Relative details her last memory of Ariana Payne

It was the day before Easter 2006 and Terry White wanted to drop off some cascarones for her nephew's three children at his West 36th Street apartment.

There were toys strewn all over the place and the kitchen was "pretty messy," but what concerned her most was her grandniece, Ariana Payne.

The little girl was dirty and "scrawny" and her hair was unkempt when she climbed up to sit next to her, White said.

"She didn't look very happy and she didn't sound very happy," White said.

The 3-year-old kept muttering something, but she couldn't hear what it was, White said.

White explained cascarones are hollow chicken egg shells filled with confetti that people from Mexico often break over each other's heads on special occasions, such as Easter.

Two months later, White said she dropped some tamales off for the family but didn't see either Ariana or her brother, Tyler, 4.

White was the last witness called to the stand before the state rested in its case Wednesday against Christopher Payne.

Payne, 30, was indicted on charges of killing Ariana and Tyler sometime between March 9, 2006, and Sept. 1, 2006.

Ariana's remains were found on Feb. 18, 2007, stuffed in a plastic tub in a trash bin at a Prince Road storage unit. Police believe Tyler's remains were probably missed inside the trash bin and ended up at a landfill.

Payne, arrested March 1, 2007, is facing two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealment of a dead human body and several child-abuse counts. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Payne told detectives the children starved themselves to death upon realizing they would have to stay with him instead of their mother, Jamie Hallam. His attorneys contend Payne's live-in girlfriend, Reina Gonzales, was the one who starved them to death because she resented them.

Gonzales, 24, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in exchange for a 22-year prison sentence.

White, who is the sister of Payne's late mother, testified that Payne never mentioned any problems with the children, including decreased appetites.

In fact, Payne told her Ariana would get up in the middle of the night to hunt for potato chips, White said.

Payne told her Hallam gave the children to him and he would rather have them than pay child support to her, White said.

Also testifying Wednesday was Carolina Calderon, a friend of Gonzales'.

Calderon said the last time she saw Tyler was in the summer of 2006. He was sitting quietly on a mattress in the living room and he had large bruises on his right cheek and on both arms.

"He looked very sad," Calderon said.

The 24-year-old testified she never saw Gonzales yell at the children, who were well-behaved and calm.

However, during her cross-examination, Calderon acknowledged telling police that she could see Gonzales couldn't stand Ariana and Tyler and would yell at them when frustrated. She also recalled a couple of incidents in which Gonzales showed preferential treatment toward her own son with Payne, Chris Jr.

One of the defense's first witnesses was Jeanne Nix, who worked with Payne at a local medical transport company.

Nix testified that when Payne first began to work for the company, Gonzales would call occasionally asking when Payne might be home from work.

Starting in March 2006, the calls became frequent and angry, Nix testified.

As a result, Payne wound up spending more time at home during slow periods, Nix said. He also started calling in sick frequently toward the end of his employment.

When Payne first came to work with her, Nix said he was overweight and clean-cut, but he had lost a lot of weight and was no longer clean-cut by the time he was fired.

Two witnesses jurors did not hear from Wednesday were Gonzales and Debbie Reyes, who admits to selling drugs with Payne after he lost his job.

Defense attorney John O'Brien wanted to call the women, who already testified for the prosecution, back to the stand to discuss the phone conversations between Payne and Gonzales.

Reyes claims she overheard Gonzales repeatedly threaten to kill the children if Payne didn't come home to deal with them. She said she could hear the children screaming in the background during the phone calls.

Reyes also contends she never heard Payne threaten the children or saw him physically abuse Gonzales, but she saw Gonzales verbally abuse Payne all of the time.

Prosecutor Susan Eazer objected to the women being called to the stand again, citing pretrial rulings limiting how much defense attorneys could go into about Gonzales' character.

Eazer told Judge Richard Fields that if he allowed O'Brien to bring up the alleged threats, he should reverse his earlier decision precluding her from asking witnesses about alleged acts of domestic violence involving Payne, Gonzales and Hallam.

At this point, jurors don't know that Gonzales did try to defend the children on at least one occasion and was abused by Payne for her trouble, Eazer said.

Eazer argued jurors should learn Reyes had to stop Payne from spanking Chris Jr. on one occasion, Ariana told Calderon her father had hit her and Tyler told his grandmother his father had "kicked his butt."

By describing Payne as a "good, loving and caring father" during opening statements and repeatedly casting Gonzales as the murderer, the defense has flung open the door for her, Eazer argued.

Fields told O'Brien he couldn't ask the women about the phone conversations and the jury went home.

However, with the jury gone, Fields did allow the attorneys to question the women to make a record for any possible appeal.

Gonzales denied calling Payne frequently, cursing at him or threatening the children. She also denied telling Calderon she couldn't stand any children other than Chris Jr. or striking Calderon's child.

She testified Payne struck Chris Jr. in the head once and she was too afraid of Payne to seek help for Ariana and Tyler.

Gonzales told Eazer Payne struck her so many times she couldn't remember how many and the first time was when she was pregnant with Chris Jr.

However, she acknowledged to O'Brien that during a pretrial interview she said Payne only struck her twice.

On Starnet: Follow the Payne trial on the Star's Legal Blog At The Courthouse at go.azstarnet.com/courthouse.

"She didn't look very happy and she didn't sound very happy."

Terry White, recalling the last time she saw her 3-year-old grandniece, Ariana Payne