Left inset: James Salerno in court (WCNC). Center inset: Mary Collins (WCNC). Right inset: Lavi Pham (Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office). Background: The apartment building that Mary Collins was allegedly lured to in Charlotte, N.C., before being killed (WCNC).
A young, intellectually disabled woman in North Carolina uttered the words, "I just need friends," before her ex-boyfriend and his pal "bled her out in a bathtub like an animal in a slaughterhouse," according to a local prosecutor.
"Mary's words exposed her vulnerability, and these defendants used that vulnerability to take her life," said Mecklenburg County Prosecutor Jane Collins during opening statements this week for Lavi Pham and James Salerno's murder trial, according to local ABC affiliate WSOC. The two men are accused of killing 20-year-old Mary Collins in Pham's Charlotte apartment in 2020 after luring her there. They allegedly stabbed Collins more than 130 times after sexually assaulting her, then wrapped her body in plastic and "stuffed" her in a mattress.
"I honestly don't remember what I said six years ago when my daughter was missing for eight days, and I didn't know where she was or what was happening to her," testified Collins' mother, Kasei Canfora. "The only people who did were not making sense."
Four people were charged in connection with Collins' death, with Salerno facing charges of murder, kidnapping and failure to report a death or concealing a death. Lavi Pham, who is Mary Collins' ex-boyfriend, and his girlfriend at the time of the slaying, Kelly Lavery, were charged with the same three crimes; Lavery pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, while Pham and Salerno have pleaded not guilty.
Collins' family says she had the mental capacity of a 15-year-old due to her diagnosis of 22q deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome, which is said to be the second-most common genetic disorder behind Down syndrome. "They bled her out in a bathtub like an animal in a slaughter house," Mary Collins' grandmother, Mia Alderman, told the court during a bond hearing in January 2023 for Salerno, according to the Charlotte Observer.
"They said Mary had a leash around her neck in the bathtub, bloodied, stabbed, dog leash around her neck," Alderman recounted to local NBC affiliate WCNC after Lavery's plea hearing in 2022. "I remember putting my hands over my ears, trying not to hear."
Collins' family has said they believe Lavery and Pham got Collins sushi hours before killing her and posted a video with her to make it seem like she was not in danger. Prosecutors allege that Pham and Lavery, who the woman knew to be her friends, lured her to their apartment and planned to kill her in retribution for refusing to have sex with them both simultaneously.
"'I just need friends.' Those are Mary Collins' last words," the prosecutor told the court.
Collins' grandmother, Mia Alderman, took the stand this week and described showing up at the apartment where she was killed while looking for her.
"I was yelling Mary's name," Alderman said, according to WSOC.
"I was like, 'Let me in there,' and she said, 'No, you're embarrassing me, my friends are in there,'" Alderman said.
Lavery is serving a minimum 25- to 32-year sentence in state prison.
Prosecutors say Salerno and an 18-year-old woman he met on Tinder, America Diehl, used Cascade dish detergent and pumpkin spice shower gel to mask the smell of Collins' body. Diehl is scheduled to go on trial in December.