Joshua Hupperterz's roommate, Jack Miley, testifies he slept through alleged murder

Thursday, January 10, 2019
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The murder trial for Joshua Hupperterz, the man accused of brutally killing a Temple student in the summer of 2017 continued on Thursday.

The prosecutor's 'star witness,' Hupperterz's roommate, took the stand to explain what he says he heard the night Jenna Burleigh died.

The original allegation is that Hupperterz beat and strangled Burleigh and then put her body in a plastic container and took to Hupperturz's grandmother's house near Scranton.

Investigators said Hupperterz and Burleigh met at a Temple area bar in August 2017, then at closing time the pair went to Hupperterz's apartment a short distance away on the 1700 block of North 16th Street where there was a brutal altercation and he killed her.

But in a surprise twist earlier this week, Hupperterz pleaded guilty to the abuse of a corpse but his attorney then claimed in court Jenna's killer was Hupperterz's roommate, who was asleep in another part of the apartment.

On Wednesday afternoon, that roommate, Jack Miley, took the stand.

He testified he never met the victim and is by nature a very deep sleeper, especially after drinking. He said on that particular night he had drunk 12-15 beers, six shots and smoked marijuana. He said he did not wake up until 1 p.m. the following afternoon.

Miley said when he did awake he discovered Hupperterz with cuts and scratches, cleaning up blood in the apartment's kitchen.

He said the defendant told him the cuts were from a fall into a pricker bush while walking home.

Miley spoke with investigators at the time of the crime and was never charged.

Miley testified for the prosecution Thursday, and what the defense has to suggest he has any link to crime is not clear at this point.

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