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Showing posts with label Lindy Urso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lindy Urso. Show all posts

Friday, April 4, 2008

04/04/08 - Lindy Urso says he doubts more arrests would be made in the case. He predicted the men would have separate trials.



Affidavits In Kissel Slaying Are Sealed

THE SOURCE:

The Day

THE QUOTES:

“Carlos has nothing to hide,” Urso said outside of court. “I'm not concerned about anything Carlos said.”

THE STORY:

Stamford — At least one of two men charged in Greenwich developer Andrew Kissel's slaying allegedly made admissions, while witnesses supplied incriminating evidence against both men, attorneys involved in the case said Thursday.

Those alleged admissions and evidence are included in sealed arrest warrant affidavits for 21-year-old Leonard Trujillo of Worcester, Mass., and 47-year-old Carlos Trujillo of Bridgeport. A Stamford Superior Court judge ruled Thursday those records would remain sealed until April 24.

Leonard Trujillo is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder and his cousin, Carlos Trujillo, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Kissel's April 2006 stabbing death in his Greenwich mansion. Kissel was due to plead guilty a few days later in a multimillion-dollar fraud cause.

Patrick Culligan, the lawyer for Leonard Trujillo, says the affidavit contains “numerous” purported statements and admissions by his client that could jeopardize Leonard Trujillo's right to a fair trial if disclosed. Culligan also said Carlos Trujillo made statements, but his attorney, Lindy Urso, said his client did not make admissions....

...Prosecutors said six witnesses who gave incriminating information are worried about their safety and privacy if they are identified. Prosecutors did not object to unsealing the affidavits, but said they first want to remove the names of the six witnesses, saying their concerns were legitimate. Urso said the witnesses had nothing to fear from his client.

Judge Richard Comerford Jr. said he would give the attorneys until April 24 to request some portions be redacted before the affidavits are unsealed. But he said he did not want to keep the whole affidavit sealed as Culligan requested.

Reporters argued in favor of opening the arrest records.

“There's a very very high bar to keep anything sealed,” said Dan Mangan, a reporter for the New York Post.

Carlos Trujillo was Kissel's driver and was the last person known to have seen him alive.

Both defendants appeared in the courtroom with their attorneys Thursday, but did not speak. Carlos Trujillo has pleaded not guilty but Leonard Trujillo has not entered a plea yet because he has a probable cause hearing scheduled for May 21 because of the more serious charge.

Greenwich police will not comment on a motive, saying the investigation is still open ...

PLEASE SEE...

04/03/08 - Chief Ridberg called the case “a good story that’s missing a plot.”

===============================================

Please send comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

04/04/08 - News Links From The Greenwich Time

The Greenwich Time RSS Feed



A state Superior Court judge yesterday kept arrest warrants in the slaying of Greenwich millionaire Andrew Kissel sealed to allow one of the two suspects to review the affidavits and seek to delete damaging statements attributed to him. Full Story
Sexual crisis center kicks off campaign

Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, attended Brown University in the 1990s, when female students there had scrawled the names of alleged male rapists on the library's bathroom walls. Full Story

Author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich got a taste several years ago of what it was like to be among the country's working poor. Full Story
Golfers enjoy opening day at the Griff

George Comesana-Vila, 54, wearing his baseball hat and a windbreaker, practiced his golf swing several times before heading out for his first game of the year. Full Story

STAMFORD -- Planning officials hope to bring a faster bus service to the region next year, and have launched a study of how to make it happen. Full Story
Club honors youth of the year

Paola Pena came for the summer camp and she stayed for the camaraderie and club environment. Last night, the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich named the 17-year-old member from Stamford its Youth of the Year, bestowing the club's highest honor on the teenager at its annual awards dinner at Luca's steakhouse. Full Story

Hoa Nguyen

Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

Police raided a Byram house yesterday evening and arrested four town residents on marijuana charges, officials said. Full Story

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

04/02/08 - "Somebody has got to be paying these guys to have done this," Fuhrman said. "In this case I'd say all you have to do is follow the money. "


Fuhrman authored a 1998 book on the murder of Belle Haven resident Martha Moxley that pointed to Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel as the prime suspect. Skakel was later convicted of the crime.

QUOTE:

"These two men are insignificant people in the world of Kissel but they had access to him," Fuhrman said. "If Carlos had an issue with Andrew and wanted to kill him why would he include his cousin? There is your conspiracy."

STORY:

With two men in custody for a conspiracy to murder Andrew Kissel, police and prosecutors will now try to coax the real estate developer's former driver and another suspect to see if they identify other conspirators in a wider plot, former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman said...

...The combination of Kissel's wealth and tangled financial affairs lends credence to the possibility police have records showing someone paid Carlos Trujillo, Kissel's long-time personal assistant, and his cousin, Leonard Trujillo, of Worcester, Mass., to kill Kissel to gain control of Kissel money or assets, perhaps including ill gotten proceeds from Kissel's mortgage scams, Fuhrman said.

With Kissel, those conspirators could be any number of business partners or other close associates, Fuhrman said....

...Someone who knew that Kissel was staying at the home and that the movers were coming the next day could be reasonably assured that the moving crew would find Kissel's body, allowing them to establish a plausible account for their own whereabouts during that time period, Fuhrman said.

"The body needs to be found so certain people who put things in motion can account for the time before the body is discovered," Fuhrman said. "The suspect always knows the time the murder occurred so an investigator can start (focusing on)the time they are most adamant about where they are."

Fuhrman said that the fact that Kissel's body was left at the murder scene also undercuts any speculative theory that he was killed by an organized crime associate who feared Kissel would provide incriminating information to authorities about them....

Full Story

ALSO:

YouTube - Mark Fuhrman Freaks Out on Fox

OJ Simpson detective Mark Fuhrman
freaks out over OJ's book "If I Did It"...


========================================


Please send comments to

GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Blessed Ludovico of Casoria - Saint of the Day - American Catholic

A popular feature of American Catholic, the online version of St. Anthony Messenger. Every day, a short biographical essay on a saint.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

03/29/08 - "It's ridiculous to think this type of guy would have the backbone to kill himself for his children or that he would do so in such a ......


