BRYAN — The evidence log in the Kentucky Fried Chicken homicide investigation is missing, and no one knows what happened to it, according to the man who was lead investigator in the 1983 case.

Danny Pirtle, a former Kilgore police detective who is running unopposed for Rusk County sheriff, testified Thursday morning in Hartsfield's capital murder trial. Darnell Hartsfield, 47, is charged in the shooting deaths of five people who were kidnapped in 1983 from a Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken.

He said the Kentucky Fried Chicken evidence was entered into a separate log from the rest of the Kilgore Police Department's investigations at that time. A former Kilgore police captain was in charge of that log, he said. Attempts to locate the evidence log have not been successful, he said.

Pirtle said the Kilgore Police Department did not assign a lead investigator in the case until three weeks after the crime occurred. The delay in appointing a lead investigator was, in retrospect, a "bad move," he said.

Several law enforcement officers were inside the restaurant by the time Pirtle arrived, he said, which was the night of the crime. Pirtle collected a few pieces of evidence, including two baseball caps, a folded three-page letter and a vial of blood.

He said he did not collect and did not recall seeing a cash register tape box or napkin that prosecutors say were collected at the scene. Blood on those items helped connect Hartsfield and his cousin Romeo Pinkerton, who pleaded guilty to the crimes a year ago, to the Kentucky Fried Chicken case.

"If I'd have noticed (a blood-stained item), I would have photographed and seized it," Pirtle said.

Unlike his cousin, Hartsfield had family support in the courtroom. During afternoon testimony, four female relatives of Hartsfield, including his mother, entered the courtroom. Hartsfield turned and smiled at them as they were sitting down.

Other testimony Thursday:

- Leann Killingsworth, a former restaurant manager, said the cash register tape boxes were stored beneath the front counter, but she could not recall if the blood-stained box was present the night of the killings. She said she would have noticed if it was not there because she was pointing out things out of place to the police.

- Lanetta Ashley, a former restaurant employee, said she left the restaurant shortly after 10 p.m. the night of the killings, presumably minutes before the crime began. She said she and victim Mary Tyler's daughter cleaned the front of the restaurant quickly but thoroughly before leaving for the night. She was called at about 2 a.m. by police checking to see if she was missing. She said the cash register tape box should have been beneath the counter because counter employees had to replace any missing supplies, but she could not remember if it was there when she left.

- Doug Collard, a former Tyler police officer, said he was part of the department's traveling crime scene unit. He said the Tyler unit was called for help and arrived the day after the killings. After clearing media away from the restaurant, his unit processed the scene searching for fingerprints and other evidence. He said evidence had been removed and other officers had begun processing the scene. He said the crime scene was a mess. He also testified he knew from police work in Tyler that Hartsfield and Pinkerton were frequently seen together.

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At a glance

Sept. 23, 1983: Five people were abducted from a Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken and taken to an oil lease road about 15 miles from the restaurant in northern Rusk County. Their bodies were found the next day, shot execution style.

Killed: David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Landers was not employed at the restaurant.

October 2007: Romeo Pinkerton pleaded guilty to five counts of murder, avoiding a possible death sentence. He was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences. Darnell Hartsfield, his cousin, is on trial in Bryan, accused of participating in the slayings with Pinkerton.

Recently developed: DNA evidence identified the blood on a box of cash register tapes from the restaurant as belonging to Hartsfield, according to evidence from Pinkerton's trial. Blood on a napkin at the restaurant was identified as Pinkerton's.