In their quest to identify perpetrators of unsolved crimes and hold criminals accountable for their actions, investigators in the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney carry coins bearing a biblical proverb that reads: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” These words, and three other words on the coin – “We Never Forget” – define the work of the unit.
Below are cases the Cold Case Unit investigators, in collaboration with their law enforcement partners, have solved throughout the years:
Ramon Smith -Arrested
In June 2024, Hartford police arrested Ramon Smith of Hartford in connection with the March 25, 2007 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Joshua
McClelland on Blue Hills Avenue in Hartford.
Joshua attended Hartford Public Schools and was scheduled to begin the Co-Opportunity-Youth Build Hartford Americorps Trade Program shortly before he was killed.
At this time, the charges against Smith are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Jamell W. Evans - Arrested
Michael B. Coleman - Arrested
In 2023, Jamell W. Evans and Michael B. Coleman were arrested in connection with the 2017 fatal shooting of Gabriel “Bebo” Pereira in New Britain. The arrests are the result of a joint investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, the New Britain State’s Attorney’s Office and the New Britain Police Department.
New Britain Police received several reports of shots fired at 396 Park Street at 9:06 p.m. on August 1, 2017. Responding officers determined that Gabriel, age 32, was attending a birthday party at that location and had stepped outside when he was shot in the head. Police found Gabriel laying on the ground near the front porch surrounded by family who were attempting to render aid. Emergency officials transported Pereira to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
At this time, the charges are merely accusations and Evans and Coleman are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
To learn more, click the following links:
Middletown Man Charged In Connection with 2017 Cold Case Murder in New Britain
New Britain Man Charged In Connection with 2017 Cold Case Murder in New Britain
Brandon James - Convicted
Maurice Snowden - Arrested
Victoria Harris - Arrested
Shane Henriques - Arrested
In March 2022, police arrested four people - Brandon Jones, Maurice Snowden, Victoria Harris and Shane Henriques - in connection with the 2005 fatal shooting of Dante Davis in Hartford.
Police responding to a call on Martin Street in Hartford at 11:08 p.m. on June 21, 2005 found Dante suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Dante, age 21, was standing in front of that location with her boyfriend and others when armed suspects opened fire in the area. Dante was taken to the hospital where she later died.
Jones was sentenced in 2023 to 45 years in prison for his role in Dante’s death. The cases of Snowden, Harris and Henriques are pending in Superior Court.
At this time, the charges are merely accusations and they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
The arrests are the result of a joint investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office and the Hartford Police Department.
To learn more, click the following links:
Brandon Jones Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for 2005 Murder of Dante Davis in Hartford
Brandon Jones Convicted of 2005 Murder of Dante Davis in Hartford
Four People Charged In Connection with 2005 Cold Case Murder in Hartford
Mark White -Arrested
Mark White, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was arrested and charged in March 2022 with the May 3, 2008 shooting death of Jumar Joiner on West Morningside Street in Hartford.
A report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said 26-year-old Jumar suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the shooting. At the time of his death, Jumar was employed in his family’s building business and was in the process of obtaining his real estate license. In the days, weeks, and months that followed his death, investigators followed tips and leads, but no arrest was made.
In 2017, the Division of Criminal Justice’s Cold Case Unit’s tip line received new leads in the case that helped result in the March 2, 2022 arrest of White. The charges against White are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
To learn more, click the following link:
New Mexico Man Charged With 2008 Cold Case Murder in Hartford
Shawn Isaac Milner - Arrested
Shawn Isaac Milner has been arrested and charged with the December 1, 2010 kidnapping and fatal shooting in Hartford of Waqas “Victor” Rehman, age 42, of Farmington.
Milner is accused of kidnapping the victim from the store he owned, The Smoker’s Stop on Barbour Street in Hartford, and fatally shooting him. Court records show a witness reported hearing the victim engaged in an altercation with someone who demanded money from the victim and for him to get into a car. Later while responding to a call of shots fired in the area, Hartford police officers found the victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital and later died.
The suspect was identified through DNA testing. In 2022, a report was generated by the DNA Database Unit which indicated that the DNA profile of a buccal swab from Milner could not be eliminated from a live round recovered at the crime scene where police found the wounded victim, according to court records.
At this time, the charges against Milner are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until and unless convicted in a court of law.
The arrest is the result of a joint investigation between the Cold Case Unit, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office and the Hartford Police Department.
To learn more, click the following link:
Joint Investigation Leads to Arrest in 2010 Cold Case Murder in Hartford
Brandon Letman - Arrested
On July 18, 2024, Brandon Letman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release for the 2016 fatal shootings of Ashley Spence, age 21, and Cameron Mounds Jr., age 19, in Hartford.
Letman was arrested in December 2019 and charged with two counts of Murder, Murder with Special Circumstances, Assault in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Firearm in the 2016 fatal shootings of Cameron and Ashley.
On June 21, 2016, Hartford police responded to 97 Enfield Street on report of a shot spotter activation and 911 calls reporting injured parties.
Officers found three victims had been shot. Ashley was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Cameron was found in the driveway of 98 Enfield Street where he was pronounced deceased. A third victim, Harold “Oink” Cook, age 39, survived a gunshot wound to his buttocks. Subsequent investigation determined that an argument ensued between Letman and the victims just prior to the shooting.
The arrest is the result of an investigation by the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and the Hartford Police Department.
To learn more, click the following links:
Brandon Letman Convicted of 2016 Murders of Ashley Spence and Cameron Mounds Jr. in Hartford
James Dexter Brown - Convicted
James Dexter Brown was sentenced on July 17, 2023 to 40 years in prison for the 2008 fatal shooting of Kenny Sullivan, age 20, in Harford.
A Hartford Superior Court jury on March 17, 2023, found Brown guilty of the June 26, 2008 shooting in the area of Main Street and Trumbull Street in Hartford. Police responding to the scene found Kenny with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was rushed to a local hospital and later died.
Following an investigation by the Hartford Police Department, the Division of Criminal Justice’s Cold Case Unit and federal authorities, investigators learned from witnesses that before the shooting, there were verbal and physical altercations between two street gangs during a concert inside the XL Center. A large fight between the two groups also occurred outside after the concert ended. Witnesses told investigators that Brown fatally shot the victim. Police arrested Brown in connection with the victim's death on December 14, 2018.
