Prosecutor: East Windsor man had means, motive, and opportunity to kill his dad

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·4 min read

Oct. 20—HARTFORD — Gabriel Hesse had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill his father, Halsey Hesse Jr., when the older man was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in his East Windsor mobile home in October 2019, a prosecutor told a judge Wednesday in Hartford Superior Court.

Prosecutor Vicki Melchiorre's final argument in the preliminary hearing on the evidence in the murder case against Gabriel B. Hesse, 42, was the most comprehensive explanation to date of the state's circumstantial case.

Defense lawyer R. Bruce Lorenzen told Senior Judge Frank M. D'Addabbo Jr. that there are numerous questions about whether a "reasonable connection" exists between the evidence and the prosecution's conclusions. But Lorenzen didn't delve into details.

MURDER HEARING

DEFENDANT: Gabriel B. Hesse, 42, who lived in a mobile home at 255-257 S. Main St. in East Windsor until he was charged in his father's murder in November 2019 and held on $2 million bond

ISSUE: Whether the prosecution's circumstantial case meets the low legal standard of "probable cause," required for the murder case to continue to trial.

DECISION: Expected Oct. 28

The judge scheduled a hearing for Oct. 28 to announce his decision on whether the evidence clears the low legal threshold necessary for the murder case to continue.

As to Gabriel Hesse having the means to commit the fatal attack on his 73-year-old father, the prosecutor said he knew his father had a jack handle that he kept in his Fairway Drive mobile home. Authorities believe based on the crime-scene evidence that Halsey Hesse was bludgeoned with the jack handle in an attack that also included infliction of at least 70 stab wounds.

Police found a screwdriver in Gabriel Hesse's pickup truck with blood stains on it that DNA testing indicated was more than 100 billion times more likely to have come from Halsey Hesse than from an unknown person, according to an affidavit by East Windsor police Detective Scott M. Roberts.

But Roberts declined under cross examination by Lorenzen on Wednesday to commit himself to the theory that the screwdriver was the stabbing weapon.

Roberts reported that Gabriel Hesse told police he had found the screwdriver on the sidewalk in front of his father's garbage cans immediately before he found his father's body on Oct. 9. 2019.

Kevin L. King, who lived in a mobile home near Gabriel Hesse's, testified Wednesday that Gabriel gave him a similar account. He quoted Gabriel as saying, "I'm a mechanic. Who wouldn't pick it up?"

As to Gabriel Hesse's motive to kill his father, the prosecutor said he knew he would inherit all his father's property. Halsey Hesse's will was found in his son's kitchen, according to Roberts.

Moreover, the prosecutor told the judge, Gabriel Hesse had a "bad drug habit" and was "constantly in need of money."

As to Gabriel Hesse's opportunity to commit the murder, the prosecutor said, Halsey Hesse was last known to have been alive about 7:15 p.m. Oct. 7, 2019, when he completed a call with a warranty company.

After Halsey's body was found on the morning of Oct. 9, 2019, police noticed that his pill container was empty for Sunday and Monday, Oct. 6 and 7, but still contained pills for Tuesday, Oct. 8.

A surveillance camera at a business showed what police believe to be Gabriel Hesse's green pickup truck going into the Fairway Drive mobile home park at 7:01 a.m. on Oct. 8, 2019 and leaving at 7:32 a.m., which the prosecutor said was enough time for him to kill his father. She also said he omitted that visit from his statements to police.

Central to the prosecution's case is that police found a pair of black sneakers under Gabriel's trailer, behind a pile of tires, with blood stains the state lab found were 100 billion times more likely to have come from his father than from an unknown person, according to Roberts. When police had asked Gabriel Hesse about his footwear, he had mentioned only two pairs, which didn't include the sneakers, the detective reported.

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