OMAHA, Neb. -- The Jury in the Christopher Edwards murder trial went from a "split decision" to a "unanimous verdict" in less than two days.

Jury foreman Weldon Casey said it was an emotional trial.

Casey is the general sales manager of Planet Bingo.

"I had never served on a jury before in my life," said Casey.

He was overseas when Jessica O'Grady disappeared and when Edwards was charged with her murder.

"I was probably a natural candidate by virtue of not having a whole background of perceptions about the case," said Casey.

From a pool of 99 prospective jurors, Weldon Casey was picked. He and 13 others spent two long weeks looking at crime scene photos, listening to forensic testimony, learning about Jessica O'Grady and Edwards.

The jury finally began deliberating on March 30.

"The very first evening we went in, Friday, that was a cork out of the bottle. This is because 12 people have sat for two weeks worth of testimony and evidence, we'd been immersed, totally immersed in this case and were not allowed to talk about it, not to our friends, not to our spouses, not to each other," said Casey.

Casey volunteered to be the foreman the very first night of deliberations. He took a poll of jurors to see where they were. They were split, said Casey.

"There were four undecided, maybe even five undecided that said we need to talk this over," said Casey.

University of Nebraska at Omaha student Jill Melancon was one of the undecideds.

"And I don't know if it was because I didn't know... I think it was because you don't want to believe," said Melancon.

Like Casey, Melancon had never heard of Edwards before the trial. She still wanted to believe this "peaceful" young man actually killed O'Grady, and he "intended" to kill her.

"You kind of had to open up your eyes and look at the crime scene and say, yeah, he did," said Melancon.

Melancon and Casey both say the crime scene spoke for itself; the blood-soaked mattress, the blood spatters throughout Edwards' room, and DNA matching O'Grady's.

"All of the jurors were in agreement that the DNA evidence was real and compelling," said Casey.

In spite of how hard defense lawyer Steve Lefler tried to discount it, challenging the credibility of science itself didn't go over well with the jury, said Casey.

Neither did Lefler's attempts to come up with some alternative explanations of how the blood got in Edwards' room. Casey said jurors rejected Lefler's theories of menstruation and miscarriage.

"It was groping at straws, it was throwing almost inane reasoning in front of the jury in an attempt to suggest there are other things that could have happened than what we ultimately determined did happen. It didn't help at all, " said Casey.

Casey said Edwards, effort to cover-up the blood by using the white poster paint he bought at Walgreens helped tip the scales from manslaughter to second-degree murder.

"At the end of the day, as far as the jury process, the deliberation, I feel unequivocally the right decision was reached," said Casey.

The jurors said they're confident in their decision, but haunted by images of the crime scene, and unanswered questions about why he killed her and where O'Grady's body is.

"The more you think about it the more your heart breaks for that girl... for Jessica O'Grady," said Melancon.