To learn more, click the following link:
Michael Sharpe - Convicted
Michael Sharpe was sentenced on January 9, 2023 to 72 years in prison on kidnapping charges in connection with the 1984 home invasion attacks on four women who were sexually assaulted in their bedrooms in the middle of the night. Sharpe could not be charged with sexual assault because there was a five-year statute of limitations at the time the crimes were committed.
Police arrested Sharpe in 2020 after an extensive investigation by the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Cold Case Unit that included the use of a forensic genetic genealogy database that relatives of Sharpe had given DNA samples to through the GEDmatch website. DNA samples taken from trash outside Sharpe’s home, and later from a sample from Sharpe himself, matched the DNA found at the crime scenes.
The Cold Case Unit is grateful for the assistance in this investigation from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, including the Connecticut State Police and Division of Scientific Services, Bode Technology, the Connecticut Department of Correction and the Hartford, Bloomfield, Rocky Hill, Middletown and Windsor Police Departments. These agencies devoted countless hours toward this investigation. Their use of cutting-edge technology played a major role in identifying the defendant and bringing him to justice.
To learn more, click the following links:
Jury Convicts Marlborough Man of Kidnapping Charges Related to 1984 Cold Cases
William Winters Leverett - Arrested
William Winters Leverett was sentenced in May 2022 to 35 years in prison for the November 20, 2014 murder of Melissa Millan in Simsbury. On November 20, 2014, Simsbury police responded to a report of a female pedestrian lying in the roadway on Iron Horse Boulevard shortly after 8 p.m. When the first officer responded, several people were standing over a woman lying on her left side covered in blood next to the footpath near the Rotary Park playground. Officers performed CPR on the unresponsive victim who was then transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly before 9 p.m.
The victim was subsequently identified as Melissa Millan, age 54, a senior vice president with MassMutual Life Insurance Company. The mother of two, she competed in triathlons and frequently ran at night in Simsbury.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Leverett went to the Simsbury Police Department in September 2018 and admitted to the crime.
The homicide was investigated by the Simsbury Police Department with support from the FBI, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, the Hartford Police Department, Avon Police Department, Connecticut State Police, the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Forensic Science Laboratory and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
William Devin Howell - Convicted
William Devin Howell pleaded guilty to killing five women and a man whose bodies were found in a wooded area of New Britain after he was previously convicted of manslaughter in the slaying of another woman. Howell entered pleas to six counts of Murder in New Britain Superior Court, where he was sentenced in November 2017 to 360 years in prison, or six consecutive life sentences.
Howell was formally charged on September 18, 2015, in the deaths of three women whose identities under Connecticut state law are confidential because they were victims of sexual assault. He also was charged in the deaths of Marilyn Gonzalez, born October 16, 1976, who was last seen on May 16, 2003, in Waterbury; Mary Jane Menard, born May 7, 1963, and who went missing in October 2003; and Danny Lee Whistnant, born October 5, 1958, and who was reported missing on June 24, 2003.
Howell is serving six sentences of life in prison. Under Connecticut law, life in prison is defined as 60 years with a mandatory minimum penalty of 25 years on each count, resulting in a total effective sentence of 360 years, 150 years of which are mandatory.
The remains of the six victims were found buried in a wooded area behind a shopping center on Hartford Road in New Britain. At the time he was charged in those deaths, Howell was in prison for his conviction for Manslaughter in the First Degree for the homicide of Nilsa Arizmendi. She was last seen alive on July 25, 2003, in Wethersfield. Her remains were found in the same wooded area of New Britain where the other victims were buried.
Howell’s arrest was the result of an investigation by the Greater New Britain Serial Murder Task Force, which was established to investigate the cases. The task force included members of the New Britain, Hartford, Wethersfield, Waterbury and East Hartford police departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New Britain. The task force was assisted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Division of Scientific Services Forensic Science Laboratory, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, the Hampton Police Department in Virginia and the Bertie County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.
James Raynor - Arrested
James Raynor was sentenced on November 17, 2023 for fatally shooting Harry Baez in Hartford on May 10, 2002.
On that date, Hartford police responded to 47 Center Street for a report of a person shot. Officers found the 25-year-old victim down on the street with bullet wounds to the head and shoulder. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The case was investigated by the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney. Raynor was already serving a 37-year prison sentence for his conviction in an unrelated case when he was arrested in connection with the death of Baez.
Brock Davis - Convicted
Brock Davis was sentenced on June 5, 2019 to 50 years in prison for the slaying of Joseph Lindsey in Hartford on December 9, 2015.
Davis was found guilty of Murder by a Hartford Superior Court jury in March 2019. According to evidence presented at his trial, he was seen on video walking into a package store on Albany Avenue in Hartford and then moments later stabbing the victim on the sidewalk at the intersection of Albany Avenue and Baltimore Street. Joseph, the father of 10 children, died following the stabbing.
Joseph Lindsey Davis was arrested following an investigation by the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.
Rafael Ortiz -Convicted
Rafael Ortiz is serving a 50-year prison sentence following his conviction by a Superior Court jury of Murder for the June 11, 2003 homicide of Benjamin "Benji" Baez, age 27, who was shot to death while sitting in a parked car on Main Street in the North End of Hartford.
Ortiz was arrested in October 2017 in New York by Hartford Police detectives assigned to the Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.
The case was investigated by the Hartford Police Department in conjunction with the Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Bureau.
Jesus Ashanti - Convicted
Harold Cook - Convicted
Terrell Hunter - Convicted
Douglas Lee - Convicted
Gerund Mickens - Convicted
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| Jesus "Black" Ashanti | Harold "Oink" Cook | Terrell "Rell" Hunter | Gerund "Breeze" Mickens | Douglas "Fly" Lee |
Federal juries convicted four men and a fifth man pleaded guilty in the January 2009 murder of Charles Teasley.
