Day 5 of Hoehn Trial Tells Us How He Said He Moved Savanna’s Body Out of the Apartment Unnoticed

"Nailed the front pieces back on and moved it down the stairs by himself"

FARGO, N.D. — In the second week of William Hoehn’s trial we find out how he says he got Savanna’s body out of the apartment.

KVRR’s Jessie Cohen was in court and tells us more about this unfolding story in our lead story.

Over the last few months, it’s been unclear how Savanna got from her apartment to the Red River but with minutes left in today’s session Bryan Grob steps up and tells us a conversation that he had with Hoehn.

“I was told he had put it in a hollowed out dresser.” “Okay and did he tell you what he did with that dresser” “Nailed the front pieces back on and moved it down the stairs by himself,” said Grob, who was an inmate at the same time as Hoehn.

It’s the question everyone has been looking for an answer to and that wasn’t the only insight Grob is able to provide.

After being in an isolated area of the prison with Hoehn the two opened up to each other.

“I went through a very hard situation where I had to go through an abortion with an ex and he made the comment ‘Well I would have just cut the baby out of the b****,'” Grob said.

Grob’s testimony changes the game in this trial because it now tells another story. First Hoehn tells police Savanna was alive when he walked into the apartment but tells Grob she was already dead.

“Basically he just said I walked in on the most f***** up thing you could imagine,” Grob said.

He wasn’t the only one who was able to provide telling details. Special Agent Jesse Smith showed some disturbing web searches found on laptops and computers in Hoehn’s apartment.

Searches like “How to make a noose”, “how do I register my baby’s birth after home delivery in North Dakota” and “if a pregnant mother dies, how long until the baby dies” are just a few examples.

The biggest reoccurring question is what killed Savanna? Being strangled by the rope or bleeding out?

“Couldn’t 100% sure say it’s exsanguination versus maybe strangulation,” said Dr. Victor Froloff, with the Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office, who performed the autopsy on Savanna’s body.

The rope keeps being presented and when Hoehn’s ex-fiance takes the stand, she says he had sexual fantasies of strangling her.

She also has closer ties to this case than Hoehn realized, she is related to the La Fontaines.

“You know Savanna’s my cousin right…Cause I was raised to believe that when you come from a tribe as small as us, a small reservation you’re related to someone either by blood, friendship or family,” said Tanith McCloud, Hoehn’s ex-husband.

The fifth day of William Hoehn’s trial was filled with gruesome autopsy photos, telling web history, and personal phone calls…many continually talking on the stand about how far from normal this case is.

“The abdomen was covered by a bedsheet and some towels which in my opinion was soaked with the blood,” Froloff said.

But as the days continue, more pieces of the puzzle are put together.

Grob is set to take the stand first thing tomorrow morning and answer a few more questions from the state.

We will continue to update you on the case and any further details presented.