AUSTIN — The second day of Meagan Work's sentencing began Tuesday and was it filled with testimonies from witnesses, one of which described what it was like discovering her 2-year-old son's body in a shallow grave.
Work, the Austin mother who pleaded guilty in the 2014 death of her son, faces anywhere from five years to life in prison.
In 2014, 2-year-old Colton Turner was found dead in a shallow grave in southeast Austin after authorities searched for the missing boy. Police believe Work and her boyfriend, Michael Turner, admitted to burying Colton after he died from a seizure.
On Monday, Work's sentence began with testimonies from some of her family members and friends.
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On Tuesday, Austin Police Detective Ray Tynes showed images of the crime scene where they recovered Colton Tuner's body off Felter Lane in Austin.
"It was completely silent," Tynes said of the crime scene. "Very, very few words were spoken."
Mark Eaton, the CEO of Stellarray, Inc. hired Michael as a handyman in 2014.
He said, during the few months Michael worked there, Work and Colton would often come to work with Michael.
Linda Weber also worked at Stellaray labs. Both Weber and Eaton recalled seeing Colton with bruises different times.
"Just about every time Colton was there, he had bruises on them [his legs]," Weber said.
Eaton said he last saw Michael was on July 23, 2014. He said Colton was not with him.
"He kind of flaked out and I didn't understand why," Eaton said.
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Sydney Work, Meagan Work's sister, said Meagan asked her to babysit Colton in May of 2014.
She recalled seeing dark marks around Colton's forehead and eyebrow and scratches on his back.
Sydney got choked up in the court room as she said she took pictures of the injuries and said she confronted Meagan about them.
She said Meagan told her the injuries were not her fault. Sydney spoke with Meagan on Facebook in September of 2014.
Messages showed Sydney asking how Colton was, and Meagan responding that Colton was great and leaned to ride a bike.
In reality, Colton died months before.
"I can only imagine what he could've been and who he could've become," Sydney said. "And every day I have to wake up and have to know that she did something like this, and now it's never going to be the same."
Sydney also spoke about their childhood and said she and Meagan were sexually abused as kids by people who would come to their house while their parents would "get high" and pass out.
Dr. Joseph Cohen, a pediatrician who owns Cedar Park Pediatrics, testified after Sydney.
He said he saw Colton until he was 6 months old, when they stopped coming. Cohen said Colton was a "thriving child."
A man who worked at Canteen during the summer of 2014 took the stand shortly after. Canteen is located next to Stellarray, Inc. where Michael worked.
The man said he worked with and spoke to the eye witness Tynes spoke about earlier.
"He was nervous, he was shocked, he was scared, he didn’t know what to do," he said.
Detective Anthony Nelson, with Austin police interviewed the potential eye witness, Robert Coe, along with Work and Michael in September 2014.
Nelson said Meagan continued to lie about Colton's whereabouts, saying she told him they gave Colton to a family outside a restaurant.
“I know that you know that your child is no longer on this Earth, is no longer alive," Nelson said he told Work during one of the interviews. "I knew if she had told three different stories of how this child has disappeared, I was probably going to get a fourth or a fifth."
He said Work then told him Colton had a seizure behind Michael's work on July 7, 2014.
Nelson said Meagan told him they took Colton to a hospital in Round Rock. In a later interview, Nelson said she told him they did not take him to a hospital because they worried police or CPS would take Colton away because of the bruising on his body.
Nelson said Work told him Colton was unresponsive and lethargic with irregular breathing. This led Nelson to believe Colton had brain trauma.
Nelson testified that Meagan told him they took Colton to the motel where they tried to care for him. Nelson said Work said she fell asleep and woke up to her dead child.
Both Michael and Meagan individually told officers that it was the other's fault Colton didn't go to the hospital.
Nelson said Meagan also lied about how many burial locations there work, saying she was adamant there was only one. He said she later admitted to a second location after the first wasn't deep enough to bury Colton.
Nelson said he spoke to Coe a few days after speaking with Meagan and Michael.
Coe testified on Tuesday that he "saw something significant" on July 4, 2014. He said heard a child crying across the parking lot.
Coe explained he saw a woman hit the child, "maybe in a discipline manner." He said the child continued to cry and said he watched the woman hit him again.
"I saw one or two strike that were a lot stronger," Coe testified.
Coe said the woman put the barefoot child on the hot pavement, while the child started screaming and reaching for her.
He said he watched the woman pick up the child by his armpits and shake him forward and backward.
“It was very much like grabbing a rag doll and shaking it," said Coe.
Coe started breathing deeply and he continued his testimony, visibly shaken by his recount.
"She slammed his head against the car door," Coe said. "I could hear the thud of his head hit the door."
Coe said a man joined the woman and child and drove off.
Prosecutors asked Coe why he didn't call 911.
"I froze," said Coe, explaining he planned to speak to the couple the next time he saw them.
Coe said he didn't see the couple again. He did see Colton's picture when the Amber Alert was issued.
"The child's face looked very familiar," said Coe.
Coe said he didn't know how he knew the child until he saw Meagan and Michael's faces in later reports.
He then noticed the date he remembered seeing the violence matched with the date in the arrest affidavit.
"My information could impact the investigation," said Coe.
Tuesday's sentencing concluded during Coe's testimony.
On Wednesday, the court is expected to see a video of an APD interview from 2014 where Coe used a doll to demonstrate what the alleged assault looked like.
KVUE's Molly Oak is tweeting live from the courtroom. Follow her for updates.