Harold Cook, also known as “Oink,” 41, of Bloomfield, Gerund Mickens, also known as “Breeze,” 42, of Bloomfield, and Terrell Hunter, also known as “Rell” and “Killer,” 36, of Hartford, were each found guilty of one count of kidnapping resulting in death, one count of using a firearm during a kidnapping and causing a death, and one count of using a firearm during a Hobbs Act robbery and causing a death.
Douglas Lee, also known as "Fly," was convicted following a separate trial of one count of kidnapping resulting in death. Jesus Ashanti, also known as "Black," age 42, formerly of Hartford, pleaded guilty in July 2018 to one count of kidnapping resulting in death, one count of using a firearm during a kidnapping and causing a death, and one count of using a firearm during a robbery and causing a death.
The charges resulted from a long-term investigation by the FBI's Northern Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force, the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.
Teasley was found dead on January 12, 2009, in a car parked on Colebrook Street in Hartford. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his head and face, and his hands were zip-tied behind his back. According to court records, Cook, Mickens, Hunter and Ashanti had kidnapped Teasley and forced him into his own vehicle. They then forced to make a telephone call directing his girlfriend to bring a safe he had hidden at his home. The four defendants then drove Teasley to a residential section of Hartford and murdered him, the indictment alleged.
Harold Patterson - Convicted
Harold Patterson was found guilty by a jury following a trial in Hartford Superior Court for the deaths of Lamar Gresham, 21, and Carlos Ortiz, 23, who were fatally wounded on Edwards Street in Hartford in the early morning hours of August 25, 2008.
Patterson was arrested as a result of an investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in conjunction with Hartford Police, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Patterson was sentenced in July 2019 to serve 100 years in prison.
The homicides of Gresham and Ortiz were featured on the five of clubs card in the third edition of the cold case playing cards produced in conjunction with the Department of Correction and sold to inmates in the Connecticut corrections system.
Patterson also was convicted in September 2009 for the fatal shooting of Raymond "Flip" Hite on June 5, 2008, on Acton Street in Hartford.
Patterson was arrested as a result of an investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in conjunction with Hartford Police, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Hite, age 34, had been shot multiple times when police found him lying in the middle of Acton Street shortly before 12:30 a.m. Patterson pleaded guilty in September 2019 to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm. He is serving a 10-year sentence, which will run concurrent with the 100-year sentence he is already serving for the homicide of Lamar and Carlos.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Robert White - Convicted
Robert White, a serial sex offender previously convicted of killing two women in Hartford, was convicted in 2018 of the slayings of two more women in Hartford. He pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine to one count of Murder for the 1997 slaying of Shiraleen Crawford and one count of Murder for the 2012 slaying of Sonia Rivera.
The arrest was the result of an investigation by the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney in conjunction with the Hartford Police Department.
At the time of his guilty pleas in June 2018, White was already serving a 50-year prison sentence for his conviction for Murder in the death of Sawarie Krichindath, who was found slain in her Hartford apartment on March 16, 2013. He was previously convicted in 1980 of Manslaughter in the First Degree in the beating death of Betty Robertson, also in Hartford.
According to the arrest warrant affidavits, White is a registered sex
offender with a "pattern of violence again
st women, often including violent
sexual encounters."
Shiraleen Crawford, age 30, was found dead in her apartment on Martin Street in Hartford on August 14, 1997. An autopsy determined she died from blunt trauma to the head and also suffered stab wounds to the head, chest and neck. Sonia Rivera, age 48, was found unresponsive in an alley off Washington Street in Hartford on September 27, 2012. The victim of trauma to her head and face, she died in the hospital on October 3, 2012.
White was sentenced to 50 years in prison on each of the Murder charges for his latest convictions. The sentences will run concurrent to each other but consecutive to his previous sentence for a total of 100 years to serve in prison.
Jose Ramos - Convicted
Jose Ramos was convicted of Murder for the 2008 homicide of Tynell "Blue" Harwick in Norwich.
Ramos was found guilty in February 2016 of one count of Murder following a jury trial in Norwich Superior Court. He was sentenced in April 2016 to serve 60 years in prison. In imposing the maximum sentence for Murder, the judge noted the defendant's complete lack of remorse and his dishonesty, and characterized the state's case as "overwhelming."
Ramos was arrested in Queens, N.Y., on September 25, 2012, and waived extradition to Connecticut.
Tynell, age 29, of Norwich, was with friends at Rumors Cafe at 88 Boswell Avenue in Norwich. As he left the cafe at about 11:45 p.m. with his friend, he was fatally shot.
The case was one of those featured in the second edition of Cold Case playing cards produced by Cold Case investigators and distributed through the state’s correctional institutions. The Hardwick case was featured on the Ace of Spades card.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Arthur Stanley - Convicted
Arthur Stanley, also known as "Wiggs," 26, was convicted by a federal jury in December 2016 of the 2011 slaying of Keith Washington.
At approximately 9:28 p.m. on July 15, 2011, Hartford police responding to a report of shots fired found an unconscious man on the front porch of the residence at 67 Oakland Terrace.
The victim, subsequently identified as Keith Washington of Windsor, was transported to the hospital where he died on July 17, 2011.
Stanley, an active member of a Hartford street gang, is charged with engaging in a Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering, namely the murder of Keith Washington.
Stanley, an active member of a Hartford street gang, was found guilty by a jury following a trial in the United States District Court on December 19, 2016.
The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force, Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. The FBI Task Force includes members of the Hartford Police Department, East Hartford Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Connecticut Department of Correction.
Hector Torres - Convicted
Hector Torres was sentenced to 37 years in prison for his role in the slayings of Derrick Comrie and Luis "Berto" Benitez, age 28.
Derrick was gunned down on January 10, 2006, outside of Bulkeley High School in Hartford after a basketball game at the school. Luis was found injured in the parking lot of a convenience store on New Britain Avenue in Hartford on Dec. 7, 2009. His death in March 2010 was ruled a homicide.
Derrick was featured on the 9 of clubs and Luis appeared on the 5 of spades in the second deck of the state's Cold Case Playing Cards.
