An investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office told Ogle County jurors on Friday that a 2016 fire at a teacher’s home in Byron started on or near the couch where her body was found.

“It was obvious that the fire originated from the area of that couch,” testified Gregory Castronovo, an investigator for the State Fire Marshal’s Office. “The fire was extremely heavy on her mid-torso. The entire surface of her body was damaged by the fire.”

Castronovo’s testimony came on the fourth day of the jury trial for Duane “DC” Meyer, 43, of Stillman Valley. He is charged with killing his ex-wife, Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer, 31, and then setting her Byron home on fire with their 3-year-old son inside.

Meyer, referred to as DC during the trial, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death in connection with the Oct. 19, 2016, house fire in which Maggie was found dead.

The couple’s 3-year-old son, Amos Meyer, who was in an upstairs bedroom in the home at the time of the fire, was later pronounced dead at a Rockford hospital.

DC Meyer has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and has been held in the Ogle County Jail since his arrest Oct. 9, 2019.

Maggie was a teacher at the Chana Education Center at the time of her death. She filed for divorce in 2014, and court records show the divorce was finalized in September 2016.

Castronovo said the “V” burn pattern from the couch indicated to him that the origin of the fire was on the sofa in the first-floor living room where Maggie’s burned body was found in the morning fire. He said damage to the ceiling of the basement – directly below where the sofa was located – also pointed to the fire starting on the sofa.

He said he found no evidence that the fire started from electrical or mechanical issues or a cigarette or candle, ruling the fire as incendiary (purposely set) and not accidental in nature.

He said the greatest amount of damage was found in the center of Maggie’s body. The kitchen area also had smoke damage, with items covered with soot.

He said smoke and carbon monoxide from the fire traveled upstairs to the bedroom where Amos was asleep. Castronovo said the outline of the toddler’s body that could be seen on the mattress in his crib was caused by soot from the smoke.

He said the fire smoldered for some time, but he could not say as to how long or when it started. He said he responded to the scene about an hour after the fire was reported at 6:34 a.m.

“The fire burned for some time,” Castronovo said, adding that it was unlikely the fire started at 5 a.m. as suggested by Patrick Moore, one of DC’s defense attorneys, during cross-examination. “Based on my experience, for a fire to do that much damage, it was unlikely set a short while before.”

Sam South, who worked with DC at the Nippon Sharyo plant in Rochelle in 2016, testified that DC made a comment to him before Maggie’s death.

Under questioning by Assistant Ogle County State’s Attorney Allison Huntley, South said he knew DC was going through a divorce and he made a comment to him when referring to a wooden box located on the floor of the mechanical area of the factory.

“He said, ‘If could get her in this box all my troubles would be over’,” South testified.

On cross-examination, South said he could not recall the date the comment was made and did not report it to anyone.

“I didn’t think it was serious. I thought he was just venting,” South said.

Late Friday afternoon, the state presented text message records from DC and Catherine Mearns’s cell phones. Mearns was Meyer’s girlfriend in 2016.

Defense attorney Christopher DeRango objected to those records being entered as evidence, arguing that the state had not laid a proper foundation and not shown a clear change of custody path between police agencies.

Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe denied DeRango’s motion and allowed Illinois State Police Lt. Nate Macklin to testify and read text messages extracted from DC and Mearns’s phones.

That testimony, followed by cross-examination by DeRango, went past 5 p.m. The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, Jan. 20, since Monday is a court holiday.

Thursday recap of testimony

On Thursday, two forensic pathologists testified they found ante-mortem injuries on Maggie’s body that occurred before her death. Both said she died before her body was found in the living room of the home, but could not give a definitive cause of death.

Dr. Mark Peters of Rockton said Maggie’s body was burned “100 percent” with charring covering her entire body. He said some of the injuries she suffered were from the heat of the fire, which caused limbs to be distorted and one femur to break.

Peters and Dr. Hilary McElligott of the DuPage County Coroner’s Office said no soot was found in her throat or lungs, indicating that she was dead when the fire occurred. Examinations of her internal organs found fluid in her lung, which was indicative of a prolonged death, possibly by strangulation.

Peters and McElligott said they both found hemorrhaging on the lower part of her scalp and on her back posterior shoulder and neck. Examinations of her skin for other areas of pre-death injuries were made impossible by the severe charring from the fire.

McElligott said the charring on Maggie’s body was “extensive” and could have masked other injuries.

However, she said an internal examination under the skin showed hemorrhaging and clotted blood on the skull, beneath the scalp, which indicated some type of blunt trauma before she died.

McElligott said DNA samples were unable to be taken from the body due to the “significant disruption of tissue” due to the extensive thermal injuries.

Peters said Amos died by asphyxia from carbon monoxide from the fire, indicated by soot in his larynx.

Also testifying on Thursday was Timothy Gray, a senior analyst with Verizon, who was called to testify about cell phone records requested in 2016 by investigators.

Gray started to testify to spreadsheets that prosecutors say listed calls, texts and cell tower locations, but defense attorney Patrick Moore raised many objections as to the accuracy of the data and the foundation for how it was provided on a spreadsheet.

That issue was argued for 90 minutes outside the presence of the jury.

Leisten argued that the data on the spreadsheets was compiled from data secured from a 2016 search warrant from the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office.

After reviewing arguments and case law, Roe allowed Leisten to continue questioning Gray over DeRango’s objection.

Prosecutors have argued that their evidence - which includes cell phone data and messages - will show DC planned to end Maggie’s life.

But the defense has argued that text messages sent by DC before the deaths were only part of a “contentious” divorce, were taken out of context and not indicative of anything nefarious.

More state witnesses are scheduled to testify next week, with the trial expected to take up to two more weeks.

Prosecutors say they will prove DC “attacked and murdered” Maggie while Amos was sleeping in his upstairs bedroom.

Defense attorneys told jurors that while the deaths were a “heartbreaking tragedy”, DC was not responsible and the state’s case was based solely on circumstantial evidence.