Convicted killer held on $2.5M bond in cold case
Served 25 years in prison for ‘86 New Canaan murder
BRIDGEPORT — Terrance Boyd helped police solve a cold case but now he’s behind bars while the alleged killer, Shawn Gibson, walks the city’s streets.
That’s the argument Boyd’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Isaias Pedraza, made Monday afternoon as he stood beside Boyd and requested a lower bond before Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton.
“Mr. Boyd assisted police to his detriment, I can’t even imagine the amount of fear he went through,” Pedraza appealed to the judge. “Gibson posted $250,000 bond and is now out to do whatever he wants.”
Dayton said she understood what Pedraza was arguing but was still setting a $2.5 million bond for Boyd.
Last week, the 45-year-old Gibson, of Hamden, was charged with murder in the 2013 beating death of 24-yearold Aryndel Castro in a Bridgeport rooming house.
Boyd, who was extradited from South Carolina, is also charged with murder in the case.
Since May 2014, according to the arrest warrant affidavit, Boyd repeatedly told police that he had witnessed Gibson beat Castro to death and that he had helped Gibson bury Castro’s body.
But the lead investigator in the case, Police Lt. Christopher LaMaine, told Hearst Connecticut Media they had no physical evidence to support Boyd’s claims and a problem with Boyd’s credibility.
In 2013, Boyd had just finished serving a 25-year prison term for a home invasion in New Canaan in which he had bashed a 63-yearold housewife in the head and then drowned her in her swimming pool.
Then, following his arrest, Gibson agreed to lead police to where he buried Castro’s body in exchange for being released on bond pending trial. Police found Castro’s body buried six feet under a detached garage behind a house on Noble Avenue.
“I hear what you are saying,” the judge told Pedraza, who continued to urge leniency for Boyd. “But Mr. Boyd has a prior murder conviction and I understand Gibson cooperated with police to locate the victim’s body.”
“But if Mr. Gibson gets some consideration for his cooperation, I don’t understand why my client is not,” Pedraza argued.
According to the warrant affidavit, Boyd told police in four video recorded interviews in 2014 that Gibson had ordered him to bring Castro to a Noble Avenue rooming house Gibson owned because Castro had previously stolen some tools from Gibson.
Boyd claimed he was afraid of Gibson because Gibson had previously beaten him up. He said when he brought Castro to the rooming house Gibson began beating Castro with his fists, police said. Boyd said the beating was so bad he vomited. But he agreed to help Gibson clean up and get rid of Castro’s body, the affidavit states.
At the time he cooperated with police in the Castro case, police said Boyd was familiar with the adage that the person who cooperates first in a crime gets the best deal.
On Dec. 10, 1986, 63-yearold Ann Viner was alone in her large white colonial home near New Canaan’s country club. Her husband, the president of a N.Y. investment firm, was attending an office holiday party. When he came home later that evening, he found the house in disarray, according to news reports at the time. The couple’s car was missing, their dog had been struck on the head and drawers and closets had been rifled.
He later found his wife floating in the swimming pool.
The autopsy report stated she had drowned after being hit in the head with a log.
Four days later police arrested Boyd and Tyrone Wilson, who had done odd jobs in the neighborhood.
Wilson later wrote a 9page confession to the crime, according to reports.
Wilson told police the two men entered the Viner house through an unlocked back door. He claimed he only wanted to tie Viner up but Boyd beat her and threw her in the pool.
Wilson later agreed to testify against Boyd at trial in exchange for a 20-year prison term.
Based almost solely on Wilson’s testimony, Boyd was convicted of felony murder, burglary and larceny charges in 1988 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
But in March 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned Boyd's felony murder conviction and ordered a new trial.
In September 1998, facing a second trial, Boyd instead pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to court records.