James Raynor - Convicted
Kendel Jules - Convicted
KENDEL "YACHT" JULES was convicted of Manslaughter 
in the First Degree with a Firearm in connection with the 2009 slaying of Kenneth Carter in Hartford. JAMES "APE" RAYNOR was convicted of Assault in the Second Degree and Conspiracy in the case.
Jules and Raynor were linked to a large-scale narcotics trafficking operation in the North End of Hartford, which was the focus of an investigatory grand jury.
Carter was found with gunshot wounds to the neck and chest in a vehicle near 10 Liberty Street in Hartford shortly before 11 p.m. on July 25, 2009. Investigators determined that while attempting to drive away from the scene after being shot Carter’s vehicle struck two unoccupied parked vehicles. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Jules and Raynor were arrested as a result of an 18-month grand jury investigation conducted by Superior Court Judge Trial Referee John F. Mulcahy, Jr. The grand jury investigation was the key component of a major mul
ti-jurisdictional investigation into violence in Hartford that also included the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford, Hartford Police, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.
Raynor was arrested in February 2015 and pled guilty on April 21, 2015, to Assault in the Second Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Assault in the Second Degree. Jules was arrested March 30, 2015, in Staten Island, N.Y. He pled guilty in September 2018 to Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm and is scheduled to be sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by 10 years of Special Parole.
Matthew Pugh - Convicted
MATTHEW PUGH is serving a 60-year sentence for Murder and Burglary for the the
homicide of Alexandra Ducsay.
Alexandra was found deceased in her home on Booth Bay Street in Milford on May 19, 2006. An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was certified as homicide.
Pugh, formerly of Hamden, was arrested in September 2012 as a result of a lengthy investigation conducted by detectives from the Milford Police Department in collaboration with the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Ansonia/Milford. During the course of the investigation, the case was featured on the Cold Case Playing Cards distributed in the Connecticut corrections system.
Pugh was convicted in March 2015 of Murder and Burglary on the First Degree after a jury trial in Milford Superior Court. He was sentenced on May 11, 2015, to serve 60 years in prison. The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford.
Jimel Frank - Convicted
Karl Roye - Convicted
JIMEL FRANK, also known as "30" and "Velly," pled guilty and KARL "EAGLE" ROYE was convicted after a trial for the April 2011 homicide of Anthony "Smooth" Parker in Hartford.
Frank pled guilty in United States District Court to one count of Committing a Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering, namely the death of Anthony Parker. Roye was convicted following a federal jury trial of one count of Committing Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering and one count of Conspiracy to Commit a Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering. He was sentenced in November 2017 to a term of life imprisonment.
At approximately 
10:47 a.m. on the morning of April 6, 2011, Hartford Police
responding to a report of gunshots fired in the city's Blue Hills section found
Mr. Parker in the driver's seat of a vehicle in the driveway at 15 Thomaston
Street. The 24-year-old victim was unconscious and suffering from multiple
gunshot wounds that subsequently proved fatal.
Frank and Roye were arrested on federal complaints brought in February 2015
as a result of a long-term investigation into narcotics trafficking by the
WestHell and Team Grease street gangs and gang-related violent activity.
The homicide of Anthony Parker was included in cold case playing cards sold to inmates in Connecticut’s state correctional facilities. Each card in the deck features a photograph and brief details about a homicide or missing person case and lists telephone, mail and e-mail contacts that inmates can use to supply information.
This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force, DEA, Hartford Police Department and Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. The FBI Task Force includes members of the Hartford Police Department, East Hartford Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Connecticut Department of Correction.
Lashawn "B.I." Cecil - Convicted
LAWSHAWN "B.I." CECIL was convicted in February 2017 by a jury in New London Superior Court of Murder for the 2011 shooting death
of Jaclyn Wirth in Norwich. Cecil was also subsequently convicted of Criminal Possession of a Firearm in the same case.
Twenty-six-year-old Jackie Wirth was fatally shot in her apartment on East Baltic Street in Norwich on December 14, 2011. Jackie left behind two young sons who were present when she was tragically killed. She had no known enemies and was devoted to raising her sons.
Cecil was arrested in 2015 by members of the Southeastern Connecticut/New London County Cold Case Squad, working with the Norwich Police Department. The Norwich police had requested the assistance of the Cold Case Squad in August of 2014, and Jackie Wirth was featured on the Queen of Diamonds card in the third edition of the Connecticut Cold Case playing cards.
At the time of his arrest in February 2015, Cecil was 33 years old and in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction on charges stemming from a series of shootings that occurred in Norwich in 2012.
Noel Maldonado - Convicted
N
OEL MALDONADO was convicted of Accessory to Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm in connection with the slaying of Luis "Berto" Benitez.
The 28-year-old victim was found wounded in the parking lot of a convenience store on New Britain Avenue in Hartford in the early morning hours of December 7, 2009. He died March 14, 2010, from injuries sustained in the attack, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Maldonado, a 25-year-old Hartford resident at the time of the slaying, was arrested in January 2014 on a warrant issued as a result of a grand jury investigation into organized criminal activity, including homicides, in Hartford. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to one count of Accessory to Commit Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm and was sentenced in February 2018 to serve 12 years in prison followed by 5 years of probation.
Gerald Brian Tuttle - Convicted
GERALD BRIAN TUTTLE pled guilty in August 2016 to the 1998 strangulation death of Gertrude "Trudy" Ochankowski in East Hampton.
Tuttle was arrested in December 2013 at his home in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, and charged as a result of an investigation conducted by the East Hampton Police Department in conjunction with the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Middlesex and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.
Trudy was reported missing on January 11, 1998. Her body was found the following day in a stream in an area known as Engel’s Falls. An autopsy determined she had been strangled.
Tuttle entered his guilty plea pursuant to the Alford doctrine under which a defendant does not admit guilt, but agrees that the state has enough evidence to get a conviction. He was sentenced on December 6, 2016, to an effective sentence of 30 years in prison to be followed by 5 years probation.
Darius Armadore - Convicted
Gerjuan Tyus - Convicted
Darius Armadore and Gerjuan Tyus were convicted of fatally shooting Todd Thomas in New London in 2006.
