Very surprised to hear this case was never discussed here. I am local to the area where this occurred and am of a similar age of Zach Witman so this was a major story for our area. Some of my friends went to school with Zach and Greg. The story goes that Zach Witman had stayed at home that day sick from school. When his younger brother Greg arrived home from school he was attacked in the foyer by an unseen assailant. Greg gained access to the home by a key that was left hanging on the front door by Zach. As soon as Greg stepped in the house he was attacked by someone. The struggle raged through the house ending in the laundry room. Zach claims he was upstairs and heard a loud noise and eventually went down to investigate. He discovered a blood trail all throughout the house. Once reaching the laundry room he found his brother nearly decapitated. He called 911 telling them his brother was "suffering" and the dispatcher not knowing the extent of the injury asked his brother to roll the body over in which ZW did. ZW was frantic on the phone asking to hang up with 911 so he can call his mother at work. Police arrived and a crime scene established.
Zach's clothing and socks he was wearing were taken in for evidence. Although his blue sweater did have blood on it, he claimed that was from him moving his brother at the request of the dispatcher. Many claim the blood on his sweater was not extensive enough for someone who just nearly decapitated another. The jugular vein was severed and there was over 100 stab wounds to the neck of Greg. A search was conducted of the property and luminol testing turned up a small nail file type pen knife that was discovered poorly buried by the hot tub in the back yard along with a pair of soccer gloves.
Neighbors claimed they saw a suspicious vehicle leaving the neighborhood around the time of GW's death. Also a friend of Zachs claimed they made two phone calls to try and talk to ZW. She said the first time she called someone answered the phone in the kitchen but didn't say anything. She could tell the phone was picked up in the kitchen because this phone had a distinctive sound when picked up. She later called back which would of been only a few minutes after GW was killed. Zach answered and sounded fine. He was not out of breath or winded. The family claims there is no way Zach had the time to kill his brother, bury the weapon in the backyard and answer a call sounding perfectly normal. He very much loved his younger brother. Also the murder weapon was a flimsy nail file type knife that many experts say couldn't of caused the extent of damage that was done to Gregs neck as his head was nearly severed.
To sum up what happened next. The family always claimed Zach was innocent under the fact that he couldn't of done it in the time frame the murder occurred, he also had minimal blood on his sweater he was wearing that day. Zach also always denied the murder saying he loved his little brother and never would of hurt him.
ZW was arrested for his brothers murder and sentenced to life in prison. Key evidence behind the sentencing was the soccer gloves found were believed to belong to Zach. Zach and Greg were both heavily into soccer. Zach's sweater had the tell tale V shaped blood splatter that according to a blood splatter expert proves that Zach was within a foot of his brother when a major artery was cut in Greg's neck.
Zach spent many years in jail sticking to his own innocence. His parents stood behind him even hiring private investigators and law enforcement to look into the case. A reward was offered. Some inmates that served time with Zach and were since released always claimed he was a model prisoner and that he couldn't of done it.
Many years later, the area was shocked again when Zach dropped a bombshell and confessed to the murder. He claims that Greg was upset with Zach because he had hung up on Gregs girlfriend. Zach claims that Greg got home from school and wouldn't leave the issue alone and kept instigating him. Zach grabbed the small pen knife and gloves and went downstairs to try and scare his brother. He stabbed his brother once in the neck breaking a table in the foyer. His brother ran towards the laundry room to try and escape out the back door but Zach caught up with him and stabbed him over 100 times in the neck killing him.
So was this finally a confession to what happened that day? Some say that Zach Witman is only pleading guilty because of a recent law change in the area in which a convicted murderer who was a child at the time of crime cannot be sentenced to life in prison. So some speculate was he admitting guilt to try and get parole in which it appears that he is going to very soon? His family which lived in the house where this murder occurred just recently moved to another town over. Why sell the house now and move 30-40 minutes away? Perhaps in anticipation their son may soon be released from prison, they want to be away from where it happened. Could a knife this small and flimsy do the damage that was done to Gregs neck? How could his brother answer the phone after murdering his own brother and not sound out of place or out of breath? Is it possibly to nearly decapitate someone after having a struggle and get a small amount of blood on you? His brother was stabbed an extensive amount of times in the neck. Some experts say the size of the stab wounds were bigger then the pen knife recovered at the scene.
