GUILTY NY - Marcia, 53, & Elizabeth Honsch, 17, murdered, Brewster, 28 Sept 1995

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21 years after Marcia Honsch's body found in Tolland State Forest, trial set for alleged killer Robert Honsch

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/21_years_after_marcia_honschs.html

On Oct. 6, 1995, a body with a gunshot wound to the head was found in Tolland State Forest.

The body was identified nearly two decades later as that of Marcia Honsch, 53, of Brewster, New York. Now, her husband Robert Honsch, 72, is charged in Hampden Superior Court with her murder.

Trial dates have been set in the case and then postponed. The parties were before Hampden Superior Court Judge Edward J. McDonough on Oct. 27 to get a new set of dates. The trial is now set to begin May 1.

In Connecticut Honsch faces a murder trial in connection with the fatal shooting of his daughter, Elizabeth Honsch, 17.

On Feb. 28 there will be a hearing on defense lawyer Paul Rudof's anticipated motion to exclude evidence from the state of Connecticut. On March 28 there will be a hearing on the defense's anticipated motion to challenge the admissibility of a prosecution expert who will testify about a palm print found on trash bags wrapped around Elizabeth Honsch's body.
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Judge won't dismiss murder case against Robert Honsch; says no concrete evidence connecting Marcia Honsch killing and torched car in Tolland State Forest

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/01/judge_says_no_concrete_evidenc.html

Honsch's defense lawyers in the Hampden Superior Court case had contended the case should be dismissed or other relief granted because exculpatory evidence was destroyed.

The motion centered on a vehicle owned by Barry Troy, which the defense says was torched on the same night and in the same general area in Tolland State Forest where Marcia Honsch was killed.

In his motion to dismiss, defense lawyer Paul Rudof listed a number of reports and other written matter about the investigation into the burned vehicle he says have been destroyed. Those include a report written by an insurance investigator, a transcript of a 1996 insurance investigator's interview with Troy and his wife, and phone records of seven people.

"Because these items are relevant to a third-party culprit defense as well as a defense premised on the failure of law enforcement to adequately investigate these potential third-party culprits, the destruction of this evidence substantially hampers the defendant's ability to present these defenses," Rudof wrote.

He said even if the judge concludes dismissal of the murder charge is not warranted, the defense should have wide latitude to present third-party culprit evidence through questioning investigating officers.

Judge Constance M. Sweeney, in a Jan. 23 ruling, denied the defense motion.

She said Honsch has failed to meet the burden of establishing the documents he sought are in fact exculpatory.
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Judge rules cold case trial of Robert Honsch for his wife's death can include testimony about daughter's killing

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/judge_rules_cold_case_trial_of.html

A Hampden Superior Court judge has ruled the prosecution in the cold case murder trial of Robert Honsch for his wife's fatal shooting can talk about the charge he faces in Connecticut for his daughter's killing.

In a hearing before Judge Constance M. Sweeney on March 15, defense lawyer Paul Rudof argued that Honsch's trial for his wife's killing should not include any reference to the killing of his daughter.

Sweeney, in a ruling Tuesday, denied the defense motion to keep the Connecticut killing out of the Springfield trial.

His trial for murder in connection with Marcia Honsch's death is slated to begin May 1 in Hampden Superior Court.
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this is the first I had heard he was in south Africa for 5 years.
 
Testimony of expert from England recorded for use in Robert Honsch murder trial

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/testimony_of_expert_from_engla.html

Jury selection for the murder trial of Robert Honsch is slated to start May 12, but the first witness testified Friday.

The defense witness, Dr. Itiel Dror, was in this country from his home in London so his trial testimony was video recorded for use in the trial.
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Bell has said three "palm type impressions/prints were recovered from the trash bags in which Elizabeth Honsch's body was found" in Connecticut. She said they were compared to Honsch's palm prints by a forensic scientist at the Ohio attorney general's office. Honsch's prints used for comparison were taken by the Wayne County Sheriff's Department in Ohio.

"The prints on the trash bags match the defendant's prints taken by the Wayne County Sheriff's Department," she wrote.

A Massachusetts State Police fingerprint analyst examined the prints in this state and also found they matched, Bell has said.

Dror said the problem with the Massachusetts examiner's analysis is that he had the results of the Ohio analysis in which a match was declared. And the Ohio analyst was given information about the case, he said.

Under questioning from Bell, Dror acknowledged he is not saying the Massachusetts print analyst was wrong, or that the two people who verified that analyst's conclusions were wrong.
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Cold case Massachusetts murder trial prosecutor says victim reunited with estranged husband weeks before he killed her

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/04/marcia_honsch_reunited_with_es.html

With the cold case murder trial of Robert Honsch a little more than two weeks away, a four-hour session was held with a Hampden Superior Court judge Tuesday to hash out pretrial motions.

Sweeney denied Assistant District Attorney Karen J. Bell's motion to admit evidence of Robert Honsch's hostile actions towards Marcia Honsch before the couple separated in 1988. That included an incident of Robert Honsch hitting Marcia Honsch in the mouth, Bell said.

Bell said the couple got back together for a month or two before Marcia Honsch was killed, after being estranged for about seven years.
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Another pretrial motion dealt with which photos of the victims alive Bell could show at trial. Sweeney ruled Bell could show photos of Marcia and Elizabeth Honsch together and of Marcia Honsch. Bell cannot show a high school yearbook photo of Elizabeth Honsch because it puts too much of a focus on Elizabeth, when this trial is about the murder of Marcia Honsch, Sweeney ruled.