Armador
e and Tyus were arrested as a result of an investigation by the New London
Police Department in conjunction with the Southeastern Connecticut/New London
County Cold Case Unit and also involving the FBI. The arrests were the first for the New London Police Department working in
conjunction with the Cold Case Unit.
Todd age 30, was shot at approximately 12:15 a.m. on December 23, 2006, outside of a cafe located on Bank Street in New London.
Investigators believe the shooting was in retaliation for an incident that occurred three weeks earlier in which Todd is alleged to have shot Tyus in a dispute over jewelry. Tyus suffered non-life threatening injuries in that incident.
Armadore and Tyus were identified by investigators as gang members with ties to Dorchester, Mass. At the time of their arrests in the homicide case, both Armadore and Tyus were being held in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction on unrelated charges.
Both were convicted of Murder on November 19, 2015, by a jury following a trial in New London Superior Court. The cases were prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Irene Reynolds - Convicted
Irene Reynolds pleaded no contest in December 2012 to one count of Manslaughter in the Second Degree in connection with the death of her adoptive mother, Bertha Reynolds, in Norwich on July 9, 1993. Her arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the Norwich Police Department in conjunction with the Southeastern Connecticut/New London County Cold Case Unit.
Reynolds was charged in the death of her adoptive mother, Bertha Reynolds, who was found dead at the foot of the basement stairs in the victim's home on Laurel Hill Avenue in Norwich. An autopsy determined the 60-year-old victim had been beaten and strangled
Irene Reynolds, who had been adopted as an infant by the victim and her husband, was 21 years old at the time of the crime.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Dickie Anderson, Jr. - Convicted
DICKIE E. ANDERSON, JR. was
convicted in April 2012 of Murder for the homicide of Renee Pellegrino. The
41-year-old victim was found dead by Waterford Police on June 25, 1997, on
Waterford Parkway South
, a dead-end street in a rural area of Waterford.
Anderson was arrested on June 1, 2010, as a result of an investigation conducted by the Southeastern Connecticut Cold Case Unit. He was convicted of Murder on April 4, 2012, following a trial by a jury in the Superior Court for the Judicial District of New London.
An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Ms. Pellegrino had been strangled, and her death was ruled a homicide. Anderson, a resident of New London, was 27 years old at the time of the crime and age 40 at the time of his arrest.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Luis Sanchez - Convicted
LUIS SANCHEZ was convicted
in October 2013 for the slaying of one person and wounding of two others
outside of a club on Franklin Avenue in Hartford on October 7, 2010.
Sanchez, who was 22 years old at the time of his arrest, was found guilty by a Hartford Superior Court jury of Murder and two counts of Assault in the First Degree.
He was sentenced in January 2014 to serve 65 years in prison - 55 years for the Murder conviction and five years on each count of assault. The terms will run consecutively.
He was arrested in February 2012 as a result of an investigation by the Major Crimes Division of the Hartford Police Department in conjunction with the Hartford Shooting Task Force and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney .
According to testimony at his trial, Sanchez opened fire on a group of individuals outside of 451 Franklin Avenue in Hartford shortly before 1 a.m. on October 7, 2010. Jeanna Flores , age 27, died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Two men with her were wounded.
Also convicted on charges related to the investigation were SANTOS GONZALEZ , found guilty of Hindering Prosecution in the Second Degree and GINA COLON , convicted of Hindering Prosecution in the Second Degree and Tampering with a Witness.
The cases were prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford .
Luis A. Rodriguez - Convicted
LUIS ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ was convicted in August 2013 in the strangulation death of
Kelsey Monahon, who was found mortally wound
ed in her Milford
home on May 25, 2001.
Kelsey, age 28, was found unresponsive, the victim of an apparent burglary and robbery in her home on Bittersweet Avenue in the Wildemere Beach neighborhood of Milford. She died three days later in Bridgeport Hospital without regaining consciousness.
An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined she was the victim of strangulation and her death was ruled a homicide.
An arrest warrant was issued in January 2011 charging Rodriguez as a result of an investigation conducted by Milford Police Department in conjunction with the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford.
Rodriguez, age 53 at the time of his conviction on a manslaughter charge, was extradited to Connecticut in June 2013 from Oklahoma where he was serving a federal prison sentence in an unrelated case.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford.
Bruce Gathers - Convicted
Gregory Smith - Convicted
Bruce Gathers pleaded guilty in March 2013 to Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm in the 2006 shooting death of Sean R. Hill in Norwich. He was sentenced in June 2013 to serve 10 ½ years in prison to be followed by 4 ½ years of special parole.
Gathers was incarcerated on related charges at the time of his arrest in 2010 following an investigation by the Norwich Police Department and the Southeastern Connecticut/New London County Cold Case Unit.
Gregory Smith was arrested in 2010 and convicted in 2013 of Manslaughter in the Second Degree in the death of Sean. He was sentenced to six years in prison. The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Gathers and Smith were previously convicted and sentenced to prison for their roles in a robbery and assault that occurred before Sean Hill was mortally wounded in the area of Boswell Avenue and Lake Street in Norwich minutes after midnight on June 3, 2006. The 19-year-old victim was hit by a shot that rang out after a man he was with that night fled a Boswell Avenue apartment where he had been assaulted and robbed.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New London.
Peter Waraksa - Convicted
PETER WARAKSA pleaded guilty
on October 11, 2012, to criminal charges stemming from the deaths of
an East Windsor couple found dead in their home following a fire in 1986.
Waraksa was sentenced to serve eight years and eight months in prison to be followed by ten years of special parole in the deaths of Orie “Harold” Weeks, age 59, and his wife, Assunta Weeks, age 57. Waraksa was a member of the Warehouse Point Fire Department at the time of the fatal fire on October 7, 1986, at the Weeks’ home at 17 Broadview Lane in East Windsor.
Waraksa pled guilty in Hartford Superior Court to two counts of Negligent Homicide and one count each of Arson in the Third Degree and Burglary in the Second Degree.
He was arrested in July 2010 – more than 23 years after the crime -- as a result of an investigation conducted by the East Windsor Police Department in conjunction with the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Quan Morgan - Convicted
QUAN MORGAN was convicted in
October 2011 of the murder of Shawn Dudley some five years earlier in
Hartford.