Police Chief David Ridberg, with a battery of detectives behind him Monday in Town Hall, provides details about the two arrests in the 2006 slaying of real estate developer Andrew Kissel.
(GREENWICH CITIZEN photo / Anne W. Semmes)
QUOTE:

Attorney Lindy Urso, said "One of their primary tactics is to pressure people - immigrants in particular. It may well be that Leonard had immigration or other legal problems that could make him likely to say what the police want to hear."

HEADLINE:

Ex-Driver, Cousin Arrested in Kissel Slaying

REPORTER:

Anne W. Semmes

STORY:

A double arrest has been made in the 2006 murder of fraudulent real estate developer Andrew Kissel, 46, in his rented BackCountry home on Dairy Road....

...
Ridberg cited in particular the efforts of six Greenwich police detectives, Lt. Mark Marino, Pasquale Iorvino, Pierangelo Corticelli, William Weissauer, Steve Hickey and Timothy Hilderbrand.

Their investigative trail began early on April 3, 2006 after movers discovered Andrew Kissel's body in the basement of his rented mansion. He was bound hand and foot and had been stabbed repeatedly.

Kissel, who Ridberg described as a drug user at the time of his death, was facing a jail sentence for state and federal charges for swindling and defrauding banks and financial institutions in the multi-millions. His financial crimes had put before police a hefty number of defrauded, potential suspects...

...
"It's ridiculous," said Urso, "to think this type of guy would have the backbone to kill himself for his children or that he would do so in such a painful, gruesome manner."...

PLEASE READ:

03/27/08 - "I think what really put it over the edge was some of the knowledge that Leonard had of this case," Worcester Capt. Edward McGinn said


03/28/08 Cops: Suspect in Developer Slay Knew Crime Details


03/28/08 - Another Unfolding Millionaire Murder Mystery In Greenwich

Friday, March 28, 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

03/27/08 - "I think what really put it over the edge was some of the knowledge that Leonard had of this case," Worcester Capt. Edward McGinn said


Members of the Turjillo family leaving the Stamford Superior Court...

(Helen Neafsey/Greenwich Time staff photo)

"A layman wouldn't know that."

Man charged in developer's death knew crime details, police say
Newsday - Long Island,NY

|Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - One of two men charged this week in the 2006 slaying of a wealthy Greenwich developer was arrested after telling investigators secret details of the crime, a police official said Thursday.

The disclosure was the first time authorities revealed what helped lead to the arrests after a lengthy investigation. The arrest affidavits are sealed and police have not commented on a motive.

Leonard Trujillo, 21, of Worcester, Mass., was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the stabbing death of Andrew Kissel. The 46-year-old Kissel
, ...

...McGinn, whose department helped Greenwich with the investigation for months, would not disclose precisely what Leonard Trujillo knew about the crime.

"He had intimate knowledge of the facts of the case which hadn't been released to the public," McGinn said. "He knew things about the crime and the crime scene that a non-participant would not know."

Telephone messages were left Wednesday and Thursday for Leonard Trujillo's public defender Benjamin Aponte. Leonard Trujillo appeared Wednesday in Stamford Superior Court and is being held on $1 million bond...

...McGinn said police considered the possibility the crime was a suicide-for-hire.

"Not a lot of weight was put behind that," McGinn said. "That didn't seem overly credible."

McGinn said he suspected the motive was money, but acknowledged he was only speculating. With Kissel likely heading to prison, Carlos Trujillo was losing an employer, he said.

"I think it was a very critical moment," McGinn said. "Life as Carlos knew it was coming to an end."...

See Also...

Police: Man charged in developer's slaying knew details of crime WTNH


Suspects' Family Linked To Slain Man's Finances Hartford Courant


Driver’s cousin arraigned in death of slain developer Boston Herald


Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com


Tuesday, March 25, 2008

03/25/08 - Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Gets Caught Mis-leading To The Press In The Andrew Kissel Murder



There were Inconsistancies In Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg's Statements early on....


First Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Said The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theroy Was Not Considered.



Two arrested in Kissel slaying


Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

March 23, 2008

Ridberg yesterday emphasize that police never considered a suicide-for-hire theory
.


"That was something that was put out by other parties in the case," Ridberg said.

Then Dozens Of Press Clippings Were Pulled Out Of Reporter's Files Showing That The Police Did Consider The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theory.

Judge holds purse strings in Kissel case

Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

Aug 22, 2006

Lindy Urso, the attorney for [Andrew M. Kissel]'s driver, Carlos Trujillo, said that police continue to investigate his client in connection with the murder. Police have questioned Trujillo based on a theory that Kissel might have plotted his own murder so his wife and children would receive the hefty life insurance policy.

Kissel driver: I should've kept quiet

Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

Sep 7, 2006

Police viewed his recent trip to Colombia and an arrangement in which he sold jewelry on behalf of Kissel as suspicious, supporting a theory that [Carlos Trujillo] had a role in a Kissel scheme to have himself killed so his family could collect on an enormous life insurance policy, Trujillo said.

Now Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Admits That The Police Department Did Consider The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theroy


Driver arrested, pleads not guilty to Kissel murder

Greenwich Post, CT


March 24, 2008


...Chief Ridberg neither dismissed nor accepted that possibility, but confirmed the police investigated that view. He said the department’s research showed there had been only two cases nationwide where such a scenario had happened and called it “an extremely rare form of homicide.”

We never said that we believed that it was [suicide for hire] and we never said that we didn’t believe,” Chief Ridberg said..... If it ends up being the case, that’s fine. If it ends up not being the case, that’s fine too. We’re more into discerning the facts of the case.”
This so-called murder case is going to have a lot of twists and turns. because...

It looks like this so-called murder case and Greenwich Police Cheif David "Flip Flop" Ridberg are appearently not aready for prime time.

"From the git go, I mean, he's, ah, he was, ah, close to Andrew Kissel, ah, you know, he ah, the information we had....", Police Chief David Ridberg stammered at a press conference that he had called.

God, I hope this guy doesn't keep embarrassing the Town of Greenwich on cable television.

Prosecutors May End Up With Egg On There Face And National Cable TV Channels Will Be There To Catch Every Single Moment.

Was pressure used to get false statements?

What was the motive?

Where is the weapon?

Can the police follow the money?

Did the 21 year old cousin have some legal troubles that caused him to tell police what they wanted to hear.

This 21 year old cousin had better be a damn good witness, with no ulterior motives or skeletons in his closet.

The local media is somewhat intimidated by Ridberg and the Greenwich Police Department, but the national media doesn't give a tinkers damn about them.

