A co-worker of Gordon’s testified that he saw Gordon meet a man later identified as Clark in the truck school parking lot during Gordon’s lunch break, drive off with him and return in the sports car a few minutes later — alone.

Gordon had hidden his own Nissan 350Z for about five months by the same railroad spur until it was repossessed March 30, 2015, Monahan told jurors. Evidence of Gordon’s “harebrained scheme” to kill Clark for his car, Monahan said, included emails Gordon sent to companies days before Clark’s death seeking to buy replacement dashboard VIN panels for a Nissan 350Z as well as calls and texts to Clark about the car before and after Clark’s death.

Gordon did not testify. Jurors were shown surveillance video of Gordon making two separate trips about an hour apart to a Walmart in Bridgeton on the evening of Clark’s disappearance. First, he bought a 50-gallon plastic tote, three bottles of bleach and latex gloves. He came back later for a refund for the tote — in which authorities believe he tried to store Clark’s body — and instead bought a shovel. The scene where Clark’s body was found was stained by and reeked of bleach, Monahan said.