Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake and Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John. (Provided by St. John Police)

       John Silva learned he had been charged in connection with two Lake County teens’ deaths during his last police interrogation.

       By that point on May 23, 2020, his co-defendant Connor Kerner had been long arrested in the Feb. 25, 2019, deaths of Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John, and Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake.

       Police told Silva they contradicted a lot of what he initially told them with evidence and other interviews, according to the video of his questioning.

       Kerner was later sentenced to 179 years for killing the pair at his grandfather’s home in rural Hebron. Silva was in the basement and helped clean the crime scene in the garage, prosecutors said.

       It was “your last chance to set the record straight,” Porter County Sheriff Sgt. Detective Brian Dziedzinski, the lead investigator warned in the interview. “Connor and his attorney want to put (it) on you.”

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       The interview was a point of contention Tuesday as defense attorney John Cantrell objected to parts of the video’s use, saying Porter County detectives influenced Silva to keep talking after he asked for a lawyer.

       “Can I wait for a lawyer,” Silva asked, early in the video.

       “You can always wait for things,” Dziedzinski replied.

       Silva, 20, of Hamlet, was charged May 22, 2020, with two felony counts of aiding, inducing or causing murder in the perpetration of a robbery and two felony counts of aiding, inducing or causing attempted robbery in connection with the deaths of Lanham and Grill.

       Prosecutors were expected to rest their case Tuesday. Defense lawyers may call at least one witness Wednesday with closing arguments to follow.

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       Cantrell objected to portions of the police interview, saying it was clear that Silva was asking for an attorney under his Miranda rights. At one point, Silva also asked his mother over the phone to bring in a lawyer, he said.

       Judge Michael Fish, however, sided with the prosecution, saying shortly afterward that the defendant started questioning detectives and continued to answer questions without legal representation.

       “The defendant didn’t wait for his lawyer,” Fish said. “He kept talking.”

       He allowed Cantrell’s request for both an unredacted and redacted transcript of the interview to go to the jury.

       Later, on June 16, 2020, a DNR employee called to say a neighbor found Grill’s red iPhone on his rural property — about a mile from Kerner’s grandfather’s house between where Lanham’s burned Civic was found, Dziedzinski testified.

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       When the phone was later powered on, it read Feb. 25, 2019 — the day of the murders, he said.

       Earlier in the day, prosecutors played a recorded phone call between Silva and girlfriend Sydney Weaver where they discussed a 3-month checkup for their newborn daughter before turning the topic to the murders.

       Silva said he was hoping to get charges dropped. Weaver said Silva didn’t know Lanham and Grill would be harmed.

       “That’s why I recorded,” he said.

       “Exactly. You were scared,” she replied.

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       “Connor took their lives for no reason,” Silva said. “It’s just so sad. It’s truly sad.”

       “You should not be punished,” Weaver said. “You did not hurt those kids.”

       Also earlier, Erica Gilbert, an Indiana State Police ballistics expert, said a bullet fragment collected as evidence matched the Glock handgun used in the murders.

       As the trial continues, Cantrell told Fish they may call Kerner’s former girlfriend to testify.

       Chief Deputy Prosecutor Armando Salinas objected, saying it would be hearsay — or secondhand knowledge — noting she had never mentioned Silva in interviews.

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       “What’s important is not what she said, but what she didn’t say,” Cantrell said, implying the argument that Silva had a much lesser role than Kerner.

       “We don’t know if we’re going to call her,” he told the judge.

       The trial, which began June 2, is scheduled to conclude Wednesday.

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