Jurors begin deliberations in trial of man who posted pics of dead wife, kid online

RALEIGH, N.C. — A prosecutor said the pictures a North Carolina man posted ꦇon Facebook of his dead wife and daughter are enough proof to show he is guilty of murder.

But a defense attorney for Elhadji Diop said those photos were shrines to two people he killed accidentally and loved so dearly he tr😼ied to kill himself after their deaths.

Diop is charged with two counts of𒉰 murder and a Wake County jury is deciding his fate after a tr𒐪ial this week.

The bodies of Diop’s 40-year-old wife, Aminata Drame, and his 2-year-old daughter, Fatim, were found by Raleigh police in April 2016 after Diop’s niece in Senegal saw the photos of the dead mother and child in an embrace on Facebook with “Look what God did to me” written underneath, prosecutors said.

Dio♎p was arguing with his wife about money when he allegedly strangled her. The 2-ye🌊ar-old child got between the two as they struggled and was crushed under her unconscious mother, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” Freeman said in her closing argument as she showed jurors the photo of the bodies. “This picture is proof that Elhadji Diop is guilty.”

But a defense lawyer said Diop tried to kill himself after the deaths by cu𓆉tting his throat and wrists and ingesting rat poison, roach killer and grease remover.

“His grief was real. One does not build a shrine to someone they wanted to kill,” public defender Chuck Caldwell said.

at noon Friday.

Diop✅, 55, faces up to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He can also be found guilty of lesser charges.