While I have my reservations if Zach did this or not, I would like to hear everyone's opinions.
Here is a link to a website started by Zachs parents in which they try to prove their sons innocence but it also has a time line of events and more in depth story of what happened that day. Zach Witman - Home
Here is another link to a local newspaper article Two decades after brother is killed, York County man could leave prison
Retired NYC homicide cop says Witman fratricide case needs to be reopened
And here is some video.
Weapons expert analyzes pen knife
Podcast about the murder
Zach's clothing and socks he was wearing were taken in for evidence. Although his blue sweater did have blood on it, he claimed that was from him moving his brother at the request of the dispatcher. Many claim the blood on his sweater was not extensive enough for someone who just nearly decapitated another. The jugular vein was severed and there was over 100 stab wounds to the neck of Greg. A search was conducted of the property and luminol testing turned up a small nail file type pen knife that was discovered poorly buried by the hot tub in the back yard along with a pair of soccer gloves.
Neighbors claimed they saw a suspicious vehicle leaving the neighborhood around the time of GW's death. Also a friend of Zachs claimed they made two phone calls to try and talk to ZW. She said the first time she called someone answered the phone in the kitchen but didn't say anything. She could tell the phone was picked up in the kitchen because this phone had a distinctive sound when picked up. She later called back which would of been only a few minutes after GW was killed. Zach answered and sounded fine. He was not out of breath or winded. The family claims there is no way Zach had the time to kill his brother, bury the weapon in the backyard and answer a call sounding perfectly normal. He very much loved his younger brother. Also the murder weapon was a flimsy nail file type knife that many experts say couldn't of caused the extent of damage that was done to Gregs neck as his head was nearly severed.
To sum up what happened next. The family always claimed Zach was innocent under the fact that he couldn't of done it in the time frame the murder occurred, he also had minimal blood on his sweater he was wearing that day. Zach also always denied the murder saying he loved his little brother and never would of hurt him.
ZW was arrested for his brothers murder and sentenced to life in prison. Key evidence behind the sentencing was the soccer gloves found were believed to belong to Zach. Zach and Greg were both heavily into soccer. Zach's sweater had the tell tale V shaped blood splatter that according to a blood splatter expert proves that Zach was within a foot of his brother when a major artery was cut in Greg's neck.
Zach spent many years in jail sticking to his own innocence. His parents stood behind him even hiring private investigators and law enforcement to look into the case. A reward was offered. Some inmates that served time with Zach and were since released always claimed he was a model prisoner and that he couldn't of done it.
Many years later, the area was shocked again when Zach dropped a bombshell and confessed to the murder. He claims that Greg was upset with Zach because he had hung up on Gregs girlfriend. Zach claims that Greg got home from school and wouldn't leave the issue alone and kept instigating him. Zach grabbed the small pen knife and gloves and went downstairs to try and scare his brother. He stabbed his brother once in the neck breaking a table in the foyer. His brother ran towards the laundry room to try and escape out the back door but Zach caught up with him and stabbed him over 100 times in the neck killing him.
So was this finally a confession to what happened that day? Some say that Zach Witman is only pleading guilty because of a recent law change in the area in which a convicted murderer who was a child at the time of crime cannot be sentenced to life in prison. So some speculate was he admitting guilt to try and get parole in which it appears that he is going to very soon? His family which lived in the house where this murder occurred just recently moved to another town over. Why sell the house now and move 30-40 minutes away? Perhaps in anticipation their son may soon be released from prison, they want to be away from where it happened. Could a knife this small and flimsy do the damage that was done to Gregs neck? How could his brother answer the phone after murdering his own brother and not sound out of place or out of breath? Is it possibly to nearly decapitate someone after having a struggle and get a small amount of blood on you? His brother was stabbed an extensive amount of times in the neck. Some experts say the size of the stab wounds were bigger then the pen knife recovered at the scene.
While I have my reservations if Zach did this or not, I would like to hear everyone's opinions.
Here is a link to a website started by Zachs parents in which they try to prove their sons innocence but it also has a time line of events and more in depth story of what happened that day. Zach Witman - Home
Here is another link to a local newspaper article Two decades after brother is killed, York County man could leave prison
Retired NYC homicide cop says Witman fratricide case needs to be reopened
And here is some video.
Weapons expert analyzes pen knife
Podcast about the murder
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