By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
October 24, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/bloody_photos_of_slain_priest.html
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| An undated photo of the Rev. Edward Hinds, provided by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson. Hinds was found slain in the rectory of his Chatham parish in October 2009. |
Blood was splattered all over the kitchen in the rectory at St. Patrick Church in Chatham when investigators found the Rev. Edward Hinds lying dead on his back two years ago, a detective for the Morris County Sheriff's Department testified today.
Detective Kelly Zienowicz took the witness stand during the first full day of testimony in the trial of former church custodian Jose Feliciano, who is accused of murder. She was among several law enforcement officers involved in the early stages of the investigation who testified.
Feliciano, now 66, of Easton, Pa., allegedly stabbed Hinds 32 times on the evening of Oct. 22, 2009. Zienowicz led the sheriff's crime-scene investigation when law-enforcement officials entered the rectory the next morning after Hinds was found dead.
Zienowicz testified as the prosecution showed photos of Hinds and the surrounding kitchen.
A photo showed Hinds lying on his back, his eyes closed in agony, with blood spread over his chest.
Hinds was found in the middle of the floor in front of the refrigerator, with knife wounds, mostly in the chest area, Zienowicz said.
Blood was also found all over the floor; on the kitchen counter near where the telephone had been pulled out of the wall; on the side of a drawer; on the refrigerator; on a toaster-oven, on a cabinet and saturated in a cloth item, Zinenowicz said.
"What stood out was that a pedestal base on the table clearly had blood on it and quite a lot of blood was transferred onto the walls," Zienowicz said. "It appeared as if someone was underneath that table bleeding through their clothing."
State Police Sgt. Sean Mehrlander took the witness stand to verify a 911 emergency call from Hinds’ cell phone that was received by State Police at 5:26 p.m. on Oct. 22, 2009.
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| Jose Feliciano, a former church custodian accused of murder in the stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds, a Chatham priest, enters the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown. (Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger) |
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor David Bruno played the call in which a man believed to be Hinds says, in a garbled voice, “Washington Avenue” after the dispatcher asks “What is your emergency?” The front entrance to the rectory is located on Washington Avenue.
The call was cut off, and the dispatcher called back twice. The first time, he got Hinds’ voice mail, and the second time, a man believed to be Feliciano answered and told the caller twice, in a calm but hurried voice, that there was no emergency.
Detective Jan-Michael Monrad of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office testified about calls traced to Hinds’ cell phone and Feliciano’s cell phone during the evening of Oct. 22, 2009.
Feliciano’s wife, Marisol, who often picked up her husband after work, called her husband’s cell phone at 5:10 p.m., and then called again at 5:46 and 5:50, each time getting his voice mail, Monrad said.
After the 911 call was made from Hinds’ cell phone at 5:26 p.m. – traced to a cell tower in nearby Florham Park – calls placed from Hinds’ cell phone were traced to a tower in Phillipsburg at 6:54 p.m. and to a tower in Easton later that evening, Monrad said. He said it was the first time Hinds’ phone had been traced to Phillipsburg and Easton.
Investigators found Hinds’ cell phone discarded in a garbage can in a park near Feliciano’s house in Easton.
Feliciano’s attorney, Neill Hamilton, admitted in his opening statement last week that the custodian stabbed the priest, but said it was a “passion/provocation manslaughter” and not a murder. Hamilton told the jury Hinds provoked Feliciano by making him perform unspecified acts.
The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.
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