Weeks after Jamel Campbell was gunned down in a Groton hotel room, police recovered car stereo components and music CDs from his apartment that had been stolen two months earlier from the car of his accused killer, Ryan C. Wright.

Wright, 33, is on trial for murder for the second time in New London Superior Court. A jury last year convicted Wright of conspiracy to commit murder but was hung on the murder charge. The state is attempting to convince another jury that Wright fatally shot Campbell on Dec. 8, 2009.

Prosecutor Paul J. Narducci has been calling witnesses in an effort to tie the men together through the stolen stereo and through a series of text messages that Wright’s alleged conspirator, Meagan Foley, sent to both men prior to the shooting.

Wright and Campbell, who once were friends, had been feuding because Wright slept with Campbell’s girlfriend while Campbell was incarcerated, according to testimony. Foley has confessed to luring Campbell to the hotel so that Wright could kill him.

A month before that, on Nov. 4, 2008, the two men had clashed at the Cumberland Farms on Montauk Avenue in New London, according to court testimony. Foley said Campbell and a friend arranged to meet Wright at the convenience store. At the meeting, Campbell’s friend tried to stab Wright and took Wright’s car, according to Foley. Wright reported the car stolen but said nothing about the attempted stabbing. 

On Tuesday, Hartford Police Sgt. Paul Cicero testified that he and his partner were “fishing” for stolen cars in the city when they came across the Mercedes, with its stereo missing, parked on Ellsworth Avenue. They learned it had been stolen from New London days earlier and contacted the local police. 

Last week, Groton Town detective Donald Rankin testified that in January 2009, while investigating Wright’s death, the police “received information” that the stolen stereo equipment was at Campbell’s apartment. They went to the Branford Manor apartment where he had lived with his girlfriend Emily Strother and found the stolen items in the basement. Strother testified last week that Campbell had told her the stereo equipment came from a pawnshop.

On Tuesday, New London Police detective Richard Curcuro testified that he and detective Keith Crandall questioned Wright about the stolen goods at the request of Groton Town Police. He said Wright looked at photos of the recovered items and identified two compact discs and two Kenwood stereo components as his property.