Recycling bin

I told you how police traced an Uber to the Best Way Motel, how an officer sat in front of a screen and watched room 27 for hours, and how a bright pink phone case turned up in a parking lot where it had no business being.

Today, I want to slow that week all the way down because what that officer saw in those videos and what the police later pulled out of a recycling bin became one of the longest stretches of the trial.

And a trial in a courtroom has to be walked one step at a time with every step backed up by something you can hold, you can watch, or read on a receipt.

So that's what we're going to do today.

So let's go back to what the police found on June 3rd, seven days after Zahra was reported missing.

I told you about the pink phone case.

Here's the rest of what was in that recycling bin behind Hampton Inn near a small cinder block garbage enclosure.

First, a black garbage bag that didn't belong.