Shooting victim ‘caring, passionate’
Police launch ‘intensive investigation’ into Bethel woman’s death
Friends and colleagues described the 25year-old Bethel woman who was shot to death in Bridgeport as a giving and “beautiful soul.”
Emily Todd, a 2011 Bethel High School graduate, worked on the memory care unit at St. John Paul II Center, a senior living facility in Danbury.
“A very particular type of person works on this unit, and Emily was that,” said Linda McCue, a director at the center who hired Todd in March. “She had a very kind soul, passionate, very quiet, and she was just lovely with a lot of our residents.”
Todd, a former Western Connecticut State University student, was found dead Sunday morning near the Bridgeport boat ramp on Seaview Avenue. She had been shot once in the back of the head.
Police on Tuesday continued what they described as an “intensive investigation” into the shooting. Officers are still searching for the man she had gone to the city to meet and have not arrested any suspects.
Police Capt. Brian Fitzgerald said detectives are continuing to examine a number of leads.
“We are working a number of different avenues and leads which I cannot talk about at this time,” he said.
Police said Todd was found wearing a wig and was in the company of a man she had recently met.
“We now know after talking with her family that she liked to change her appearance and wear wigs,” Fitzgerald said. “That apparently was her style.”
Fitzgerald would not disclose whether detectives were reviewing any video from businesses along Seaview Avenue.
About 10 people gathered Tuesday at her family’s Bethel home, where pastries sat on the kitchen table and a Christmas wreath hung on the door. Family asked for privacy and declined to talk to Hearst Connecticut Media.
Childhood friend Michelle Klein also described Todd as kind and a “beautiful soul.”
“My beautiful, beautiful high school best friend and to this day,” Klein said in a post on Instagram. “The most caring soul, the most spiritual intellectual person.”
Photos of Todd and Klein from their high school years and from their time as Brown-
“She had a very kind soul, passionate, very quiet, and she was just lovely with a lot of our residents.” Linda McCue, a director at the senior living facility that employed Emily Todd
ies are in the 2011 Bethel High School yearbook.
The yearbook also included Todd’s baby photo and a message from the graduate.
“I would like to thank my friends and family for making my years at BHS a memorable experience,” she wrote. “Cheers to all the good times shared — full of love, happiness and sometimes sadness. I’ll miss you all!”
Todd was not listed in the yearbook as having participated in any clubs or sports.
After high school, she studied psychology at Western Connecticut State University for two years before earning a bachelor of science degree in expressive arts therapy from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., in 2015, according to her LinkedIn page.
Todd served as the therapeutic recreation assistant at St. John Paul II Center, planning activities for dementia patients and often working one-on-one with them.
“She brought that whole program to life,” McCue said.
McCue said Todd started a successful drum circle program for the patients and often painted their nails or planned arts and crafts activities. Todd never asked for reimbursement for the supplies she purchased, McCue said.
“She said, ‘No, I’ll pay for it. I have coupons,’” McCue said.
McCue recalled seeing Todd with one of the dementia patients, singing lullabies to the resident’s baby doll.
“It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen,” McCue said. “That’s who Emily was. She was wonderful with the residents.”
McCue’s last memory of Todd was of her singing off-key Christmas carols with the residents on Friday afternoon.
On Monday, McCue came to work to find the 20 stockings Todd had purchased for a craft she had planned to do Sunday.
“She loved the residents,” McCue said. “She loved her job, just loved it.”