Morgan was arrested in February 2011 as a result of information received through "cold case" playing cards distributed to inmates throughout the Connecticut prison system. The arrest was the first resulting from information received as a result of the distribution of the cards.
Shawn, age 19, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of September 24, 2006, while attending a party at the West Indian Social Club at 340 Main Street in Hartford. He was confronted on the dance floor by several males, one of whom pulled a handgun and shot him once in the chest.
Morgan pleaded guilty in Hartford Superior Court on October 12, 2011, to one count of Murder for the homicide. At the time of his arrest, he was being held in the custody of the Department of Correction in the unrelated shooting death of Edward Haslam in Hartford on October 3, 2009, for which he has since been convicted. That arrest also resulted from an investigation by Hartford Police and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.
Antwan Sease - Convicted
Quan Morgan - Convicted
ANTWAN SEASE and
QUAN MORGAN were convicted in the 2009 shooting death
of Edward Haslam in Hartford.
At 2:49 a.m. on October 3, 2009, Hartford Police received a report of a man shot at Main and Montville streets. Responding officers found Mr. Haslam, age 41, in his car suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest in the parking lot of "Club Vibz" at 3155 Main Street.
Edward died of his injuries. An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest and the case was ruled a homicide.
Subsequent investigation determined that Mr.
Haslam was shot as he attempted to drive away while being robbed. His car
crashed into a fence and utility pole where it was found by emergency personnel
responding to the scene.
Quan Morgan was arrested on May 21, 2010. On May 17, 2011, he pleaded guilty in Hartford Superior Court to one count each of Felony Murder, Robbery in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in the First Degree. Antwan Sease was convicted in June 2011 by a jury in Hartford Superior Court of one count each of Felony Murder, Robbery in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in the First Degree. He is serving a 60-year prison term.
The investigation was conducted by the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney. All charges will be prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Paul Davis - Convicted
PAUL DAVIS was convicted in March
2013 of Accessory to Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Criminal Attempt
to Commit Murder in the death of a Hartford teenager who was gunned down
with a friend in a 2006 drive-by shooting.
Davis and Ackeem Riley were arrested in August 2009 and charged in the
homicide of 15-year-old Kerry Foster and wounding of a second, 14-year-old
teenager in a drive-by shooting that occurred in front of 50 Clark Street in
Hartford on May 28, 2006. Charges against Riley are 
pending in Hartford Superior Court.
Davis was sentenced in May 2013 to serve a total effective sentence of 100 years in prison. The case was investigated by the Major Crimes Division of the Hartford Police Department in conjunction with the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and the State of Connecticut Department of Correction. The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
At the time of his arrest, Davis was in the custody of the Department of Correction serving a 9-year sentence for an unrelated crime.
Officers ascertained that the victims had been standing in front of 50-52 Clark Street when a vehicle or vehicles pulled up and numerous gunshots were fired at both teenagers. The vehicle or vehicles then sped off. Officers found expended 9 mm casings and projectiles in front of 50-52 Clark Street.
Ackeem Riley - Convicted
ACKEEM RILEY was
convicted on March 3, 2009, in the 2006 shooting death of 16-year-old Tray
Davis in Hartford.
Tray was shot on November 17, 2006, at approximately 5:59
p.m., outside 714 Garden
Street . Two other victims, a 13-year-old male and a
21-year-old male, were also discovered at the scene. All three were transported
by ambulance to area hospitals. Tray was pronounced dead a short time
later.
On December 5, 2007, Riley, then age 18, was arrested by Hartford Police and charged in connection with the homicide.
He was convicted on March 3, 2009, following a jury trial in the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Hartford of being an Accessory to Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, two counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder and two counts of being an Accessory to Assault in the First Degree.
Tray was visiting his grandmother on November 17th and had been outside in the neighborhood and socializing with friends when he was killed. A quiet boy with a strong bond to his twin sister, he appears to have been an innocent bystander.
The case was investigated by the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit of the Chief State's Attorney's Office with the assistance of the Bloomfield Police Department.
Pedro Miranda - Convicted
PEDRO MIRANDA , a registered sex offender
from New Britain, was convicted on April 26, 2011, of four counts in the
1988 murder of Carmen Lopez in Hartford.
A jury in the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Hartford found Miranda guilty of one count of Capital Felony, one count of Murder, one count of Felony Murder and one count of Kidnapping in the First Degree.
He was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of release on the Capital Felony charge and 100 years on the other charges. He died in prison in 2018.
Carmen, age 17, was last heard from by relatives on January 2, 1988. She was found strangled on January 5, 1988, in an apartment on Nelton Court in Hartford.
The Cold Case Unit initiated its investigation of the homicide in July 2008 after new information was brought to the attention of the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford by the Connecticut Innocence Project of the State of Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services .
A Petition for a New Trial was granted on December 19, 2008, in the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Hartford for another individual who had been convicted in the homicide of Carmen Lopez. That conviction has since been vacated.
Miranda also was convicted on March 5, 2015, of Murder for the death of Mayra Cruz, whose body was found in a wooded area of East Windsor on November 8, 1987.
Miranda was found guilty by a jury in Hartford Superior Court where he was sentenced in April 2015 to sixty years in prison.
Mayra Cruz, age 13, was reported missing when she did not return home from school in Hartford on October 8, 1987.
Miranda, who was age 51 at the time of his arrest in 2008, was required to register on the State of Connecticut Sex Offender Registry as a result of his conviction for the May 29, 1998, sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in West Hartford.
Alexander Torres -
Convicted
Samuel Quiles - Convicted
ALEXAN
DER TORRES and
SAMUEL QUILES were convicted in connection with the
homicide of Efrain Rodriguez , who was fatally wounded outside of a
Hartford restaurant on November 10, 2007.
Torres, who was 16 years old at the
time of the crime, was arrested on August 1, 2008. He subsequently pled guilty
to Manslaughter in the First Degree and was sentenced to 20 years in
prison. Torres was arrested following an investigatory grand jury
investigation into the Rodriguez homicide.