Soon The National Media Will Start Talking About The Screwed Up Martha Moxley Murder Case and Greenwich's other unsolved murder of poor little 13 year old Matthew Margolies.

Matthew's Story:

The narrow winding streets of the Pemberwick section of Greenwich (Connecticut) are a far cry from the leafy back roads, expansive lawns, and stately multi-floored homes that have come to characterize this well-to-do community. The neighborhood would never be mistaken for the more moneyed sections of town such as Round Hill Road, Rock Ridge, or Belle Haven.

The residents of Pemberwick fondly refer to it as "The Valley". In the Valley the homes are modest, rarely exceeding one story. The yards are small but neat, and vinyl siding seems to be the exterior of choice here. It is a community that seems to be proud of the fact that it is a pocket of working class people set amidst the conspicuously wealthy.

The Byram River is the defining geographic identity of Pemberwick. It is not much of a river, a meandering stream would be a more apt description. Until it empties into the Long Island Sound, where it widens to river-like proportions and divides Connecticut and New York in the process, it is a shallow winding ribbon of water that few outsiders in the hunt of sport or adventure bother with. Matthew Margolies, age 13, born and raised in Pemberwick, was an avid fisherman that loved this un-remarkable river nonetheless. Matthew was a regular angler on the muddy waters that coursed through peoples backyards in Pemberwick and the nearby Glenville section of town.

That last Friday of the month was a day off for Maryann Margolies, having just completed a double shift at the hospital the day before. Her kids had stayed over at her mothers house the previous evening. She drove over early on Friday morning. Matthew and his older sister Stacey were still asleep. She looked in on Matthew and remembers how he had looked so peaceful. Maryann elected not to awaken her youngest just to accompany her on her errands. She left a note that she would call later.

Arising that morning, the soon to be 8th grader at Western Junior High grabbed one of his favorite fishing rods and set out like so many other times before to idle away the waning days of Summer casting for trout in the suburban waterway.

Back in 1984 residents of the Valley would be hard pressed to come up with anyone who was more intimate with the secrets of the Byram River than the young Margolies boy. He knew every twist and turn, and more importantly every prime fishing hole. A son of a single mother, a nurse who drew long hours at a skilled nursing facility in Stamford, Matthew would spend his time exploring the modest wonders of the Byram River with his beloved grandfather George Miazga. But on the eve of the holiday weekend Matthew was no longer able to share his appreciation of the river with his maternal grandfather. He had died just two weeks before, succumbing to a long and painful illness that the young boy had been witness to.

As of late, when working, his mother would often entrust her sons well being to her recently widowed mother. Still Maryann Margolies put a lot of trust in her son. He was a good kid - bright, responsible, polite, and loving. Matthew always asked permission before making any plans to fish or a play date with some neighborhood friend. His mother would say later that today you might call Matthew a "latchkey child" but back in 1984 no one would think twice about letting their child play unsupervised. After all, this was Greenwich, Connecticut and not the mean streets of an inner city. Kids were supposed to be safe here.

At around 5PM Maryann Margolies drove over to her mothers house to pick up her son to bring him home for dinner. Mrs. Miazga had taken Stacey to an appointment. Matthew was not there and that worried her. She waited until her mother and daughter returned to see if Matthew had accompanied them. He had not. At around 7PM, with no word or sign of Matthew, Maryann knew that something was drastically wrong. She called the police.

A Greenwich youth division officer along with a few neighbors of the Margolies and Miazgas fanned out across the area of Byram River. Concerned phone calls were made to the homes of Matthew's friends inquiring if they knew his whereabouts. No one had seen or heard from the boy.

On Saturday the search intensified. More police were assigned to the dragnet and the volunteer firemen pitched in. The boys father, who was now living in the Dallas area, was called. He had not been contacted by his son. On Sunday the FBI was notified of his disappearance and Maryann Margolies made an emotional appeal in the local newspaper, The Greenwich Time, for help in finding her son. Police divers began to make underwater forays in the murky waters for what they hoped they would never find - young Matthew's body.

On Monday, September 2nd Maryann and her boyfriend Jim (later to become her husband) decided to look around for themselves in the area near Pemberwick Road just above the Glenville Civic Center around Hawthorne Street. She remembered just days before that her son had asked her about what was up there. His interest in the area had mystified her. She asked him why he was curious about the terrain that rose sharply to a secluded neighborhood of Glenville. He had replied that he was just curious. She asked him if anyone had approached him about going up there. Matthew said no. If he wanted to see it, Maryann told him, she would happily take him there otherwise he was not to go up there. He shrugged it off and the subject was dropped. But Maryann was troubled by Matthew's interest in the remote spot. Now, days later she was there looking for some sign of her son.

Near the dead end of Hawthorne Street in a rock strewn dump area frequented by neighborhood kids and adjacent to the wooded area above Pemberwick Road Maryann and Jim detected a foul, overpowering odor. They did not investigate any further. She notified the police of the suspicious smell upon returning home figuring the residents of the neighborhood must have complained about it as well. The police said the odor was probably just discarded fish offal from anglers on the nearby river. But being an accomplished fisherman herself Maryann remembers the stench was certainly no gutted fish, nor was it a skunk. The police did not search the area for two more days.

Fred Lambert had just returned from a trip to Virginia when he had heard of the search for the lost boy. A life long resident of Greenwich and a volunteer fire policeman who had experience in searches he took it upon himself to look up in the area that was across the street from where he worked. The Mill, his place of employment, was an old felt producing mill that had been converted into a collection of chic shops, offices, and a restaurant and was less than a mile up the road from where Matthew was last seen. The wooded hills that he climbed were just below Hawthorne and Greenway Streets. Lambert walked through the deserted dump area then followed the densely forested path. Almost immediately he saw a single sneaker, a black and white checkered one. He knew from reports the missing boy was described as wearing just such footwear when he was last seen. Lambert immediately ran down the hill and marked the spot with a bicycle tire he had found along the trail and hung it on a telephone pole on Pemberwick Road, then he dashed off to call the police.

