MONROE — A Monroe County jury today found a Frenchtown Township man guilty in the death of a woman who disappeared from a Halloween party.

The jury, which deliberated for three hours, found Daniel Clay guilty of felony murder and concealing Chelsea Bruck’s body.

IN PICTURES: Daniel Clay found guilty of murder in Chelsea Bruck case

Clay will be sentenced July 13, and his defense attorney declined to comment on the emotion-laden reading of the verdict. 

Miss Bruck’s family also declined to comment. Her sister sobbed in the courtroom.

Earlier in the day, the defense attorney for Clay, of Frenchtown Township, said his client should be found guilty of a lower charge of involuntary manslaughter.

“Chelsea Bruck died at his hand,” Russell Smith said. “It is a tragedy. He’s not denying that.”

Mr. Smith said during closing arguments in Monroe County Circuit Court today that Clay did not intend to kill Miss Bruck, that her death was an accident during consensual rough sex Oct. 26, 2014, following a large Halloween party.

The jury entered deliberations at 2 p.m.

Clay, who is charged with open murder and concealing the death of an individual, testified Monday that Miss Bruck asked him to choke her during sex, a practiced called erotic asphyxiation, and she died. He said he attempted to revive her, then panicked and hid her remains in the woods off Briar Hill Road in Ash Township where she was found six months later.

“He looked you in the eye and told you what happened that night,” Mr. Smith said.

Michael Roehrig, chief assistant prosecutor, reminded the jury that an autopsy determined Miss Bruck died of “massive, blunt-force trauma” to the head. She suffered multiple serious fractures to her skull.

“Chelsea’s face was smashed in,” he said. “She suffered multiple blunt-force blows to her face with heavy force.”

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While the autopsy could not rule out asphyxiation as a cause of death because of decomposition and a forensic pathologist for the defense said he would have determined the cause as strangulation, Mr. Roehrig said even choking Miss Bruck to the point of death would have required continued pressure for at least two minutes after the victim lost consciousness.

“She could not consent to being strangled to death,” Mr. Roehrig said.

He also noted the bloodstains found on the interior of Miss Bruck’s Poison Ivy costume from that night, saying it proves she was beaten first before it was torn from her body. The shoulder straps and crotch were severed; Clay admitted ripping the crotch Monday, claiming he was helping her remove the garment for sex.

“This costume, as damaged as it is, it speaks for Chelsea. It shouts for Chelsea, and the message is clear,” Mr. Roehrig said.

Mr. Smith said Clay has maintained he does not know how Miss Bruck obtained the injuries to her face, but testified they could have happened in the process of disposing of and covering her remains. He noted forensic experts for both the prosecution and defense said the fractures could have happened shortly after death.

“These injuries are explainable. And they are explainable by all kinds of theories,” he said. “And that, folks, is the classic definition of what reasonable doubt is.”

He said the blood could have come from a minor nose injury witnesses testified Miss Bruck sustained at the party, saying facial injuries sometimes bleed profusely.

Clay had no motive to kill Miss Bruck, Mr. Smith said. His intent was solely to have a good time, and the young woman’s death was a tragedy resulting from a dangerous but consensual sex act. He called his client “despicable” for hiding Miss Bruck’s remains and never contacting authorities about what happened.

“I am asking you to peel the emotional overlay off this case, and decide the case on the evidence that you have,” he told the jury.

Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.

First Published May 16, 2017, 4:33 p.m.