Quiles, a resident of Middletown who was 25 years old when arrested on October 7, 2009, was sentenced in March 2010 to five years in prison for Carrying a Pistol Without a Permit, Possession of Narcotics and Perjury for lying to the investigatory grand jury.
At approximately 1:45 a.m. on November 10, 2007, Hartford police officers on patrol in the area of 1995 Park Street heard several gunshots coming from the MiBar restaurant.
Officers located a 19-year-old male lying on the sidewalk suffering from a single gunshot wound to the leg. He was transported to Hartford Hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening injury.
Efrain, a 30-year-old resident of Avon, was subsequently found in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center where he was later pronounced deceased.
The case was investigated by the Major Crimes Division of the Hartford Police Department and the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney. The cases were prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Duane Foster - Convicted
DUANE FOSTER pled guilty in April 2010 to one count of Kidnapping in
the First Degree for the January 1988 kidnapping, robbery and sexual
assault of a Hartford woman. Foster was arrested in November 2008 as a result
of a Cold Case investigation by the Major Crimes Division of
the Hartford Police Department , the State of Connecticut Department
of Correction and the Cold Case Unit of the Chief State's Attorney's
Office .
Foster was 47 years old at the time of his arrest and incarcerated in Virginia for an unrelated crime.
Foster lived near the location on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford where the then-26-year-old victim of the 1988 kidnapping was beaten, robbed of her jewelry and money and then sexually assaulted. Police found the victim in the early morning hours of January 22, 1988, bleeding profusely from her face. Her injuries required seven stitches over one eye.
The law applicable to the case placed a five-year statute of limitations on the prosecution of Sexual Assault and Robbery committed in 1988. However, there is no statute of limitations on the prosecution of Kidnapping in the First Degree, the offense to which Foster pleaded guilty more than 20 years after the crime was committed.
He was sentenced in April 2010 to serve 11 years in prison for the kidnapping conviction. The sentence is in addition to the sentence he received for other offenses. The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Edwin Snelgrove, Jr. - Convicted - Case Closed
EDWIN SNELGROVE, Jr.,
was convicted of Murder in February 2005 following a lengthy trial
in Hartford Superior Court for the slaying of Carmen Rodriguez. On
April 15, 2005, Snelgrove was sentenced to life in prison, which is defined by
state law
as a term of sixty years.
The conviction was affirmed by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which in September 2008 rejected an appeal brought on behalf of Snelgrove challenging the jury's guilty verdict.
The victim was last seen with Snelgrove leaving a bar on Capitol Avenue in Hartford on September 21, 2001. Her body was discovered in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, in January of 2002.
The Hartford Police Department , Hopkinton (R.I.) Police Department , Rhode Island State Police and Connecticut State Police engaged in a joint investigation. The Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney joined the investigation in October 2002. The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford .
Snelgrove was arrested in 2003. He has previous convictions for Manslaughter and Attempted Murder from two separate incidents that occurred in New Jersey in the 1980s.
Matthew Johnson - Convicted - Case Closed
MATTHEW JOHNSON was
convicted in February 2004 of three counts of Murder for the slayings of three
women who were found murdered in the Asylum Hill neighborhood of Hartford.
He was arrested as a result of an investigation by the Cold Case Unit , Connecticut State Police , the State Police Forensic Laboratory DNA Section , the State of Connecticut Department of Correction and the Hartford Police Department into the deaths of nine women in the Hartford area over the course of seven years.
Five deaths occurred in a particular area of Asylum Hill, and three of the victims were tied to Johnson by DNA evidence. Johnson was convicted in the deaths of Aida Quinones, whose body was found April 16, 2000 at 85 Laurel Street, Hartford; Rosali Jimenez , whose body was found August 29, 2000 at 50-52 Cedar Street, Hartford; and Alesia Ford , whose body was found on July 22, 2001, at 1 Myrtle Street, Hartford.
The cases were prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
Omar Ali - Convicted - Case Closed
OMAR ALI (also known as Herbert L.
Ross, Sr. ) was convicted on August 19, 2003, of Felony Murder and Murder
for the 1980 stabbing death of Darrel K. Ashton in Burlington,
Connecticut.
Ali, who lived in Waterbury, Connecticut, at the time of his arrest, was arrested in November 2000.
Mr. Ashton was found dead in his Burlington home on May 11, 1980. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be multiple stab wounds and also showed that the 44-year-old victim had suffered asphyxia by strangulation.
The arrest and conviction of Omar Ali was the result of an investigation conducted by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and the Connecticut State Police . Instrumental to the case was fingerprint and DNA evidence recovered from the scene of the crime and analyzed by the State Police Forensic Laboratory .
Ali was sentenced in November 2000 to a term of 25 years to life imprisonment. The Connecticut Appellate Court rejected an appeal filed on his behalf and upheld his conviction in a decision officially released on November 29, 2005.
Gregory McArthur - Convicted - Case Closed
GREGORY McARTHUR was convicted on
December 13, 2002, of Felony Murder, Manslaughter in the First Degree,
Kidnapping in the First Degree and Larceny in the Third Degree in the January
1998 slaying of Ann Marie Cusano of Shelton, Connecticut.
Ms. Cusano was reported missing on January 4, 1998. Investigation by the Shelton Police Department led police investigating her disappearance to the Hartford apartment where McArthur lived.
The Hartford Police Department joined the investigation. The crime scene was processed and police were subsequently able to obtain an arrest warrant for McArthur before her remains were found. McArthur subsequently led detectives to the victim's remains in a wooded area of Suffield, Connecticut, in 2000. The Connecticut Appellate Court upheld his conviction in June 2006.
Jeanette Poulin - Convicted - Case Closed
JEANETTE POULIN pleaded guilty under the
Alford Doctrine on October 15, 2002, to Manslaughter in the First Degree for
the August 1986 death of her infant son, Daniel Poulin , in Bristol,
Connecticut.
Poulin was arrested at her home in New York City on March 2, 2001, and subsequently extradited to Connecticut.
The Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner had initially attributed the death of the six-week-old child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but the cause of death was reclassified as "undetermined" after investigators reviewed a previously sealed case report from the State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families.
