Friday's Update From The Courtroom:

During his testimony Friday, Everett Gentry told the jury that the accused, Elgin Robinson, came to him for help to kill 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks as a way to avoid child rape charges.

Gentry added that they not only figured out the best way to carry out Brooks' murder, but also spent hours finding the perfect grave site.

Gentry continued by testifying that because Robinson would be the police's number one suspect, Gentry helped hire Theodore Burnett to do the dirty work.

According to Gentry's testimony, on the set day when Robinson was out of town, they picked Brooks up from the skating rink and later killed her in the car.

"That's when Burnett reached over the seat with a cord and started strangling Chelsea. She started screaming and kicking," said Gentry. "Then they buried her in a field in rural Butler County."

Robinson, who started crying in the courtroom when he saw pictures of the grave site, says he has no involvement. The defense says Gentry's testimony isn't credible.

Cross-examination is set to start on Tuesday.

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Everett Gentry is expected to take the witness stand in the Elgin Robinson murder trial this afternoon. Robinson is accused of arranging the murder of Wichita teenager Chelsea Brooks.

Gentry has already admitted to his part in Brooks' death. He pleaded guilty in exchange for his testimony against Robinson and Ted Burnett.

Update -- Thursday, 4:20pm

Prosecutors have called their last witness for the day. The jury is dismissed early and will return Friday at 9:00.

Prosecutors may call key witness Everett Gentry as early as tomorrow. Gentry is expected to testify that Robinson enlisted his help in killing Chelsea Brooks. Gentry testified against co-defendant Theodore Burnett this spring. Burnett was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Although Gentry has already pleaded guilty to his role in the crime, he will not be sentenced until after Robinson's trial. Prosecutors say he will face a life sentence, but may be eligible for parole after 25 years as part of his agreement to testify against the others in this case.

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Update -- Thursday, 3:30pm

After a brief break this afternoon, attorneys call a series of police personell and officers who were first to handle the Brooks case. She was originally classified as a runaway. They discuss the procedures leading up to the case.

Detectives say as they began to search for Brooks, they sent officers out to three addresses where she could be. They also began questioning Everett Gentry and Elgin Robinson after her friends said she had left with Gentry to visit Robinson.

Robinson told police he did not have a relationship with Brooks, and that although she liked him, he did not like her. He denied that he was the father of her child.

Robinson told police he was in Kansas City at Worlds of Fun the night of Brooks murder. He saved receipts to prove he was out of town.

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Update -- Thursday, 2:30pm

Marissa Drydale takes the stand next. She testifies Brooks told her the baby she was carrying was Robinson's child.

The night Brooks vanished from Skate South, Marissa had given Brooks her cell phone and told her to be careful. Marissa knew of Brooks plans to try to meet up with Robinson that evening, but did not share the plan with Amy Keeler until after Brooks had left.

Through the evening, Amy Keeler and Marissa Drydale used Amy's phone to stay in touch with Brooks. Brooks, using Marissa's phone, texted her friends saying she was with Everett Gentry and they were headed to meet Robinson.

Soon after, the text messages began to reveal Robinson was not going to show up, and that Brooks would be coming back to Skate South once Gentry dropped of a friend. Prosecutors say that friend was Theodore Burnett, the man hired to strangle Brooks while Gentry drove her to the spot in Butler County he and Robinson had picked out for her gravesite.

When Brooks did not return to Skate South, her friends became concerned. Marissa alerted her mother, who contacted Brooks parents, who contacted police. Marissa says she also called Robinson, who said he had no idea of Brooks' whereabouts.

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Update -- Thursday, 2:00pm

Amanda McMullen says she knew Chelsea Brooks through Marissa Drydale, a mutual friend. Amanda says she was walking in to the Skate South rink at the same time she saw Chelsea Brooks leave on the night she disappeared. They spoke briefly in passing, and Amanda says Brooks told her she was going to see Elgin Robinson.

Inside Skate South, Amanda says she ran into Marissa Drydal and Amy Keeler. Amanda allowed Marissa to use her phone to text Chelsea Brooks, who had Marissa's phone with her. She says one of the text messages her phone received from Brooks (using Marissa's phone) was that Robinson had stood her up and she was coming back to Skate South. She never returned.

Amanda is on the witness stand only a few minutes before she is excused without cross examination by the defense.

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Update -- Thursday, 1:30pm

Court resumes.

Val Wachtel, Robinson's defense attorney, cross-examines Chelsea Brooks' friend, Amy Keeler. He asks her about the time in the days after the River Fest that she road with Robinson and Brooks back to an apartment near Watson Park where the two had sex while Keeler waited in the car.

He also asks her how she was able to view computer instant messages between Robinson and Brooks. Keeler says Brooks was on the computer at Keeler's house, and was in on the conversation. He asks if she can remember specifics date or times of day, she says she's unable to be specific.

As the questioning continues, Amy Keeler becomes emotional and begins to cry. She regains her composure after a few moments.

She tells jurors she remembers seeing the conversation Brooks was having on her computer with Robinson. She says the two were discussing a problem with the baby's heart recently discovered during a doctor's visit.

When Amy Keeler gave her phone to authorities as part of the investigation into Brooks disappearance, several days had passed since Brooks first went missing. Keeler says her phone could only hold so many text messages, and as she sent more and more to friends hoping for a response from somebody who had seen her, she had to delete old texts. This included the text messages she says were sent from Marissa Drydale's phone, which Brooks was using the night prosecutors say she died. Consequently, while phone records confirm text messages were sent between the two phones the night Brooks died, there is no record of what was actually contained within the texts.

Amy Keeler is allowed to leave the witness stand. Prosecutors call their next witness, Amanda McMullen. She is a 16-year-old today, but was 13-years-old when she knew Chelsea Brooks through a mutual friend.

