Witness tells of drive to and from Brooklyn Park with defendant in triple killing

Not much was said between Michael Thompson and Eddie Mosley as they drove from St. Louis to the Twin Cities last April.

They had been friends since childhood and recently reconnected when Thompson was looking to stay temporarily at Mosley's St. Louis home. During a brief conversation, Mosley asked Thompson whether he wanted to take a trip out of town, Thompson said Wednesday in a Hennepin County courtroom.

Thompson said he didn't know why or where they were traveling. Hours into the ride, Mosley said they were going to "Sota," meaning Minnesota, Thompson testified. He said he fell asleep and woke up about half a mile from the home of DeLois Brown, one of three people whom Mosley is accused of killing shortly afterward on the morning of April 9, 2012.

Thompson's testimony came on the third day of the trial of Mosley, 35, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Brown, 59, a home day-care provider, and her parents, James Bolden Sr., 83, and Clover Bolden, 81, at Brown's Brooklyn Park home,

Thompson, 37, testified that he believed Mosley was making the trip to buy drugs. He still didn't know what was on Mosley's mind, he said, when Mosley got out of his sport utility vehicle, changed clothes, got on a bicycle that was in the SUV and rode away.

Mosley told Thompson to go to a nearby gas station, buy some coffee and cigarettes and return to the same spot, Thompson told the court. A few minutes later, he said, Mosley rode up to the SUV, his face covered in blood.

"What happened?" asked Thompson.

Thompson testified that that was the first time he noticed Mosley had a gun, which he placed in the SUV's console. He also saw that Mosely was wearing blue latex gloves under his black leather gloves, he said.

Thompson testified that as they drove back to St. Louis, Mosley burned his clothes in a dumpster behind a gas station in Iowa, threw his remaining bullets out the window at various spots along the route, and tossed the gun from a bridge into a creek. Thompson said Mosley also left the bike behind another gas station.

Thompson said he never asked Mosley any questions about the gun because "he didn't want to know." Once home, he didn't contact police because he didn't want to be a snitch, he said. He would later cooperate with authorities.

In his cross examination, Travis Keil, Mosley's attorney, asked why Thompson didn't alert any of the cashiers when he paid for gas on the way home. Thompson said he was scared he would be hurt because Mosley viewed him as a witness.

Prosecutors allege that Mosley planned to go to Brown's Brooklyn Park home to kill a young relative he was accused of sexually assaulting and to kill Brown because she would be a witness.

The trial resumes Thursday.