At 4PM, September 5th , five days after the initial report of the missing boy two youth division officers appeared on the scene and Lambert took them up to the area where he had discovered the sneaker. The two officers commenced searching the steep rocky and wooded terrain. Lambert remembers stepping back and leaning against a tree when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Looking closer he saw that it was a small foot poking up through the leaves. Lambert remembers his heart sank and a wave of nausea swept over him. He managed to call out in a shaken voice to the two officers, "Guys, he's over here." The 38-year old father of a daughter Matthew's age trotted down the hill leaving the two officers with the grim task of uncovering the diminutive body that laid in the makeshift grave.

atthew Margolies had been dead for some time. There were multiple stab wounds on his torso. An autopsy performed by Dr. H. Wayne Carver, the states deputy medical examiner, determined he had died of the stab wounds and traumatic asphyxiation. Traumatic asphyxiation occurs when a sudden or severe compression of the chest or upper abdomen results in death by preventing a person from breathing. It was to become a telltale clue that still has not been resolved some 15 years later.

The autopsy -according to the Greenwich Police - also determined that there were no signs that the boy had been sexually molested. His athletic shorts, along with his sneakers, were found near his body but he still had his underpants on. Many have speculated that this indicates the body may have been dragged down or up the wooded embankment but the police have insisted the boy was killed where he was found. A 10-inch kitchen boning knife was also found near the body several days later. Other than declaring it the weapon used to inflict the wounds on Matthew Margolies, the Greenwich Police Department (GPD) claims to know nothing more about it having spent hundreds of hours trying to track it down. Matthew's fishing rod was no where to be found.

The GPD rarely handled this type of a crime. It had been nine years since they investigated the last homicide - the notorious Martha Moxley murder. The results would be the same. No arrests, no indictments, no convictions.

As in the Moxley case there was some crucial mistakes made by the GPD. In 1986 Police Chief Thomas Keegan over the protests of his detective division commissioned outside consultant Vernon J. Geberth, a former lieutenant commander in the New York City Police Department, to determine how the GPD handled the Margolies homicide investigation. The report was kept secret until a Freedom of Information suit brought by The Greenwich Time forced the town to release it in 1992. There were significant sections that had been blacked out on the order of Superior Court Judge Harold Dean who allowed the police to withhold that information since the GPD claimed making it public would "harm the Margolies investigation".

It was revealed, however, that there was a "clear lack of effective coordination in the early stages of the investigation". No detective had been assigned to check into the missing person report, even though it was a small boy. That oversight may have cost the department a chance of cracking the case early. Geberth added that by the time the body was found "the investigative arm of the Greenwich Police Department had, in effect, lost six days of crucial informational interviews and neighborhood canvasses, which would later prove to be significant to the homicide investigation.

This fact is even harder to reconcile after present Police Chief Peter Robbins admitted in a recent interview with this reporter that the GPD suspected "foul play" 24 to 48 hours after the initial missing persons report. Still, no detective was assigned to the case early on. It also has been learned that after the body was found only one detective assigned to the case actually viewed the crime scene.

Geberth also criticized then Captain William Andersen, head of the investigation, for not delegating more authority to subordinates. The department was praised, nonetheless, for conducting a "diligent, professional investigation." But recently discovered facts concerning the case would seem to challenge that ultimate pat on the back for a job well done.

One week after finding Matthew Margolies' body the GPD revealed that they had located the missing fishing pole. By all reports Matthew was last seen in possession of that rod the day he disappeared and was presumably killed. In a prepared statement the GPD Chief Keegan (the lead detective in the Moxley case back in 1975) said that the rod "had been sold by Matthew to a friend." The police would not identify the "friend" who had bought the rod. In the interview with Chief Robbins (who was a lieutenant detective working on the Margolies case in ’84) the finding of the rod had no significance and they were satisfied that the holder of the rod was not a material witness or a suspect in the homicide case.

Maryann Margolies, also in a recent interview with this reporter, would not comment about the fishing rod indicating that she had received either police or legal advice concerning the matter. However, she did say that Matthew would never have willingly parted with that fishing rod since it was gift from his grandfather and that the finding of the rod in the possession of another was "significant". If indeed Matthew was carrying that rod at 5PM on August 31st, 1984 the person who was later found in possession of it was the last person to see him alive.

It has been learned that the investigation has centered on three to five individuals who fit the profile provided by the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia. In the interview Chief Robbins said that his department executed three search warrants on the basis of the profile, the first ever such search warrant granted by a Connecticut judge. Robbins said no new evidence was turned up due, no doubt, to the elapsed time since the commission of the crime. Robbins would not add for the record to the description of the suspect described only as a "white male" - a description that fits nearly half of all the residents of Pemberwick and Glenville.

The chief of the 162 man force said in the interview that, "We know what happened at the crime scene." He clarified the "we" as being the perpetrator and the police investigators, and that releasing any more information on what has been learned by forensics, the psychological profile, the DNA results, and interviews would compromise their case. Yet, in the Greenwich Police chiefs own words the Margolies homicide is a "cold case".

Will the Matthew Margolies homicide ever be solved? There are indications, profoundly mysterious and troubling, that justice and some kind of closure is attainable.

One of the suspects, it has been learned, is an especially logical choice for being the perpetrator of this heinous crime. The suspect was a known bully with a history of trouble making. Matthew's body was found directly behind the suspects house, practically in his backyard. A former neighbor (who wishes to remain anonymous) claims the suspect threatened his own son using a knife similar to the one that killed Matthew Margolies just weeks before the murder. The suspect and a handful of friends often terrorized the neighborhood. Had Matthew crossed paths with these toughs in the woods that his mother had forbidden him to explore? Was this slight, gangly boy bullied? Had they demanded his fishing rod and did he resist? Traumatic asphyxiation, the telltale clue. Was Matthew thrown to the ground and pounced upon, his shorts pulled off to humiliate him, his chest so compressed that he could not breathe? Did his assailant(s) panic? Was the knife produced for the coup de grace or for some ritualistic bonding?

A second teenage suspect, also with a criminal history and a friend of the first suspect, was a resident of a Port Chester neighborhood not far from Matthew's house. Prior to the finding of the body a Port Chester policeman contacted the detective division of the Port Chester Police Department (PCPD) inquiring about a homicide in Greenwich which they were unaware of at that time. When the body did turn up the detectives were naturally suspicious especially since the policeman's son had a criminal record and was known to frequent the Byram River to fish. One PCPD detective who was interviewed said, "We always knew this kid was heading to bigger and more serious things."

