Mar 24, 2008 7:27 pm US/Eastern
Kissel Murder Suspect: I Didn't Do It
Chauffeur Charged In Greenwich Developer's Mysterious '06 Stabbing
GREENWICH, Conn. (CBS) ―
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Andrew Kissel, 46, was found tied up and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar fraud case.
CBS
Two men are now facing murder charges in the death of Connecticut millionaire Andrew Kissel. 46-year-old Kissel was found tied up and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion in 2006.
Driver Carlos Trujillo, 47, and his cousin, Leonard Trujillo, 21, were arrested in connection with the death of Kissel. While prosecutors won't reveal what evidence they have that led to the arrests, they do say there's enough probable cause to charge the two with murder.
Trujillo worked as Kissel's personal assistant and driver for six years, up until the day of his murder. Now police have charged him with the brutal crime.
As Greenwich detectives led Trujillo out of police headquarters in shackles Monday morning, CBS 2 Investigative Reporter Scott Weinberger asked if he killed Kissel.
"No I didn't," he replied.
Although disgraced real estate developer Kissel made a lot of enemies, police say Trujillo has remained on top of a short list of suspects from the very beginning.
Late Monday afternoon, Trujillo was arraigned where his attorney entered his plea of not guilty.
It was April 2006 when Kissel was tied up and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion. Detectives say there was no sign of forced entry into the home.
During an interview with CBS' '48 Hours,' Trujillo said he was interviewed by police several times and gave authorities samples of his DNA, fingerprints and some personal documents.
Outside court on Monday, Trujillo's family members did not want to comment. His attorney faced the cameras and told the media police had the wrong man.
"I can emphatically state that he has maintained from day one that he had nothing to do with this," said Lindy Urso.
Among the theories that officers investigated was that Kissel's death was a 'suicide-for-hire.' Authorities suspect this theory because Kissel's children could collect millions in insurance payments.
At a press conference Monday, Greenwich police would not comment on a motive for the crime or say whether there would be more arrests.
"This case is not over," said Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg. "The investigation remains open. We still have more work to do on it."
He said officers from several states and federal agencies did hundreds of interviews in the case.
Ridberg also would not explain the timing of the arrests, though he did say Carlos Trujillo had always been close to Kissel.
"There was no particular 'aha' moment that led to the arrests," Ridberg said. "There is no particular thing that put it over the edge."
Carlos Trujillo, the last person to see Kissel alive, had been interviewed by police several times and had given them samples of his DNA, fingerprints and some personal documents, his attorney has said. He has denied any involvement in Kissel's death.
He was arrested Friday when Greenwich and Stamford police and federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents stopped his car on Route 1 in Stratford. His cousin was arrested Saturday at his Worcester home.
Leonard Trujillo's mother was in court in Worcester but declined comment. Court-appointed attorney Michael O'Dougherty, representing Trujillo only on the fugitive charge, said he has a wife and two toddlers and is currently unemployed.
Worcester police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said Trujillo has no prior history with his department, though Greenwich police said both cousins have criminal records.
"We'd had him under surveillance and we're just waiting to get the word from Connecticut to pick him up," Hazelhurst said.
Kissel's brother, Robert, was a wealthy banker whose wife was convicted of murder in Hong Kong in September 2005 and sentenced to life in prison after feeding him a milkshake laced with drugs and then beating him to death in November 2003.
Andrew Kissel and his estranged wife, Hayley, had cared for Robert Kissel's three children until they were handed over to the custody of a relative, who lived near Seattle. Andrew and Hayley Kissel had two children of their own.
The couple's divorce was heating up before he was killed, court records show. In divorce papers, Hayley Kissel had accused her husband of being a belligerent alcoholic.
Kissel's criminal cases were 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.
Kissel also was being sued by a former business partner.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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