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Update -- Thursday, Noon

Court is in recess for lunch. When court resumes, defense attorney Val Wachtel will cross-examine Amy Keeler.

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Update -- Thursday, 11:30am

Amy Keeler is still on the stand. She says she witnessed computer instant message conversations between Robinson and Brooks. She knew Brooks was still saying "I love you" to Robinson. She says she was surprised to realize Brooks was still talking with Robinson given her pregnancy and her family's disapproval, but didn't intervene because it had almost cost her Brooks' friendship once before.

She goes on to say she and Brooks had discussed Brooks' concerns about the upcoming DNA testing once the baby was born, and the fact Robinson would face rape charges because of the age difference between the two.

Despite Amy's objections, she remained close friends with Brooks. On Friday, June 9th, 2006, Brooks, Amy Keeler and another friend, Marissa Drydale, made plans to go to Skate South. Brooks is nine months pregnant at this point.

Keeler and Brooks were supposed to spend the night together, but when Keeler learned Brooks also had plans to meet with Robinson, she canceled the sleep over. Keeler says the three girls went on to Skate South. She says Brooks went along to get out of her own house, but did not skate.

Keeler says at one point in the evening, she looked up and realized Brooks was gone. She says Marissa Drydale had given her cell phone to Brooks, who told her she left with a man named "Dez," although Keeler knew that wasn't true.

Over the course of the evening, Marissa and Amy used Amy's cell phone to text message Brooks, who had Marissa's cell phone. Amy says the text messages showed Brooks was with Everett Gentry in a house waiting for Robinson to arrive. As time went on, Brooks reportedly texted her friends saying she was angry and thought Robinson had stood her up. Prosecutors say at this time, Robinson was in Kansas City, but communicating with Everett Gentry, who had also enlisted Theodore Burnett to help Gentry carry out the murder.

Brooks texted her friends to say Gentry was going to bring her back to the skating rink. That text message was received at 10:01pm, prosecutors say. It was the last communication Amy says she had with Brooks, who never returned to the rink.

When the girls tried to call Brooks on Marissa's phone, it went straight to voicemail. Amy says by the time she and Marissa left the skating rink that night, they were very, very upset and worried.

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Update -- Thursday, 11:00am

Amy Keeler takes the stand immediately following her mother's testimony. She says she and Chelsea Brooks became friends when they started at Cleveland Elementary. Although they went to different middle schools, they remained extremely close friends.

Amy Keeler says she met Elgin Robinson at River Fest 2005, when Chelsea Brooks introduced the two. Brooks had known Robinson from before the River Fest, but had kept her crush on him a secret because of the age difference. She was 13, he was 18.

After the River Fest, Amy Keeler says she, Brooks and Robinson went to visit Everett Gentry's sister's apartment near Watson Park. Amy says she stayed in the car, because she knew Brooks & Robinson were planning on having sex inside. She told jurors she felt uncomfortable with what Brooks was doing and didn't want any part of it. Brooks later confirmed to her friend she had slept with Robinson.

Amy Keeler says when the sex continued, she told her mother, Pam Keeler. Amy says she did not like being around Robinson because of the age difference and the way Robinson treated Brooks. Amy says she warned Brooks of the dangers of getting pregnant before it actually happened.

She says Brooks agreed with her, but never stopped seeing Robinson. Amy says Brooks thought she was in love with Robinson. After Brooks became pregnant, Amy says her friend reassured her Robinson was the only person with whom she'd had sex.

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Update -- Thursday, 10:50am

Court is back in session after a brief recess. Prosecutors call Pam Keeler to the stand. She is the mother of Amy Keeler, one of Chelsea Brooks' close friends.

Pam Keeler tells jurors she learned of Brooks relationship with Robinson after her daughter, Amy, confided in her. Pam Keeler made her daughter call Brooks and tell her she had 24-hours to tell her own mother, before Amy's mom did it for her.

When Brooks became upset and refused, Pam Keeler called Terri Brooks. This ended Chelsea Brooks' friendship with Amy Keeler for several months.

When the two became friends again, Brooks was pregnant. When Pam Keeler asked what the child's father thought of the predicament, Chelsea reportedly answered: "He loves me more than my family."

Pam Keeler says she told Brooks that wasn't true, and that Brooks ultimately agreed the man responsible for her pregnancy "might be playing me."

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Update -- Thursday, 10:15am

A detective with the Exploited & Missing Children's Unit is on the stand. She testifies she met with Chelsea Brooks and Elgin Robinson regarding their relationship. When Brooks was initially interviewed, she denied Robinson was the father of the child, saying it was a man named "Shawn Jones." EMCU detectives knew from Brooks parents Robinson was the likely father. Detectives told Brooks that when the baby was born, they would be able to take DNA samples and confirm the true father. It was decided this procedure would be safer than attempting to draw DNA from Chelsea's womb.

When Robinson interviewed with police, he also denied having ever had sex with Brooks, much less fathered her unborn child. Detectives told him what they told Chelsea about using DNA after the child's birth to determine the father's identity.

Court is in recess for 15 minutes at 10:25.

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Update -- Thursday, 9:00am

Trial resumes in the capital murder case against 22-year-old Elgin Robinson. Terri Brooks, Chelsea's mother, is on the stand again to tell jurors how she tried to intervene in her minor daughter's relationship with Robinson.

The night her daughter disappeared, Terri Brooks says she and her husband immediately became concerned, especially given she was nine months pregnant. When Chelsea's friends said she had left Skate South with Gentry to go see Robinson, her mother called him. Robinson was in Kansas City and denied any knowledge of Brooks' whereabouts. Police initially thought she was a runaway given the conflicts stemming from her relationship with Robinson and her family's disapproval.

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