GOODYEAR, AZ — During a special evidentiary hearing in a controversial child murder case, a Goodyear police detective admitted under oath that he knew about problems with key pieces of evidence months before the trial began and never disclosed them.
Detective Noah Yeo said that he discovered back in May 2025 that there were inaccurate times and dates in the chain of custody logs regarding cell phone evidence in the case against Germayne and Lisa Cunningham.
However, he didn’t alert anyone about those issues until January 2026, when the trial had already been underway for five months.
DEFENSE: "You failed to disclose it."
DET YEO: "Yes."
Defense attorneys used Yeo's testimony to establish how much the prosecution's case depends on two key pieces of evidence now in question — the Cunninghams' cell phones.
And the defense pressed how Goodyear’s broken system for tracking the evidence chain of custody impacts this case and others.
DET. YEO: "Yes, like I said, the phones were very important.”
DEFENSE: “But they're not just very important, they were the evidence for the felony murder count. There's no getting around that. There's no other evidence you could use aside from the phone, right? That's all the timeline, that's who called who, that's who waited, isn't that everything? There's no other evidence. It was the timing, right?”
DET. YEO: “Yes.”
DEFENSE: “And that could only be established from the phone.”
DET. YEO: “Correct.”
DEFENSE: “Correct. So, those phones are the most important piece of evidence in the case.”
DET. YEO: "They were important."
Yeo testified for the full first day of the evidentiary hearing, which is expected to last all week and then continue over scattered dates in the coming months. Goodyear Police Chief Brian Issitt, several property and evidence supervisors, and possibly prosecutors are also expected to take the stand.
Judge Patricia Starr is weighing whether to dismiss the charges against the Cunninghams after declaring a mistrial because of the evidence issues last month.
The Cunninghams are charged with murder for the 2017 death of their 7-year-old daughter. They are accused of abuse and failing to get her medical care quickly enough, leading to her death.
This digital story was produced based on the on-air reporting of ABC15 Investigator Ashley Holden and Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
