Girlfriend testifies
She testifies that Griswold suspect had ‘two long guns’ in car
The former girlfriend of Sergio Correa, a Hartford man accused of a triple murder in Griswold, testified Thursday that her boyfriend told her “he did the dad” and that his sister, Ruth Correa, “did the mom,” saying she also saw firearms in their vehicle. Vicento said she remembered a night in December 2017 when Sergio Correa left their shared apartment but didn’t answer her calls. The next morning, she said she saw two long guns in the trunk of their car.
The former girlfriend of Sergio Correa, a Hartford man accused of a triple murder in Griswold, testified Thursday that her boyfriend told her “he did the dad” and that his sister, Ruth Correa, “did the mom,” saying she also saw firearms in their vehicle at the time of the
December 2017 slayings.
When she talked with her boyfriend about the night
Matthew Lindquist,
21, Kenneth Lindquist, 56, and Janet
Lindquist, 61, were killed, Tanisha Vicento testified, “[Sergio] told me to stay away from Ruth, that she is crazy, and that he did the dad and she did the mom.”
Vicento said at first, she didn’t know what he was referring to.
“I didn’t really understand that but I watched the news … there was a big fire,” Vicento said during emotional testimony in Superior Court in New London.
Vicento said she remembered a night in December 2017 when Sergio Correa left their shared apartment but didn’t answer her calls. The next morning, she said she saw two long guns in the trunk of their car.
Sergio Correa, 27, is accused of multiple counts of felony murder and arson. Thursday marked the third day of a probable cause hearing being held in the case. Probable cause hearings, mandatory under state law in cases punish
able by life in prison, require judges to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to proceed with the prosecution.
If convicted, Correa faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, for crimes including murder with special circumstances that previously carried the possibility of the death penalty.
Under cross-examination, Correa’s defense attorney, Jessica Luu-Missios, focused on discrepancies between two interviews Vicento gave days apart to state police detectives in May 2018.
In her first statement to those investigators, Vicento said less, and Luu-Missios read portions of the transcript in which Vicento told detectives she didn’t see anything.
Luu-Missios asked about pressure detectives were putting on Vicento, saying they would get Department of Children and Families involved. Vicento described it as “horrible.”
Three days after that interview, Vicento confirmed she was called by DCF. The following day she met with state police investigators and provided a much longer, more detailed statement.
“You were scared of DCF?” Luu-Missios asked. “Yes,” Vicento said. Earlier this week, Judge Arthur Hadden heard testimony from Correa’s sister, Ruth Correa, who faces the same charges in connection with the Lindquists’ deaths.
In a deal with the state, prosecutors are recommending a 40-year sentence for Ruth Correa if she pleads guilty to three counts of felony murder and provides truthful testimony during the probable cause hearing and any potential trial against her brother.
On Tuesday, Ruth Correa spoke in detail of the night of the gruesome killings. When asked if she helped plan them, she said, “No.” She said her brother hatched the plan with Matthew Lindquist, the son of Kenneth and Janet Lindquist.
They had planned to stage a robbery at the Lindquist home to get Kenneth’s guns. Ruth Correa testified that Matthew Lindquist thought he was getting heroin in exchange for setting up the robbery.
When the plan fell apart, Ruth Correa said that she and her brother killed Matthew Lindquist in a wooded are near his parent’s Kenwood Estates home, before going to the house, killing Kenneth and Janet, stealing items and setting the home ablaze.
Matthew Lindquist had initially been named a person of interest by state police investigators after they were called to investigate the killings and fire, but his body was found near the home several months later.
Ruth Correa in her testimony acknowledged inconsistencies and false statements she made to state police investigators after the crime, but said she still remembers the day of the killings. The same day she was interviewed by detectives, she was taken to Hartford Hospital because she was thinking of causing herself harm.
Earlier this week, Hadden heard testimony from a neighbor and longtime friend of Kenneth Lindquist and the detective assigned to investigate the killings.
The attorneys will return on Wednesday for closing arguments. Hadden will decide if there is probable cause to continue with the case.
Nicholas Rondinone can be reached at nrondinone@ courant.com.