Sweeney ruled the jury, once selected, can be taken by bus on a view of relevant sites. Bell estimated the view could take four hours, with jurors taken to Tolland State Forest, the Otis campground and to New Britain, Connecticut.
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Timeline: From 1995 discovery of unidentified body in Tolland State Forest to 2017 murder trial starting in Springfield

Jury selection began Friday in the Hampden Superior Court murder trial of Robert Honsch for the fatal shooting of wife, Marcia Honsch, in 1995.

Robert Honsch faces a murder charge in Connecticut for the fatal shooting of his daughter, Elizabeth Honsch, in 1995. The trial in Hampden Superior Court for Marcia Honsch's murder is being held before the Connecticut trial.
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3rd day of jury selection slated in Springfield murder trial of Robert Honsch

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/third_day_of_jury_selection_sl.html

After two full days of jury selection in the Robert Honsch murder trial, a total of 11 people have been selected as jurors.

There is no session of the trial before Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney Tuesday so jury selection will resume Wednesday.

Five jurors were selected Friday and six jurors were selected Monday. Five more jurors are needed to reach the 16 jurors Sweeney said she plans to have selected.
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so they had split up for seven years, then got back together shortly before the murder. I cant wait to know why.
 
After 3 days of selection, 1 juror still needed for Robert Honsch murder trial

Jury selection will resume for a fourth day Thursday before Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney.

Opening statements in the case will not be given until the selected jury is taken by bus on two "views," each on a different day, where it will see important locations in the case.

One view will be at Tolland State Forest. On Oct. 6, 1995, a partially decomposed body with a gunshot wound to the head was found in the forest. The killing remained a cold case until 2014, when the body was identified as that of Marcia Honsch, 53, of Brewster, New York.

In Connecticut, Robert Honsch is charged in the fatal shooting of Elizabeth Honsch, 17, his daughter with Marcia Honsch. Elizabeth Honsch's body was found behind a shopping plaza in New Britain, Connecticut, on Sept. 28, 1995. The jury will visit that spot as well.
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In Robert Honsch murder trial, camper testifies about gruesome discovery in Tolland State Forest

In her opening statement in the trial before Judge Constance M. Sweeney, Bell told jurors they would hear how in 1995 Robert Honsch told two of Marcia Honsch's four daughters from a previous relationship he was moving to Australia with Marcia and Elizabeth.

Marcia and Elizabeth Honsch's family members reported the two women missing but no investigation was begun, Bell said. She told jurors they will hear from witnesses about each step in the process that ultimately resulted in Robert Honsch's arrest.

Defense lawyer Andrew M. Klyman said in his opening statement Robert Honsch had nothing to do with the deaths of Marcia and Elizabeth Honsch.

He told jurors Honsch witnessed their killings and went into shock, not remembering anything about their deaths. He said as much as police tried to get Honsch to confess to killing his wife and daughter, he never did.
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Ballistics expert testifies at Robert Honsch murder trial

Connecticut medical examiner testifies at Robert Honsch murder trial in Springfield

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[video=youtube;jKFbC5tQ-fo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFbC5tQ-fo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFbC5tQ-fo[/video]
 
Daughters of Marcia Honsch, mystery woman found dead in Tolland State Forest, say they tried for years to find her

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/daughters_of_marcia_honsch_the.html

Three of Marcia's daughters -- Estrada, Diana Mirabel and Angelina Rodriguez -- testified Tuesday and Wednesday, as did her granddaughter Melissa Rich and son-in-law Rafael Rodriguez.

Mirabel said she reported Marcia and Elizabeth missing to the Brewster Sheriff's Department in October 1995. She said nothing was done about it. She said she tried repeatedly over the years to report them missing to the FBI and the sheriff's department.

"I asked him where was my mother and Elizabeth," Mirabel testified. "He said, 'Diana, you know your mother. We went to Australia, she ran off with another man.'"

He said Elizabeth must have gone with her mother and the other man, Mirabel testified.

"I told him he was lying," Mirabel said.
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Springfield jury convicts Robert Honsch in 1995 slaying of wife

A Hampden Superior Court jury on Monday found Robert Honsch guilty of murder in the 1995 slaying of his wife.
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Daughter of murder victim Marcia Honsch: 'This seemingly mild-mannered old man is a monster with no feelings'

Sheila Honsch Maloney, the oldest of Marcia Honsch's living daughters, gave a victim impact statement on behalf of the family as Robert Honsch was sentenced to the mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"He used to hit my mother often and even choked my little sister on the bathroom floor when she was only 13 years old," Maloney said. "These small examples are nothing compared to the full extent of the torture and evil my mother and we four little girls suffered year after year."
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Ohio Man Convicted In Massachusetts Cold Case Murder; Faces Trial In New Britain Murder

"Today justice was served for Marcia," New Britain police Chief James Wardwell said. "In the near future I'm confident the same will happen for Elizabeth. God bless them both. I said a prayer for both of them today."

Wardwell said he expects Honsch to face a New Britain judge soon.
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[video=youtube;WeqhbioVH7k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeqhbioVH7k"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeqhbioVH7k[/video]
 
Thank Goodness for justice for these two. I sincerely wish he would debrief what in God's name made him do this. seems like dumb luck he got away with it for so long.

it hurts my heart thinking that poor girl knew her dad killed her mom and then took her elsewhere to do the same thing. she must have been so scared.
 
 
The Bristol Press - Accused killer's lawyer ponders probable-cause hearing decision
During a brief appearance in New Britain Superior Court Tuesday, Honsch stood silently next to his public defender, Michael Isko, as Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Watson told Judge Joan Alexander that he had turned over to the defense much of the evidence police had collected in Elizabeth Honsch’s death.

Isko told Alexander that he hopes to start reviewing the evidence so that by Honsch’s next court date on Sept. 13 his client can make a decision on whether he wants a probable cause hearing.
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