Missing Woman’s Body Found After CT Home Invasion
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) ― A sex offender released from prison less than a month ago will face charges in the death of a 62-year-old woman abducted while having coffee at her friend’s New Britain home, prosecutors said Monday.
MaryEllen Welsh’s body was found in a wooded area of Bristol, about 10 miles from the home. She had apparently been shot, New Britain police said.
She was visiting 65-year-old Carol Larese between 9 and 10 a.m. Sunday when someone broke into the house, Sgt. Darren Pearson said.
Larese was shot and badly wounded but is expected to recover.
Teresa Diters, who lives across the street, said Larese knocked on her door and asked her to call 911.
“She just told me she was shot,” Diters said. “She was all full of blood from head to toe. I was amazed.”
Authorities said they arrested Leslie Williams, 31, when he crashed Welsh’s car in Watertown after a police chase about five hours later.
Williams was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, robbery, kidnapping with a firearm and other crimes related to the attack on Larese.
He appeared in New Britain Superior Court on Monday to face those charges but did not enter a plea. Judge Joan Alexander set bond at $5 million.
Prosecutors said they were preparing to file more serious charges connected with Welsh’s death but did not know when that might happen.
Williams’ attorney, Public Defender Todd A. Edgington, said he expected the new charges within the next day or two.
“This stuff is rolling in faster than I can keep up,” he said.
Edgington said he asked to have Williams placed in protective custody in prison because he is concerned other inmates might blame him if state officials crack down the way they did after a deadly July home invasion in Cheshire.
That crime, in which two paroled burglars allegedly killed a mother and two daughters, led to a temporary ban on parole for all offenders.
“In some ways, this is a repeat of Cheshire,” Edgington said.
Pearson said it appeared Williams acted alone in what he called a “crime of opportunity.” He said it did not appear that he knew the women.
Williams was released March 4 from the medium-security Osborne Correctional Institution in Somers after serving eight years in prison for sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, according to state Department of Correction records.
Police in Waterbury, where Williams lived before he went to prison, said the conviction was for the 1998 sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl he knew.
Lt. Chris Corbett said Waterbury police had also arrested Williams for two burglaries, breach of peace and selling drugs.
William H. Carbone, director of the Court Support Services Division of the state Judicial Branch, said Williams had met with his probation officer five times since he was released from prison and was putting together a resume so he could look for a job. Their last meeting was Wednesday.
He was living at two shelters in Hartford because he did not have a home, Carbone said. He was scheduled to have a therapeutic evaluation Tuesday, after which he would have been assigned to some type of sex offender therapy.
Carbone said the probation officer found Williams to be compliant and had no indication he might be contemplating a crime.
“I think she believed that he was glad to be out of prison, was anxious to get his life in order,” Carbone said.
Brian Garnett, a correction spokesman, said Williams was disciplined twice in prison for making threats, once for violating provisions of a program there, and once for tampering with security.
He was denied parole in March 2006.
State Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, who knew Welsh through the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organization, said city residents are shaken.
“I think we are all still in a state of shock, in disbelief,” he said. “It’s just stunning.”
Welsh, a nurse, had become very sick with cancer in the past year, but her friends helped take care of her, said neighbor Albert Carrier.
“She was a very, very good person, beautiful person to be neighbors with,” Carrier said. “She was like part of my family.”
State Sen. Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain, grew up within walking distance of where the home invasion took place.
“I’d say it’s a very traditional, middle income neighborhood,” he said. “This picture you get of one neighbor visiting another neighbor, getting coffee every day, is pretty much the nature of the neighborhood.”
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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