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Police: Suspect in mugging of 78-year-old man held by bystanders

WILKES-BARRE TWP. &mdash; A camera swept through the home of the late Fred Boote. Held by Trooper Peter T. Smith, that camera gave jurors a graphic look into the scene police found in Boote&rsquo;s home.
				The camera, slightly shaky as Smith walks up the stairs, pauses for brief moments to show smears of blood along the walls. Smith, who works in the forensic services unit out of Troop P Wyoming of the Pennsylvania State Police, then walks into the master bedroom of the home, which is located at Donald Court in Wilkes-Barre.
				As Smith walked into the bedroom, jurors saw the horrific scene that prosecutors say Reynaldo Mercado is partially responsible for. Boote lay crumpled, nearly in a crouching position, face-down with his shirt soaked red. A large knife, like something out of a slasher film, lay discarded nearby. A gasoline canister also sat haphazardly near Boote&rsquo;s body, and a towel draped over his body showed significant signs of having been lit on fire. Blood spattered the walls.
				Mercado appeared to avoid watching the video screen on the desk in front of him.
				During his opening statement on Monday morning at the second trial to occur at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Assistant District Attorney Drew McLaughlin told jurors that the story that ended with the discovery of Boote&rsquo;s body began with Boote&rsquo;s dog.
				&ldquo;This story begins with a dog named Joe,&rdquo; McLaughlin began, telling jurors of the dog who wandered the streets of Wilkes-Barre. &ldquo;He was looking for his best friend, Fred Boote.&rdquo;
				McLaughlin said the dog was eventually found by an individual who called police to report having found him. After the phone number on Joe&rsquo;s tag was traced back to Boote&rsquo;s home, Wilkes-Barre Police Sgt. Joseph Ziegler went to the home and found the door wide open. Ziegler called for backup, and police found the scene depicted in Smith&rsquo;s video.
				McLaughlin described the prosecution&rsquo;s theory of the case, saying that Boote died as a result of a planned robbery, a plan which was allegedly hatched by Mercado, 33, and Louisa Reyes, a 16-year-old who has already pleaded guilty to her involvement in the case.
				According to McLaughlin, Reyes knocked on Boote&rsquo;s door early in the morning of Sept. 14, 2018, planning on getting him to let her inside, so she could leave the door unlocked so Mercado could come in for the robbery.
				McLaughlin said the pair then eventually attacked Boote in his own bedroom with Mercado allegedly viciously stabbing Mercado with a large kitchen knife that had been brought into the room by Reyes.
				&ldquo;Mr. Mercado grabbed that knife from Ms. Reyes and he stabbed Boote,&rdquo; McLaughlin said. &ldquo;Not once, not twice, not 10 times, not 20 times, not 30 times, not 35 times; he stabbed him 50 times with that 8-inch knife.&rdquo;
				McLaughlin said that from the time Reyes knocked on the door to the time Boote was dead, only 15 minutes had passed. Then, he said, the pair attempted to burn Boote&rsquo;s body to destroy the evidence.
				Reyes pleaded guilty in September to a count of second-degree murder and agreed to testify against Mercado, with whom she previously had a romantic relationship. Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough, who presides over the case, previously ruled jurors would hear nothing of their previous relationship or even Reyes&rsquo; age.
				McLaughlin said Reyes&rsquo; testimony will be instrumental in the case.
				&ldquo;She was in that room, the room where it happened,&rdquo; McLaughlin said, before adding that of the three people in that room, one is dead, one pleaded guilty and one is on trial this week.
				And while McLaughlin suggested Boote&rsquo;s death was the unplanned result of a robbery, he began to lay the groundwork for a first degree murder conviction during his opening, telling jurors that, under Pennsylvania law, motive to kill can be formed in moments.
				Defense attorney Allyson Kacmarski, who represents Mercado in the case, suggested in her brief pending statement that the jurors will need to sift through the doubts that will likely be raised by numerous different versions of the night&rsquo;s events that Reyes told police. Kacmarski also pointed out that Reyes has not yet been sentenced, and will not be until the completion of Mercado&rsquo;s trial.
				The bulk of Monday&rsquo;s testimony was largely taken up by Smith and forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross, who testified about the autopsy he performed on Boote.
				According to Dr. Ross&rsquo; autopsy, Boote died as the combined result of a total of 50 stab wounds, dying as a result of blood loss. Dr. Ross said that, while none of the individual stab wounds did fatal organ damage, their combined effect led to Boote&rsquo;s death.
				Later in the day, Mercado&rsquo;s uncle, Jose Mercado, testified that his nephew and Reyes fled to his home in West New York, N.J., a suburb of Manhattan, as a first step in a planned flight.
				According to Jose Mercado, the younger Mercado claimed he and Reyes had been at Boote&rsquo;s house drinking. Reynaldo Mercado allegedly told his uncle that, upon coming back from the bathroom, he saw Boote sexually assaulting Reyes, causing him to, as his uncle put it, &ldquo;lose his mind out of anger.&rdquo;
				In his opening, McLaughlin addressed that this theory of the case would likely be put forward, but said evidence to come later in the week would show that this is a lie cooked up in an attempt to avoid prosecution.
				Jose Mercado, testifying in a thick New York City accent, told jurors that he initially didn&rsquo;t believe his nephew&rsquo;s claims of having killed someone, until Reynaldo Mercado allegedly showed him local news reports of the homicide.
				He went on to say that his nephew planned to go into New York City and attempt to get a passport to flee the country to the Dominican Republic, but Jose Mercado said he called police on his nephew, leading to his and Reyes&rsquo; arrest.
				Testimony continues Tuesday morning.

Testimony begins in Boote homicide with jury being shown graphic video