REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) – The lead investigator of the Tiffany Li homicide case testified Wednesday that the young Hillsborough heiress was “emotionless” when he handed her a death certificate and told her that the father of her children was dead.
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Carroll went to Li’s gated mansion where she lived with her 1-year-old baby, 4-year-old daughter, boyfriend Kaveh Bayat, and a nanny.
The decomposed body of Li’s ex-boyfriend had been found in a field 90 miles north of the alleged murder scene. The coroner determined that someone forced a handgun into Keith Green’s mouth and he died instantly from a single shot.
When Carroll arrived on the front doorstep of Li’s mansion on May 17, 2016 and informed her that the body had been definitively identified as Green, her face was void of any emotions, Carroll said. The 33-year-old millionaire did not exhibit reactions that are common, Carroll testified. Li never asked how Green died, nor worried about how she was going to tell her children that their father was no longer alive.
“She was not upset at all?” San Mateo County prosecutor Bryan Abanto asked. Carroll replied, no.
As Abanto prepared to rest his case Wednesday, he came out swinging with Carroll as his final witness.
Carroll oversaw every major step of the investigation, starting from April 29, 2016, when Green was reported as a missing person. Abanto used Carroll on the stand Wednesday to explain the significance behind the most crucial pieces of evidence that were presented to the jury since the trial began.
Green’s friends and family members shook their heads in disgust as they listened to Carroll detailing some of the comments Li made before she was arrested. Carroll asked Li if Green had any enemies who wanted to kill him. Li named several people.
“Li gave me different theories about who was upset with Mr. Green,” Carroll said.
One of Green’s close friends, tattoo artist Daniel Hernandez, glared at Li while Carroll recounted all of the people who Li named as potential suspects. Hernandez was among supporters in the gallery who were holding photographs of Green that were small enough to fit in their hands.
Carroll said Li told him that two men who Green used to go clubbing with both held ill will against Green. One friend, identified as Reese the barber, went partying in Las Vegas with Green. While in Vegas, Green cheated on Li with another woman, and Reese cheated on his own girlfriend as well, Li allegedly said. When Green was caught cheating, he told Reese’s girlfriend that she was also cheated on. The second man was severely beaten by a bouncer while he was clubbing with Green, and he was upset that Green did not try to help him in the melee, Li allegedly told the sergeant.
Li named more people. She said Green went to high school with a guy named Johnny, and he had promised to give Johnny $50,000 to help start up a clothing company. Li said she declined to give Green the money, and Johnny became upset with Green’s promise falling through.
There was also a motorcycle gang who Green owed money to, and a revenge-seeking husband who’s wife was caught on a nanny cam having an affair with Green, Li allegedly told Carroll.
Prosecutors also asked Carroll to explain the significance of Li sending a text to Bayat reading, “Green light” on April 1, 2016. Carroll said he believes that was Li’s way of telling Bayat that they were going to kill her ex-boyfriend. In the same text thread, Li and Bayat were venting to eachother because they thought Green was asking for too much money to support his living expenses and children.
Green was slain on April 28, 2016. Prosecutors said Li lured him to her mansion, Bayat shot him to death, and the couple’s body guard was paid to get rid of the body.
The defense teams for Li and Bayat are scheduled to begin calling their witnesses on Thursday.