A law enacted in 1996 gave investigators access to those files. The investigation by the Cold Case Unit and the Bristol Police Department determined that Daniel Poulin had been suffocated. Ms. Poulin is serving a 15-year prison sentence.
Nicole Pelletier - Convicted - Case Closed
NICOLE PELLETIER was convicted on May 20, 2002, of Murder
as an Accessory in the beating death of her husband, Olidor Pelletier.
The 31-year-old victim died 13 days after he was found severely beaten in the family home in the Terryville section of Plymouth, Connecticut, on October 2, 1989.
Shortly after her husband's death, Ms. Pelletier returned to her native New Brunswick, Canada. The State of Connecticut successfully extradited her in July 2001 on a warrant charging her with Murder as an Accessory.
Her arrest followed an investigation by the Cold Case Unit and the Plymouth Police Department , which determined that Ms. Pelletier planned the murder with her then-boyfriend, Jose Rubert .
Rubert, who was sentenced to a 30-year prison term for the murder, testified against Ms. Pelletier at her trial. She is now serving a 60-year prison sentence.
Edward Grant - Convicted - Case Closed
EDWARD GRANT was convicted on May 28,
2002, of Murder for the homicide of Concetta "Penny" Serra.
The jury's guilty verdict in New Haven Superior Court came some twenty-nine years after the 21-year-old dental assistant was found stabbed to death in a New Haven parking garage on July 16, 1973.
The verdict also concluded one of the most widely publicized homicide investigations in recent state history, which involved the New Haven Police Department, Connecticut State Police and the Cold Case Unit.
Grant's conviction was upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which denied his appeal in a decision issued in April 2008.
Grant, an auto body mechanic, was living in Waterbury, Connecticut, when he was arrested on a warrant issued in June 1999. He was connected to the crime through DNA analysis of evidence found at the scene and analyzed by the State Police Forensic Laboratory.
DNA analysis found there was a less than a one in 878 million chance that DNA found on a bloodstain recovered from the scene came from someone other than the defendant. Grant was sentenced in September 2002 to serve 20 years in prison.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of New Haven.
Gino Gentile -
Convicted
Edgar DeJesus - Convicted
GINO GENTILE and EDGAR DeJESUS
were both convicted in the March 17, 1997, robbery and slaying of San
Chiu Wong as a result of a Cold Case investigation by the New
Britain Police Department and the Cold Case Unit.
The victim was shot to death at the Chinese restaurant he owned in New Britain, Connecticut. Witnesses testified that Gentile shot the victim in the head to avoid being identified in the robbery.
At the time of his conviction, Gentile was serving a 40-year prison sentence for two homicides in Patterson, New Jersey. In the subsequent investigation of the New Britain homicide, firearms experts from the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory were able to prove conclusively that the same handgun was used in the New Jersey and New Britain homicides.
Gentile was sentenced to 100 years in prison on his convictions for Murder, Robbery in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in the First Degree. DeJesus, the "wheelman" in the robbery, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the Second Degree and was sentenced in April 2002 to 19 years in prison.
Bill Roy Henderson - Convicted - Case Closed
BILL ROY HENDERSON was convicted on
November 5, 2001, of Murder as an Accessory, Conspiracy to Commit Murder and
Tampering with a Witness for the July 24, 1996, killing of 19-year-old
Hayfield Hemley on Adam Street in Hartford.
The evidence produced during his trial before a jury in Hartford Superior Court revealed that Henderson enlisted MICHAEL WRIGHT to murder Mr. Hemley. Wright pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree and was sentenced to a total of 48 years imprisonment for crimes against Mr. Hemley.
Following his conviction, Wright cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Henderson. Another defendant, FRANZ MURRAY, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy and Accessory to Assault charges. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, suspended after seven years served, and five years' probation.
GARY SIMMS , also known as DONYELL RUTHERFORD , was arrested on April 19, 2006, in New Britain. In 2008 he pled guilty to Tampering with a Witness and Conspiracy to Commit Assault in the First Degree.
The case was investigated by the Cold Case Unit, the Major Crimes Division of the Hartford Police Department and the State of Connecticut Department of Correction.
Angela Dressel -
Convicted
Lisette Carrucini - Convicted
On October 15, 1997, shortly before 1 a.m.,
Michael Gratic was found on the sidewalk on Sergeant Street in Hartford
by police responding to a report of a person stabbed.
Mr. Gratic, who was the victim of an attempted robbery, was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The case went unsolved until 2001/2002 when a unit consisting of the Hartford Police Department, Cold Case Unit, State of Connecticut Department of Correction and Connecticut State Police arrested ANGELA DRESSEL and LISETTE CARRUCINI , who was also was known by the name Torres.
Angela Dressel pleaded guilty in December 2004 to Manslaughter and was sentenced to twenty years’ incarceration, suspended after fifteen years served, and five years’ probation. Lisette Carrucini pleaded guilty in February 2005 to Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in the First Degree and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Orville Owens -
Convicted
Earl Josephs - Convicted
On June 10, 1998, the body of Lizzette
Hamilton was found inside her apartment on Morris Street in Hartford.
The victim was bound by duct tape about the face, wrists and ankles and had been stabbed numerous times.
The homicide was investigated by a task force that included the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, the Hartford Police Department, FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut .
Fingerprints were obtained from the duct tape which led to ORVILLE OWENS . Owens and a second individual, EARL JOSEPHS , were arrested on Federal charges. Both pled guilty in Federal court.
Dale Stewart - Convicted - Case Open
On June 9, 1998, two bodies were found in
penthouse apartments on Main Street in Hartford. The bodies were badly
mutilated and the victims appeared to have been tortured.
The victims were identified as Audley Palmer and Samantha Mitto , both of whom were Jamaican nationals. Subsequent investigation disclosed that Mr. Palmer was involved in drug trafficking and that an individual identified as DALE STEWART had worked for him.
The further investigation revealed that Stewart and another man robbed, tortured and killed both victims. Stewart was arrested and convicted in federal court.
The arrest and conviction were the result of the investigation by the Office of the Chief State's Attorney , the Hartford Police Department , United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut , Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), State of Connecticut Department of Correction , Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) . The second suspect is still unidentified.