The detective approached the teenager unofficially and learned from him that he had known Matthew Margolies and had often fished with him. The suspect and the father agreed to a meeting with a Greenwich detective but the boy never showed up. Eventually the boy and his father agreed that he would take a polygraph. On the day the lie detecting test was to be administered the suspect was no where to be found and the father informed the detectives that they would no longer cooperate. According to the now retired PCPD detective the suspect later joined the military, was dismissed because of a criminal offense and is now doing time in a state penitentiary. The retired detective said the GPD never followed up on the investigation of the suspect after his refusal of the polygraph.

Matthew Margolies was last seen alive in the late afternoon of August 31st almost a mile from where his body was found. No one reported seeing him walk along Pemberwick Road on any of the side streets on that bright sunny Summer afternoon. Perhaps he was not seen along those roads because he never traversed them by foot. Maryann Margolies says on the day of her sons disappearance suspicious fresh tire marks were found in front of her mothers house on Morgan Avenue which is just a short distance from the intersection of Comly Avenue and Pemberwick Road. A kid just showing off and laying some rubber, or was it a car whose cargo demanded a speedy exit? Maryann Margolies says the GPD discounted the importance of the tire marks, and to her knowledge never pursued the matter. Suspect number one had a car at his disposal.

Chillingly provocative questions that only the murderer and the police seem able to answer.

After 15 years the loss of her only son to such horrible circumstances is an everyday reality for Maryann Margolies. She still lives in the same home on Pilgrim Drive with her husband Jim. The troubling possibility that some one in her neighborhood brutally murdered her defenseless child is a pain that is compounded by the belief that there are individuals who know who that person is and they are protecting him for whatever reason. Just the thought of that brings tears to the eyes of the now 54-year old grandmother.

Maryann Margolies has been reassured by police investigators that the murder of her only son was probably not a premeditated crime and that the person or persons responsible for it would never repeat it. But as the mother of the murdered child said:

"How can anyone confidently say that. I feel that if someone has done something like this once what's to prevent them from repeating this under the same set of circumstances. People have to wake up in this community and realize this is not Apple pie, USA. Bad things happen here just like anywhere else and people have to be alert and attuned to that. Maybe I can be blamed for using poor judgment but at the time I believed a 13-year old boy could be left to fish in his own backyard in Greenwich, Connecticut. Well, obviously I was wrong. And if it wasn't safe then, what makes it more safe now?"

Matthew never lived to see his mother happily remarried, or see his sister married and have children of her own. He is painfully missed at all family get-togethers and holidays. His mother fondly remembers that he was just getting interested in girls and began paying a little more attention to his appearance. Maryann smiles when she remembers how she would catch the pre-pubescent preening in front of the mirror.

Maryann no longer drives up the section of Pemberwick Road where Matthew's body was found. The memories of those days 15 years ago are still an open wound. No one but those who have experienced what she has can ever appreciate the tremendous grief she lives with. Yet through all the pain and suffering she has experienced as a result of her sons murder she would be go through the painful loss all over again just to have those 13 years of Matthew's life that was so intertwined with her own back again.

There is a memorial plaque on the small bridge that spans the Byram River over a dammed portion in Glenville that he was so fond of fishing. It reads:

"Matthew Margolies, An Excellent Angler, And Now With God, 1971-1984".

It is a modest testament to a life of unfulfilled dreams.

Note: This narrative was by Kevin F. McMurry

After The National Press Looks Into The Unsolved Mathew Margolies Case. They Will Probably Start Looking At Other Screwed Up Greenwich Murder Investigations.

The National Media Might Even Start Asking Questions Like....

"Why doesn't anyone ever write about the Klein murder?"
"The 1975 Greenwich, CT murder case
still draws scrutiny"


Seven months and two days after Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death, the bodies of Joanne Kim Klein, 30, and her maid Martha Lema, 28, were found at their Perkins Road house on the night of June 2, 1976. They had each been shot twice in the head, execution-style, with a 9-millimeter handgun.

A former fashion model turned photographer, Kim Klein had at one time been married to a reputed Chicago mobster and was said to be close to the infamous late gangster Sam Giancana (the two died within weeks of each other). Her maid, Lema, was rumored to have ties to a drug smuggling ring.

After the discovery of the two women's bodies, police questioned Kim Klein's former husband, James Klein, who lived in Manhattan at the time. According to police, Klein said that he had visited his ex-wife several hours before the bodies were found, but that the former couple had gotten into an argument and he had left.

n September of the same year, James Klein was arrested and charged with the two murders. He was freed on bail in November, only to die four months later, allegedly by suicide in his Manhattan apartment on Feb. 7, 1977. He was 38. An empty bottle of pills was found near his body and his death was ruled to be caused by an overdose of barbiturates. Multiple suicide notes, in which Klein lashed out angrily at the Greenwich Police Department and the prosecutors office for his arrest and indictment, were found near the body.

The Greenwich police have ruled the case closed. "Her husband was arrested," Chief Peter Robbins explained Tuesday. But in the minds of some, "case closed" does not mean "solved completely."

Former Greenwich police detective Stephen Carroll investigated the Klein case with his partner James Lunney, shortly before Carroll's retirement in 1977. In an interview Tuesday, Carroll cited the pairs experience working the Moxley case as a reason why the two were assigned to the Klein murder. When local authorities discovered James Klein was in Florida at the time a warrant was issued for his arrest, the two flew down and took him into custody in Pompano Beach.

"There was all kinds of inferences," Carroll said, in reference to clues or rumors about the killing apart from James Klein's involvement. But Carroll added that he did not do follow up work on any of these clues or rumors. "If Jim Lunney or [then-captain of detectives] Tom Keegan did, I'm not aware of that," he said.

Because talk existed of the killing being linked to organized crime, especially due to Kim Klein's alleged former associations in Chicago, Carroll said, "I think [Lunney and I] asked if we could go [to Chicago] -- the answer was no."

Through neutron activation tests on James Klein's hands after the murder, Carroll said the Greenwich police detected a substance which might have been linked to the 9-millimeter used in the killing.

"He either had fired the weapon or handled the bullets," Carroll said. He added that the trace substance detected on Klein's hands was "faint."

Asked if he believed the late James Klein killed his former wife, Carroll replied, "You know, that's a very good question. I really don't think so." But according to Carroll's theory, this belief does not exonerate James Klein from all responsibility for the crime. The former detective believes that Klein was present in the bedroom when his ex-wife was shot to death.

