A forensic pathologist testifying at a military hearing for a Marine accused of killing a prostitute in Hawaii says she was strangled.
Forensic pathologist William Goodhue said Ivanice "Ivy" Harris, 29, died of asphyxiation, Hawaii News Now reported Thursday.
Master Sgt. Nathaniel Cosby is charged with murder, patronizing a prostitute and other offenses.
An Article 32 hearing began Wednesday and wrapped up Thursday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay to determine whether the 39-year-old Cosby should be court-martialed. That decision will come from the Pacific’s top Marine general.
A Honolulu police detective testified that Cosby met Harris outside a Waikiki bar in the early morning hours of May 16 and took her to his hotel room.
Cosby is seen in surveillance video meeting the woman, holding hands with her and kissing her in a hotel elevator the last day she was seen alive, officials said.
Harris’ body was found by a family four days later, on May 20, in kiawe brush near Yokohama Bay on the Waianae Coast.
The morning that Harris is believed to have been killed, a cellphone tower picked up a signal from Cosby’s phone on the Waianae Coast, police detective Dru Akagi said Wednesday.
Cosby was supposed to report to an assignment with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at 9 a.m. that day, officials said. A unit member said Cosby showed up at about 9:45 a.m.
Military attorney Lt. Col. Clay Plummer, who is representing Cosby, released a statement saying Cosby is a combat decorated Marine "who fought to defend the Constitution and is entitled to its presumption of innocence. When all the facts are before the court, the evidence will not prove him guilty."
He added, "Until the sworn testimony is presented at trial, we ask that you respect the process of the military justice system and accord Master Sgt. Cosby the respect of not rushing to judgment when all the facts have yet to be established."
Originally from Oregon, Harris was visiting from Las Vegas with her pimp.
