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