Woman at my shelter was on AMW [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

PunkyP0WER

11-20-2008, 03:16 PM

to give a little backstory about why my boss's boss feels this way: around mar '08 there was a home invasion where this guy robbed this ladys house and killed her (she had a friend w/ her as well, but she survived) and when he was caught it turns out he had been staying at a shelter just days before the crime called the stewart mckinney shelter which is a division of our org. and we received a lot of bad press. not that i agree with her reasoning.

By BILL LEUKHARDT

Courant Staff Writer

11:12 AM EDT, April 1, 2008

NEW BRITAIN

The home invasion that left one woman dead and her friend seriously injured began after Leslie Williams awoke Sunday morning in an unlocked car he'd crawled into after allegedly committing a string of burglaries.

Williams, released from prison March 4 after serving eight years for raping a child, spotted a woman exit an SUV and enter a nearby home. The woman, 62-year-old Mary Ellen Welsh, was found dead the following morning. The cause of death was a gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to the medical examiner's office.

In court records released Monday, Williams, 31, told police he initially just wanted money and the woman's vehicle when he walked into the home at 14 Woodhaven Drive and confronted Carol Larese, 65, and Welsh, a friend who was taking Larese some food.

But Williams, a registered sex offender on probation, decided the women had likely memorized his face after he ordered them at gunpoint to sit as he scouted the house.

"That is when Williams realized he would have to kill both females," New Britain Det. Raymond Grzegorzek wrote in the department's incident report on the invasion.

The report provided some explanations to questions not answered during Williams' brief arraignment Monday afternoon in Superior Court on charges related to the break-in and the shooting of Larese.

Police say Larese offered Williams $20, and Welsh even gave Williams the key to her vehicle. Williams instead ordered Welsh and Larese into the basement and shot Larese, according to the incident report.

He told police the gun failed to fire, and as he cocked it, Larese turned around and put her hands in front of her face.

"Williams got tired of waiting for a clean shot, so he pulled the trigger, at which time Carol fell forward and gave out a loud cry," the report said.

Larese told police she pretended to be dead, and remained in her basement for an hour to make sure the intruder had left. She went to a neighbor's home across the street for help.

Other charges stemming from the kidnapping and killing of Welsh and the theft of her car are expected to be filed April 7, when Williams is due back in court. Her body was found early Monday at a sand pit off of Waterbury Road in Bristol, in a section with gravel mines, small industrial sites and not much else. The sand pit is about halfway between the Route 72 intersection and the Plymouth line.

Williams was captured in Watertown Sunday after police found him driving Welsh's Honda Passport. He crashed during a police chase that started in Plymouth, police said.

New Britain police said it appears the home invasion was a random act -- which one officer called "a crime of opportunity."

Superior Court Judge Joan Alexander set bail at $5 million for Williams, who said nothing during the four-minute hearing. Two dozen courthouse employees ringed the room, there to see the person accused of hurting Larese, a retired clerk in the courthouse. Muffled sobs came from the victims' relatives, who were watching from the nearest row to Williams.

His attorney, Public Defender Todd Edgington, asked for protective custody for Williams and a medical watch for problems related to alcohol abuse.

The charges Williams faces are criminal attempt to commit murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree burglary, first-degree assault, criminal use of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit and third-degree larceny.

Police spent much of Sunday night and Monday searching the three crime scenes -- the home, the pit where Welsh's body was found and the site where Williams crashed Welsh's car. Police declined to say whether they had located the .32-caliber automatic that Williams allegedly used in the shootings.

Albert and Julia Carrier, Welsh's next-door neighbors on Alexander Road for more than 20 years, described her as quiet and friendly, saying she went to bed at 8 p.m. and rose at 5:30 a.m.

Albert Carrier, who often mowed Welsh's lawn, said he considered her like a daughter.

"She was a good person -- never had a cross word or nothing," Carrier said. "Always cheerful."

Welsh lived in a red cape with a friend who died of ovarian cancer about two years ago, Carrier said. Welsh, a nurse who was fighting her own cancer, underwent an operation about a year ago, Carrier said. She had lost weight and had stopped working.

Carrier remembered watching Welsh work on her Volkswagen Beetle when they first met and seeing her pull the engine out of the car. It was a small engine, but Carrier was impressed.

About two months ago, Welsh told Carrier that she had put in for retirement at 62.

"I can't do it no more -- it's hard work," Carrier recalled Welsh telling him.

Williams apparently had stayed at homeless shelters since his release from the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers last month. His last known address was the Stewart B. McKinney Shelter on Huyshope Avenue in Hartford. He had been there for two nights and was last seen Friday morning, said Nancy Pappas, a spokeswoman for the Community Renewal Team, which runs the shelter.

Before that, Williams had lived at The Open Hearth Shelter on Sheldon Street, about a block from McKinney, since his release.

He was placed in The Open Hearth Shelter by state probation officialsbecause he had nowhere else to go, according to William H. Carbone, executive director of the Judicial Department's Court Support Services Division.

Carbone said probation officials originally thought he was going to live with a sister in East Hartford until they were informed in late January that she was no longer willing to take him in.

In Williams' case, because he was a registered sex offender, a shelter was selected because transitional housing was not an option, Carbone said.

Williams last met with his probation officer in person Wednesday. He was scheduled to meet today with the department's therapeutic provider to help determine what type of sex offender therapy he would get.

By all accounts, Williams appeared to be trying to get his life organized after eight years in prison. He had given his probation officer a resume to review and had applied for a city program to get bus tokens at a discount so he could get around for job interviews, Carbone said.

In the weeks he had been out of prison, Williams had met five times with his probation officer, missing only one meeting, which he reschedule by phone for the next day.

"There was certainly nothing to flag that would indicate a person would do something like this," Carbone said. "Everyone here is stunned that this happened."

At 5 p.m. Wednesday -- three days before allegedly beginning the burglary spree -- Williams walked from The Open Hearth Shelter to the Stewart B. McKinney Shelter, which is housed in a red brick building once used as a fire station. It was his 23rd night out of prison.

Williams stayed just two nights, and while he was there he "behaved as a completely normal, low-key, under-the-radar sort of guy," Pappas said.

Friday morning, Williams walked out of the shelter without indicating whether he planned to return that night, Pappas said. That is the last the staff saw of him.

Contact Bill Leukhardt at bleukhardt@courant.com.

Courant Staff Writers Dave Altimari, Matthew Kauffman, Hilda Munoz, Monica Polanco and Don Stacom contributed to this story. An Associated Press report is included in this story.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-homei...0,3826574.storyn