A slain woman found naked on a dead-end street was beaten and kidnapped at Birmingham convenience store in front of multiple people, and only one of whom called 911, court testimony revealed.

Genise Carter was found by a city worker at 8:21 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in the 1300 block of 17th Street North, near a water tower.

Carter, 43, had been shot in the head.

Jayden Gildersleeve, a 21, and Michael Spellman, 62, are charged with capital murder.

On Tuesday, both suspects appeared before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell for a preliminary hearing.

When it ended, Bell ruled there was enough probable cause to send their cases to a grand jury for indictment consideration and ordered them held without bond.

Birmingham homicide Det. John Finke was the lone witness, detailing the horrific events that led to Carter’s death.

Chief Deputy District Joe Roberts is prosecuting the case. Gildersleeve is represented by attorney Scott Boudreaux, and Spellman is represented by Sammie Shaw and Brittany Mercer of the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office.

A motive in Carter’s killing was not revealed. Carter was at least acquainted with one of the suspects.

Finke said a Birmingham Streets and Sanitation worker found Carter face down and nude, except for a pair of socks.

Four days later, police received a tip that Carter may have been kidnapped from the Shell service station at 800 Third Ave. West. The tipster said detectives needed to look at the store’s surveillance video.

“I noticed that the female that was beaten and kidnapped from the store was in fact Genise Carter,’’ Finke said of the video.

Finke said that at 4:17 a.m. that Thursday, Carter arrived at the Shell station. Three minutes later, Gildersleeve and Spellman entered the parking lot in a Chevrolet Malibu and went inside the store.

Gildersleeve immediately went to where Carter was, and Spellman made some sort of hand gesture to the store clerk.

At 4:22 a.m., Gildersleeve forced Carter at gunpoint out of the store. Spellman left with them.

Carter was then forced into the car at gunpoint. Both men got into the car and drove away.

At 4:32 a.m., Finke said, the suspects returned to the store’s parking lot. Gildersleeve went into the store and then began talking to people near a gas pump.

“There’s quite a few cars there,’’ Finke said.

At 4:36 a.m., Carter got out of the suspects’ vehicle and jumped into a white SUV, seeking help from a man she did not know.

Spellman then got out of the car and stood between the Malibu and the SUV.

Gildersleeve then took Carter out of the SUV. Carter tried to resist.

“She’s bear-hugging the driver,’’ Finke said. “She does not want to go with Gildersleeve.”

“Gildersleeve had a gun to her head, forces her back into the (Malibu),’’ Finke said.

Carter then escaped the car again and ran into the store. Gildersleeve chased her inside, Finke said. Spellman also was in the store.

“The victim was beaten on the ground in the doorway of the store, and Gildersleeve picks the victim up from the ground at gunpoint and forces her back into the car,’’ he said.

The ordeal at the store lasted about 30 minutes.

Spellman, Finke said, unlocked the back door of the car so Gildersleeve could “throw her in.”

Finke said he recovered a second video from a house across from where Carter’s body was found.

That video showed a dark-colored sedan driving down the dead-end street seven minutes after Gildersleeve drove off from the gas station.

A few minutes later, Finke said, that vehicle left the dead-end street. No other vehicles were seen driving down that street until the worker found Carter’s body.

Finke said one witness did call 911 to report the kidnapping. Authorities said police responded to the gas station, but did not find anything at that time.

That 911 caller provided a tag number, and a similar tag number later hit on a Flock camera near Fairfield.

Once police identified the owner of that vehicle, they realized “he looked just like the person in the (store) video,” Finke said. The vehicle, he said, was registered to Gildersleeve.

Investigators then set up surveillance at an apartment building on Third Avenue Southwest, the address Gildersleeve used for his car registration.

The department’s Crime Reduction Team staked out the apartment and saw Gildersleeve leave and go into another apartment below his unit.

On Jan. 31, when Gildersleeve left and headed toward his vehicle, police swarmed the scene and took him into custody.

Police obtained search warrants for both apartments. The woman that lived in the second apartment told them that Gildersleeve brought two guns, asking her to hide them.

One of them was a .380. Finke said ballistics testing showed the bullet recovered from Carter’s head “matched perfectly” with that weapon.

Spellman was taken into custody on Feb. 1 while he was riding a bicycle near 9th Avenue West and 1st Street West.

Finke said Spellman waived his Miranda Rights and admitted he was the person in the store video, but denied knowing anything about Carter’s slaying. Finke said Gildersleeve also denied being responsible for her death.

Under questioning by Boudreaux, Finke said clothing was found near where Carter’s body was located but it didn’t appear to match what she was wearing in the video. That clothing, he said, is being tested for DNA.

Boudreaux also questioned Finke about the time the video was taken. Finke testified a Google search of the distance between the Shell Station and the place where Carter’s body was found was 3.4 miles away with a suggested nine-minute drive.

“It takes longer than the video from the Shell and the neighbor’s house indicated,’’ Boudreaux noted. “You’re saying this vehicle made the nine-minute trip in seven minutes? She was alive when she left the Shell station?”

Finke said that was correct.

Shaw, when questioning Finke, pointed out that Spellman was not seen armed in any of the videos, nor was he seen assaulting Carter.

He also asked about the man in the truck from whom Carter had sought help.

Finke said detectives interviewed that man about the incident. That man was pushing Carter away while Gildersleeve was pulling her.

Spellman was in the store while the struggle was going on, Finke said.

Under questioning by Shaw, Finke said the man told police Carter had gotten into his car and called 911.

“He, not wanting to have anything to do with it when she was bear-hugging him and asking for help, he peeled her off and pushed her away,’’ Shaw said.

Finke said that was correct.

In response to a question from Shaw, Finke testified that the 911 call was disconnected and the man did not answer his phone when 911 tried to call him back.

That man, testimony showed, did not call police at all, and was tracked down by detectives.

Another witness in the store told police he didn’t call either because he was “minding his own business.”

The store clerk didn’t call police either, nor did anyone else at the store that morning.

Roberts said both suspects are charged with capital during first-degree kidnapping.

“That kidnapping is on video,’’ Roberts said. “We see Gildersleeve brutally assault Genise Carter, take her from the gas station at gunpoint on two different occasions.”

“We know Gildersleeve was the main actor, the one leading this charge’’ the prosecutor said. “However, Spellman assisted. He participated. He was of the same mind of Gildersleeve.”

“He assists on at least one occasion by opening a door for Gildersleeve to put Genise Carter into the car,’’ he said. “He never tries to stop anything. He never tries to help her. He is assisting in that kidnapping.”

Shaw said that he did not think the state proved probable cause for Spellman to be charged with capital murder.

“One of the principles of criminal law in the state of Alabama is that mere presence at the scene of a crime does not make one guilty of the crime,’’ Shaw said.

Shaw pointed out that the man in the truck from whom Carter sought help was not charged with any crime.

“He would have done more,’’ Shaw said, “to participate in the kidnapping than Mr. Spellman.’’