"It was our feeling that somebody else killed her," Carroll said. He also added that "I'm not sure if it was [James Klein's] orders. There was some connotations of drugs in the house." He added that the whole scene seemed "very much like a mob hit."

"We felt [Klein] was the one who scooped up the shells, but he missed one," Carroll said.

That one 9-mm shell was found on the bedspread -- the same bedspread which bore Kim Klein, lying flat on her back, with her knees hanging off the bed and her feet almost touching the floor, according to Carroll. The maid, said to have been found in the bathroom, was likely shot dead to silence her future testimony to investigators, Carroll added.

But if James Klein did not shoot his wife, at least one murderer has not been brought to justice to this day. And the murderer might have had a whole organization behind him or her on the day the two young women were killed.

Eerily enough, Carroll also ties together Kim Klein's murder to the reported suicide of her former husband months later while he was out on bail.

"I don't know that he did take his own life," Carroll said, pointing out the organized crime factor, even the possibility that the suicide notes were forced or forged. Carroll added that to his knowledge, handwriting tests were never performed on the letters.

"I think the individuals responsible were under some pressure that he might talk," Carroll said. And of the suicide note: "Anybody can tell you what you write in a note," the former detective remarked.

"I think he was told `Jim, it'd be a good idea if you took these pills.'"

Dumas', former editor of the now-defunct Greenwich News, refers to the Klein murder as "a fascinating case" "The police consider that one solved, but a lot of people seem to differ," he said. Fishing out a recollection of the case, Dumas said of Kim Klein, "She was very afraid in the last weeks of her life and afraid of her husband."

In June of 1976, the late James Klein's family demanded $20 million in damages from the town of Greenwich, citing civil rights violations, malicious prosecution, wrongful death, false arrest and false imprisonment among other grounds. According to Carroll, no settlement was ever reached and the town never paid any amount to the Klein family. But a book, "Rape of the Blindfolded Lady," written by James Klein's sister Carole Raft, was published several years later. In the account, James Klein is portrayed as an unfortunate victim.

Former Los Angeles police detective and Moxley case book author Mark Fuhrman said Tuesday that while investigating the Moxley case, beginning in 1997, he and his associate Stephen Weeks had also reviewed the Klein case and found the department's lack of evidence "shocking," considering James Klein's arrest.

"I'm not saying that [James Klein] didn't do it, but what they had down wasn't enough," Fuhrman said.

"The Klein case was not a clean case," he continued. "The evidence that I saw that Greenwich was using and holding Klein without bail was ridiculous." (Actually Klein was originally being held on $250,000 bail, an amount he could not post.) Fuhrman also questioned the necessity of local authorities in originally sealing the warrant for James Klein's arrest (it was later unsealed).

The prosecution's case, Fuhrman contended, contained "no eyewitnesses, no one could put him at the scene of the crime."

He continued, "The Klein case stunk when I read what I read about it. If you're going to charge somebody with murder, you have to connect them to the crime scene at the time of the murder. You've got to corroborate it through some piece of evidence."

And as for neutron tests on the hands, Fuhrman said, "there's a lot of things that can transfer that," citing fertilizer as an example. Fuhrman also pointed out the possibility of a neutron test coming back positive if a subject owns a gun. James Klein is said to have owned three.

"The only time [those tests are] brought into court is when they're 100 percent positive and the [reading] was so high," Fuhrman said, contradicting the "faint" reading described by Carroll.

After no arrest in Martha Moxley's murder, seven months earlier, Fuhrman contended that the Klein case was a "must solve" for the Greenwich Police Department. Asked if that would explain why an arrest might be made with supposedly so little evidence, Fuhrman replied, "Well, Tom Keegan's your key; he screwed up the Moxley case."

Keegan, the captain of Greenwich police detectives at the time of the Moxley and Klein murders and later Greenwich police chief, could not be reached at his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C. where he serves in the state House of Representatives.

Even if James Klein is proven innocent, Carroll says he's skeptical any other participants in the crime can be brought to justice.

"I doubt it -- it's like one of those things that happen in the city quite often and [the perpetrator's] never found," he said.

Note: This narrative was by Peter Moore

==============================
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When is a flip-flop not a flip flop?
When it’s someone from YOUR party who you like who’s doing it (then it’s a thoughtful reconsideration of a past position).

When is a flip-flop a flip flop?
When someone from the OTHER party is doing it (then it’s sleazy politics as usual).


Monday, March 24, 2008

03/24/08 - Media Frenzy - Lindy Urso said he believes his client has been charged because he was “the easiest suspect.”


Carlos Trujillo is escorted into a courtroom in handcuffs, Monday March 24, 2008 at Stamford Superior Court, in Stamford, Conn., to appear at his arraignment hearing in connection to the 2006 Greenwich, Conn., murder of Andrew Kissell.
(Photo/George Rhul)

The Kissel Murder Mystery


Was pressure used to get false statements?

What was the motive?

Where is the weapon?

Can the police follow the money?

Has Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's?

Driver arrested, pleads not guilty to Kissel murder

Greenwich Post, CT

Bridgeport resident Carlos Trujillo has pleaded not guilty to the murder of backcountry resident Andrew Kissel and is now being held in jail on a $1 million ...

Investigation continues

At a press conference today, Greenwich Chief of Police David Ridberg said the investigation remains open. The warrants in the case remain sealed for now and Chief Ridberg said when the information is revealed, it will be “a good story.”

“There’s still information to be developed and we still need to discern some fact patterns,” Chief Ridberg said at the press conference. “We need to look and find if anyone else was involved in this case.”

No specifics of the case were revealed at the press conference. Chief Ridberg said the case could end with just the two men arrested, but there could also be more to come.

“If there’s some information developed that shows us that someone else was involved in the crime we will act on it,” he said.

In the early stages of the investigation, Chief Ridberg said police determined that Carlos Trujillo was the last person to see Mr. Kissel alive. He later added that Leonard Trujillo’s name became a part of the investigation “not immediately but not late.”

Mr. Urso said he didn’t think his client knew his cousin “all that well” and added he was looking forward to reading through the warrant, which he received a copy of on Monday, to see why police determined the crime took place. Mr. Urso contends his client and Mr. Kissel had a close relationship and that he had no motive for killing him.

