explanation for how carrie died, the state presented something called burking, a method of suffocation designed to leave no marks by sitting on someone s chest and covering their nose and mouth. to support that scenario, the state called one of mcvay s ex-girlfriend, cati smitty. why are you nervous? i m scared of him. cati described an incident one night in 2013. she was startled awake by mcvay sitting on her chest. i couldn t breathe. he cut off my air. he is a big man and i m not a very large woman. i couldn t inhale. the evidence in prosecutor mcgehee s case was circumstantial but he felt it was strong. he believed mcvay was the last one to talk to carrie, he had her car, used her debit card and