Shell casings retrieved from the murder scene of five members of an Elkmont family were connected to a gun stolen the morning of their deaths, according to a firearm forensic expert Friday during court in Athens.

The jury in the Mason Sisk capital murder trial also heard testimony of a DNA forensic expert. Sisk is facing retrial in the Labor Day 2019 murders of five family members — his father, John Wayne Sisk; stepmother, Mary Sisk; brother, Grayson, 6; sister, Aurora, 4, and infant brother, Colson, 6 months, while they lay sleeping.

The casings were retrieved from the Sisk home in the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2019. Mason had called 911 the night before to report the killings, saying he was playing video games in his basement bedroom when he heard five shots.

When he went upstairs to investigate, he said, he heard running footsteps and a Chevy pickup truck fleeing out of the driveway. After questioning by former Limestone sheriff Mike Blakely, Mason confessed to the shootings and told where he threw the gun, authorities have said.

On Friday, Alabama State Forensic Department scientist Brandon Best, declared an expert in firearm analysis and toolmaker identification, said former sheriff’s department investigator Leslie Ramsey turned over three bullets and five cartridge casings retrieved from the scene of the murders for testing, as well as the gun alleged to have been used.

Best said ballistics tests on the three retrieved bullets were inconclusive because of alterations from passing through the victims.

“The evidence showed the bullets had struck something so hard it changed the characteristics,” said Best. However, cartridges retrieved from test firing of the recovered Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol proved that cartridges from the murder scene matched.

In earlier testimony, Alabama Department of Forensic Science DNA analysis expert Gina Peterson said that swabs taken from the gun and from a pair of fingerless workout gloves found in the house were “inconclusive,” and could not be matched to a swab taken from the inside of Mason’s cheek or the autopsy blood specimens retrieved from the murder victims. She also said there were no blood stains on either the gun or gloves to tie them conclusively to the crimes.

A friend and motorcycle club associate of John Sisk’s, Richard Nassar, was allowed to offer hearsay testimony about the father-son relationship between John and Mason. Nassar said that Mason was always respectful to him and he found him to be a “quiet, stoic and intelligent kid.” John confided to Nassar that he and his wife, Mary, were having problems with Mason being disrespectful and, at one time, Mason stole rings from Mary that he gave to girls at school.

District Attorney Brian Jones asked Nassar if he had talked to John before the Sisk family left for a trip to Gulf Breeze, Fla., that Labor Day weekend, and Nassar said, “I honestly can’t remember.” It was at the conclusion of that weekend that the Florida hosts of the Sisk family, Gator and Angela Patty, discovered that Gator’s Smith & Wesson 9mm was missing. Gator Patty identified the murder weapon by serial number as the one stolen from his home.

Incriminating messages

In Thursday, April 20, testimony, two young girlfriends of Mason’s from while he had attended Madison Middle School read from retrieved texts they and Mason exchanged while he was being held in solitary confinement in the Limestone County Jai. In the texts, he admitted to them that he shot his father, stepmother and three siblings while being under gunpoint from a masked intruder.

He told one, Lola Holliday, “I’m not a monster, although everyone thinks I am, and they look at me like I am.”

In another text, Mason said: “Lola, I want to be a contract assassin.” When she exclaimed “No!” Sisk went on to text: “I found out what I’m good at. I killed my whole family in 4 seconds — all head shots.” But he later wrote, “I hate feeling like I’m being dragged by evil.”

The night of the murders before calling 911 to report them, he called Lola twice, asking if he could come to her Madison County home to stay because he “hated staying in the house with his family that way.” She advised him that leaving the scene would make him look guilty and he should report the murders immediately and wait at the end of his driveway for police to arrive.

The teens were 15 at the time of these text exchanges.

Lola also testified about seeing Mason allegedly bullied at Madison County Middle School, where a group of boys cut the soles off his shoes, and an incident of alleged child abuse in which John Sisk grabbed Mason in the crotch. She said Mason begged to be let go and fell to the floor while his father laughed at him.

Another admirer who was just 14 at the time of texts said Mason wrote: “I’m going to escape. I’ve got a foolproof plan. I know I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life.”

Defense Attorneys Michael Sizemore and Shay Golden said Mason was too young to enter into a contract with Combined Public Communications, a firm that provides cellphone service to inmates in 450 facilities nationwide. They said the legal age in Alabama to sign a contract is 19 and so the messages should be void.

The judge allowed the testimony.

The trial resumes 9 a.m. Monday, April 24.