Chief Ridberg said he wouldn’t comment on what motive police believe the two men had for murder. Because Mr. Kissel was in financial distress at the time of his death and was scheduled to plead guilty to both a local bank fraud charge and in an unrelated New York fraud case, some who heard of the case speculated Mr. Kissel might have hired someone to kill him so his children would receive insurance payments from his death.

Chief Ridberg neither dismissed nor accepted that possibility, but confirmed the police investigated that view. He said the department’s research showed there had been only two cases nationwide where such a scenario had happened and called it “an extremely rare form of homicide.”

“We never said that we believed that it was [suicide for hire] and we never said that we didn’t believe,” Chief Ridberg said. “It’s been promulgated by people outside the police department and not us. If it ends up being the case, that’s fine. If it ends up not being the case, that’s fine too. We’re more into discerning the facts of the case.”...

...
Two years since murder

The Trujillos’ arrests come close to the two-year anniversary of the discovery of Mr. Kissel’s body by movers coming to take furniture out of his home. No time of death has been released by the police, but Chief Ridberg said they think it took place during the weekend.

Chief Ridberg said the investigation was conducted incrementally with information coming in that led to other information and ultimately to the arrests, a process he compared to building blocks.

“There was no ‘Ah hah moment’ that led to the arrests,” Chief Ridberg said, adding that the information had to be corroborated to the point where the State’s Attorney’s Office would be comfortable signing an arrest warrant.

Mr. Urso repeated claims on Monday that the police had been pressuring his client’s family and threatening it with deportation unless members said “what they wanted to hear.” He maintained he wasn’t criticizing the investigation or calling it improperly done but said that his client’s nephew has already been deported and said others have been “strong armed.”

During the press conference, Chief Ridberg specifically mentioned Mr. Urso and his past comments.

“He makes it sound as if we snatched a 5-year-old boy off the streets and tossed him over to immigration and customs and had him deported,” Chief Ridberg said. “That’s not the case. The person that was deported was a verified gangster in New York City with a group that specialized in home invasions. He’s a convicted felon. Deporting him was not a case of the government preying on the weak.”

Chief Ridberg said he didn’t want to get “into a mud slinging contest” with Mr. Urso and that he understands he has a job to do as Mr. Trujillo’s attorney, but he firmly rejected any idea that the police department improperly obtained information from its interviews.

Chief Ridberg said various law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation, including the New York Police Department, the Connecticut and Massachusetts Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the federal Department of Homeland Security, military police from Fort Jackson, S.C., and police departments from as far away as Philadelphia, Pa. and Miramar, Fla. He added that the Worcester Police Department and the Stamford State’s Attorney’s Office “helped us the most.”

It was not revealed why the DEA, which was present at the time of Carlos Trujillo’s arrest, was involved, but Chief Ridberg said Mr. Kissel had been a drug user at the time of his death.

According to Chief Ridberg, so many other agencies were involved because of all the information that needed to be gathered and all the people that needed to be interviewed in the case. He estimated police had interviewed hundreds of people in connection with the case and credited the work of the Greenwich Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division....


More Reports....

Chauffeur: I Didn't Kill Conn. Developer

The Associated Press

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — A chauffeur charged with conspiracy to commit murder says he didn't kill a Greenwich, Conn., developer who had been days away from ...

...Trujillo was being led out of police headquarters Monday when a reporter asked the 47-year-old if he killed Kissel. "No I didn't," he replied.

Trujillo pleaded not guilty later Monday and is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

His 21-year-old cousin Leonard Trujillo was arrested Saturday in Worcester...

Kissel murder suspect charged

Stamford Advocate, CT

By Martin B. Cassidy

Very shortly after Andrew M. Kissel was stabbed to death, police felt Carlos Trujillo, Kissel¹s long time chaffeur and assistant was a ...

....
Ridberg said police continue to investigate the case, but would not say how many more arrests might stem from the bloody killing.

'This is far from over and there is still a lot of information which we need to determine,' Ridberg said. Greenwich Police arrested Trujillo, 47, at 9:45 p.m. Friday night in Stratford on a conspiracy to commit murder charge, with Greenwich and Stratford police along with federal drug agents intercepting Trujillo¹s livery car on a street off of Route 1.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, Leonard Trujillo, 21, was arrested by Worcester Police Department detectives at his home and charged with one count each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, police said. The arrest warrants are sealed, Ridberg said....

KISSEL MURDER POSSIBLY A SUICIDE-FOR-HIRE

New York Post, NY

Greenwich cops today left open the possibility that millionaire real estate mogul Andrew Kissel paid his assistant and another man to kill him - leaving a ...

...real estate mogul Andrew Kissel paid his assistant and another man to kill him - leaving a $15 million life insurance policy to his family.

"If it ends up being the case, that's fine," said Police Chief David Ridberg, referring to the theory that was first reported by The Post shortly after the April 2006 murder.

"If it doesn't end up being the case, that's fine too.

"We won't talk about motive," he added. "There was no particular 'aha!' moment that led to the arrest."

Kissel was about to plead guilty to federal real estate fraud charges when he was found beaten and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion. He was also in the midst of a bitter split with his wife, Hayley.

Carlos Trujillo, 47, Kissel's assistant and driver, was long considered a suspect, but wasn't arrested until this past weekend.

He was to be arraigned later today at Stamford Superior Court on conspiracy charges in the brutal 2006 beating and stabbing death of Kissel in his Greenwich mansion.

His cousin, Leonard Trujillo, 21, who is charged with actual murder, waived extradition in a hearing in Worcester, Mass.

He turned to his wife and mouthed the words, "I love you," as he was led from the courtroom.

He will be transported back to Connecticut after a second court appearance tomorrow.

"This obviously was an important case, and as I've said, its not finished yet," Ridberg said....

ALSO PLEASE SEE....

03/22/08 - Greenwich News Wire - Murder Arrest - Police Say It Was The Driver And Another Person (Multiple Articles)



03/23/08 - More On The High Profile Greenwich Murder Mystery - Many Questions Unanswered



03/24/08 - Detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso.

03/24/08 - Detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso.


ATTORNEY LINDY URSO SAYS GREENWICH POLICE DEPARTMENT MAY HAVE GOTTEN CARLOS TRUJILLO'S 21 YEAR OLD COUSIN TO TESTIFY FALSELY.

Lawyer questions Kissel evidence


Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

As two cousins sat jailed in two different municipalities awaiting their first hearing in court today on charges of murder, a lawyer representing one of them said he wants to know what evidence has led police to make the arrests now, nearly two years after the murder took place.

