The iPhone belonging to Kira Steger was apparently resold after her disappearance and later reactivated in Indonesia, according to a search warrant affidavit filed recently in Ramsey County District Court.
Steger, 30, was reported missing by her husband Feb. 24 and found dead in early May in the Mississippi River. Her husband, Jeffery Trevino, 39, is charged in her murder and is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 16.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed July 26: Police obtained Apple Inc. records on Steger's cellphone and found that it had been sold to St. Paul electronics reseller EZ Traderz.
In June, police spoke to the man who operates EZ Traderz, who then directed them to the man who sold him Steger's iPhone.
The man who sold the phone to EZ Traderz gave police a statement, which authorities are trying to verify by filing the July search warrant affidavit to retrieve his cellphone records.
Court documents did not detail what the man told police about how he came to possess Steger's cellphone, nor do they say when the phone was reactivated in Indonesia or by whom.
Police allege that Trevino killed Steger because she was planning to leave him and move into her own apartment. Family members told police Steger was unhappy in her marriage and had discussed separation with her husband. The couple gave notice on Jan. 31 that they were vacating their rental house in St. Paul by April 1.
Authorities found evidence that the last day she was seen alive, Feb. 21, Steger was texting another man she had been romantically linked to while having dinner and bowling with Trevino at the Mall of America, where she worked as a co-manager of a clothing shop.
The man's address was later found in Trevino's vehicle.
Trevino was charged in Steger's murder on Feb. 28 after police found copious amounts of blood in the rental home in the 500 block of E. Iowa Avenue.
Surveillance video and GPS data showed that on the morning of Feb. 22 someone drove Steger's car to the Mall of America and took a cab back to the couple's house.
DNA tests showed that blood in the home and car matched Steger, prosecutors have said.
Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708
Twitter: @ChaoStrib
Robbinsdale shelter-in-place alert accidentally sent countywide
Developer of St. Paul's Keg & Case food hall declares bankruptcy
Wildlife agency: Sturgeon won't go on endangered species list
Minnesotans interviewed to serve on Feeding Our Future trial
