Retired OCSO detective Tom McCann was back on stand Thursday morning in the murder trial for former Orange County school teacher Delores Laster, who's accused of killing her husband in 1988.

Laster was arrested in 2009 after her children came forward and said they helped her cover up their father's death 21 years earlier.

McCann told jurors on Thursday that Laster told him Clarence got up and left the house with an unknown man sometime before 6 a.m. March 19. Around 6 a.m., McCann said that Laster told him she called her parents in Gainesville to see if they'd be around, then she drove kids there, stopping a handbag store off I-75 along the way. Laster told him it was not unusual for her to call parents that early.

McCann had said it would be impossivle for Laster to see her husband's body driving up the driveway.

"From what we were able to see, that was impossible from being seated inside the car," McCann said.

But in cross-examination, McCann said that Laster could have seen the body before driving up the slope.

He also acknowledged the plastic tarp covering Clarence Laster was also covering a $10,000 stolen motorcycle.

McCann says his first interview with daughter Kristi at age 11 was inconsistent with Laster's story.

McCann said Kristi told him she saw her father in bed an hour later and she, her brothers and mother left for a trip to Gainesville.

"So if that's the case, what Delores told me about him leaving is false," McCann said in court.

Clyde, then 10, was non-committal. An interview days later with both children was consistent with Laster's story.

Also Thursday, the defense asked the judge for ability to mention that a $10,000 stolen motorcycle was covered by the same plastic covering Clarence's body. Their theory of defense is that someone else murdered Clarence, perhaps someone tied to the stolen motorcycle.

The prior judge on Laster's case denied the defense request, ruling that the motorcycle was irrelevant and there was no proof Clarence knew it was stolen. On Thursday, the current judge overturned the prior ruling and allowed defense to ask detective about stolen motorcycle.

McCann said Laster told him that her husband left the house that day with a stranger to discuss the motorcycle.

McCann acknowledged his original theory was that Clarence was shot in bed and dragged, but admitted there was no physical evidence of someone being shot in bed, including no blood on sheets and carpet. All he knew of was a "suspected blood stain" in the bedroom that was apparently never tied to Clarence.

The state has called the case "almost the perfect crime" that couldn't be solved for 20 years, until cold case detectives re-interviewed the children. The state has said the memories are not false, like the defense claims.

Laster had been a teacher in Orange County for about 40 years, and for much of that time, investigators said they had suspected she was responsible for the death of her husband, Clarence Laster.

In 1988, Delores Laster told police that she had returned home from a trip to Gainesville and found her husband shot dead on the floor in their garage.

At the time, the couple's two children told detectives they never saw their father that morning. When the case was reopened two decades later, the children -- now adults -- admitted that they helped their mother drag their father's body from a bedroom to the garage.

According to the children, their mother told them that their father had rolled out of bed and hit his head on a nightstand.  They do not recall hearing gunshots.
Since Laster's arrest, however, her son changed his story again, saying he doesn't remember what happened that night.

The defense said the kids provided details, such as being covered in blood, that don't match the crime scene. The defense said the velocity of bullet sealed the wound, limiting the blood lost.

The first witness was a paramedic who first responded to the scene. He said he didn't immediately know Clarence Laster had been shot.

A neighbor then testified hearing the couple arguing two days before the body was found and saw Clarence storm out of the house and drove away. Delores Laster had originally denied there was a fight.

The last witness of Wednesday was one of the original detectives on the case, now retired from OSCO.