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Bever sister testifies in murder trial

Posted at 6:17 PM, Apr 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-20 19:30:07-04

TULSA -- Opening statements made Friday brought out more information about Michael Bever's family structure. The now 19-year-old is charged with killing five family members with his older brother Robert.

That information came right from one of the Bever sisters, who is now 16 years old and survived the attack on July 22, 2015. She took the stand to testify in this case on Friday.

The sister, who was 13 years old at the time of the attack testified through a live video chat from another courtroom.

She described the house that she and her family grew up in as big, with play rooms and plenty of toys. She said she shared a room with her younger sister, and Michael and his older brother Robert shared a room.

She described them both as quiet and secretive.

The 16-year-old said Michael talked about serial killers at least once a day and looked up to them. She said she thought he was joking but still told her mother.

After a long day of emotional testimonies here's what both sides had to say.

"As anybody can imagine, that was  a very difficult testimony to listen to, I think it was hard for the jurors to listen to," said Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler. "I was very grateful to the court for the arrangements that she had made to try and make it easier on this young lady."

"Michael was very isolated, the characteristics of his upbringing are obviously part of the trial and we're going to keep developing that with witnesses that have that information and we're going to try and tell that story the best we can," said Chief Public Defender Corbin Brewster. 

Another witness called to testify was the 911 dispatcher who took the call from one of the younger brothers on the night of the attack.

The recording was played to the jury. That's when Michael Bever showed a lot of emotions for the first time on Friday.

He also became very emotional when his younger sister described the night of the attack.

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