
Greene can be heard on the tape saying that the children had fallen asleep with a lighted candle in their room, and that’s what must have caused the blaze. Prosecutors asked if it seemed suspicious that Greene would be able to give the dispatcher that information and her address in such an emotional state. Anderson testified that it “didn’t seem right.”
Anderson was the fifth person to testify that Greene seemed to be “faking” about how upset she was the night of the fire.
Cabarrus County Deputy James Moreau testified that if it were his kids, he “would be useless” and that it was suspicious that Greene wasn’t “acting like a woman who just lost her two kids.” Moreau made the initial investigation after the fire.
James Howard, a Cabarrus County firefighter, testified Tuesday that Greene was “engaging in theatrics” and that she cried but without tears.
Christy Brown and Kelly Coulter, both Cabarrus County EMS workers, testified Tuesday that Greene seemed to “cry louder,” but without tears, and “put on a show” as rescue workers treated her.
Dubs said in her opening statement that investigators rushed to judge the 42-year-old Greene because she didn’t act “the way they thought she should.” She said that the assumptions about Greene “weren’t scientific and caused mistakes in the investigation.”
Dubs said defense witnesses would prove that investigators made poor assumptions that led to Greene’s arrest.
The trial will continue Thursday with more prosecution witnesses expected. Greene could face the death penalty if found guilty.