Days after Andrew Kissel was stabbed to death in the basement of his Dairy Road mansion, detectives had already identified one of the men as a suspect. Police had interviewed Carlos Trujillo, 47, who was Kissel's long-time chauffeur and assistant, several times, but detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso....

"It may well be that in Leonard they finally found someone who could be compromised, who had enough of his own problems that he was willing to testify falsely against Carlos. We'll have to wait and see."

...Urso was reacting to comments Leonard Trujillo's wife made to the New York Post, telling the tabloid that her husband said Carlos Trujillo had been "trying to use him to give him some money to do something." Brenda Trujillo could not be reached for comment yesterday....


More News Reports From The Greenwich Time....

Easter draws believers to beach

On a frigid morning, church music rang from the Greenwich Point Park beach as the last of the Easter worshipers arrived, toting their beach chairs and blankets yesterday.

Avenue proposals a tough fit
The expansion proposals for the new senior center could be a tough fit in the present facility on Greenwich Avenue, according to Sam Deibler, director of the town Commission on Aging.

YMCA gets state grant for child-care program
Another child-care facility will soon open in downtown Greenwich.

=========================================================

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GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Experience is a good school, but the fees are high.
- Heinrich Heine

Saturday, March 22, 2008

03/22/08 - Greenwich News Wire - Murder Arrest - Police Say It Was The Driver And Another Person


ONE MILLION DOLLAR BAIL IMPOSED

Greenwich News Reports: Kissel Murder Arrests

Arrests Made In Connection With Slaying Of Greenwich Businessman


WNBC - New York,NY,USA


NEW YORK -- Police in Greenwich Conn., say they have made two arrests in connection with the death of a wealthy Greenwich real estate developer who was ...

...Police have also arrested his 21-year-old cousin Leonard Trujillo, of Worcester, Massachusetts, on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.Police said Kissel, 46, appeared to have been stabbed several times.Before moving to Greenwich, Andrew Kissel and his wife, Hayley Wolff Kissel, lived in a a co-op building on 74th Street near Third Avenue.His death came just three years after his brother, Robert, a successful investment banker with Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, was bludgeoned to death by his wife, Nancy. In that case, police said Nancy had one of her children give him a milkshake laced with sedatives. The killing was called the "milkshake murder" in the Hong Kong press.

More Reports ...

2 Are Charged in 2006 Killing of a Connecticut Developer
New York Times, United States - Mar 22, 2008

By AP HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with the 2006 stabbing death of the Greenwich real estate developer Andrew ...

...
Mr. Kissel, 46, was found tied up and stabbed to death in his home on April 3, 2006, days before he was to plead guilty in a real estate fraud case.

The police said at the time that there was no sign of forced entry into Mr. Kissel’s home, but would not discuss a possible motive or suspects. They said from the start that they did not believe the killing was a random act.

A lawyer for Carlos Trujillo said he had cooperated with the investigation, providing DNA samples, fingerprints and documents, and denied any involvement in Mr. Kissel’s death.

It was unclear Saturday whether Leonard Trujillo had a lawyer.

Chief David Ridberg of the Greenwich police said on Saturday that warrants for the arrests were sealed, and that more information would be released Monday.

Mr. Kissel’s brother, Robert, was a wealthy investment banker who was killed in Hong Kong in November 2003. In September 2005, Robert Kissel’s wife, accused of feeding him a milkshake laced with drugs and then beating him, was convicted of murder in his death.

Andrew Kissel and his estranged wife, Hayley, had cared for Robert Kissel’s three children until they were handed over to the custody of the Kissels’ sister, who lived near Seattle. Andrew and Hayley Kissel had two children of their own.

Andrew Kissel had criminal cases pending in federal and state courts in New York at the time of his death. The federal case charged him with real estate fraud, and state prosecutors charged him with grand larceny, alleging he stole nearly $4 million from his Manhattan apartment cooperative.

Greenwich police say 2 men under arrest in Andrew Kissel homicide
WHDH-TV, MA - Mar 22, 2008

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Greenwich, Connecticut police say two men are under arrest in the 2006 murder of slain real estate developer Andrew Kissel. ...

...
He's charged with conspiracy to commit murder. His cousin, 21-year-old Worcester, Massachusetts resident Leonard Trujillo, is charged with murder and conspiracy.

Greenwich police say they'll release more details Monday.

Kissel was found stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion in April 2006, just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar real estate fraud case.

Leonard Trujillo is being held without bond at the Worcester police station, while Carlos Trujillo is held on $1 million bond...

TWO ARRESTED IN ANDREW KISSEL MURDER
New York Post, NY - Mar 22, 2008

By TOM LIDDY Two men were arrested yesterday for the murder of Connecticut real estate mogul Andrew Kissel, cops said. Kissel's chauffeur, Carlos Trujillo, ...

...
Carlos Trujillo, 47, of Bridgeport, was picked up Friday night in Stratford after a nearly two year investigation into the brutal stabbing death at the businessman's Greenwich estate, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Detectives - along with DEA agents - caught up with Trujillo as he was driving on a highway just before 10 p.m. He was taken into custody without incident, authorities said.

He is being held on $1 million bond in Greenwich. If he doesn't make bond, he will appear in Stamford court on Monday.

Also arrested was another man, Leonard Trujillo, 21, of Worcester, Ma, who was charged with murder and conspiracy, cops said.

It was not immediately clear how or if the men are related.

Leonard Trujillo is being held without bond in Worcester and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

"While I am proud of the hard work done by my detectives in this investigation, it is far from over," said Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg. "There is still a lot of information to be gathered and facts to be discerned."

Police did not say what led to the break in the investigation or what the motive might be.

Kissel was found stabbed to death in April 2006 by moving company workers at his home.

Greenwich police say 2 men under arrest in Andrew Kissel homicide
Boston Globe, United States - Mar 22, 2008

GREENWICH, Conn.—Greenwich police say the driver of slain real estate developer Andrew Kissel and another man have been charged in his 2006 murder. ...

...
Police say 21-year-old Leonard Trujillo of Worcester, Mass., is charged with murder and conspiracy and that his cousin, 47-year-old Carlos Trujillo of Bridgeport, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder.Carlos Trujillo was a driver for Kissel, who was found stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion in April 2006. His death occurred just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar real estate fraud case.


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