Connecticut Murder: Teen Daughter has Mother Killed

Joyce Aparo, the divorced mother of 15-year-old Karin, had managed to carve out the good old-fashioned middle-class American lifestyle for herself and her daughter. In 1985, we find them living in a pleasant condominium in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Joyce, 46, was an executive with a health care company. Karin attended high school.

Something went drastically wrong in the relationship between mother and daughter. Joyce, an ambitious woman who wanted the better things in life, worked hard and insisted that Karin follow her rather strict rules. She was convinced that Karin was a gifted violinist. In order for Karin to develop as an artist, Joyce sent her to the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she studied under Albert Markov. During the summer vacation, Karin took lessons at the Markov home in Rowayton. Joyce saw her daughter as a budding musician who would one day be performing in the world's great concert halls. The truth was something less than that. Karin was an excellent violinist in an environment where there were thousands of equally talented individuals. Despite her extensive practice schedule, Karin, who had an IQ of 131, maintained an A average in school.

Dennis Coleman was a slim, ruddy complected 18-year-old when he took special notice of Karin Aparo. The two young people had been neighbors on Butternut Dr. for two years, but the three years difference in their ages had kept them apart. Dennis was graduating from high school that year, while Karin was a Grade 9 student.

Dennis and Karin became inseparable. They dated, necked in Dennis' sportscar and talked of the future. They would marry one day and live happily ever after. Their relationship became intimate. Rarely did more than a few days pass without them taking part in sexual intercourse.

As in many such relationships, a dominant personality emerged. Karin soon found out that Dennis would do anything she wanted. He had a summer job, which paid $ 375 a week and could buy anything within reason for his true love. The only thing which marred their romance was Karin's feelings towards her mother. They argued constantly. Karin told Dennis of the strained atmosphere at home. Joyce acted civilly enough when Dennis was around, but at other times Joyce mentally and physically abused Karin.

The thought of murdering her mother came to Karin as a solution to all her problems. She would rid herself of a major antagonist and at the same time collect on insurance policies totalling $ 375,000. Karin shared her thoughts with her boyfriend. Initially, Dennis was horrified, but with Karin's urging the idea gradually seemed to grow on him. He told Karin personally and in notes that he would do anything for her. He was completely in love and under her influence.

For over a year, the subject came up several times. Poison was considered and dismissed. Shooting was eliminated as too messy. Finally, the pair agreed that manual strangulation was the method to use.

On Aug. 5, 1987, Joyce Aparo failed to show up at her place of employment. Her 1986 Volkswagon Jetta was found that same day in a stream in the village of Bernardston. Karin was located at her violin teacher's home in Rowayton, where she had spent the weekend. She was informed of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother's disappearance. Later that same day a little boy found Joyce Aparo's body in a brook under a bridge about a mile and a half from where her car had been found. She was clad in a nightgown and had a pair of panty hose wrapped around her neck. She had been strangled.

Karin was notified of the tragedy and returned home. During routine questioning at the police station, she called her boyfriend Dennis. Her conversation was so suspicious and incriminating that a police officer jotted down some notes. It appeared that Karin was comforting Dennis and assuring him that everything was under control. When the officer showed the notes to her superior, it was decided that detectives should have a chat with Dennis Coleman.

Both teenagers swore they knew nothing of the murder. Of course, Karin had an airtight alibi. She had been miles away at the home of her music teacher at the time the murder had taken place. Karin claimed the incriminating phone conversation had been totally misunderstood. Dennis told detectives he had been at the home of a friend, Frank Manganaro, on the evening of the murder and had gone straight home to bed around midnight.

Within a few days of Joyce's murder, police were sure that Dennis Coleman was deeply involved. When Frank Manganaro was questioned, he told police that he and Dennis had not been at his home that night, but had been at Kira Linter's house. Kira verified that she, along with another friend, Chris Wheatley, Frank and Dennis had watched movies at her house.

Dennis was becoming a nervous wreck. He knew he was the prime suspect in Joyce Aparo's murder. At home, his parents were beside themselves with worry. Dennis' father could stand the tension no longer. He asked his son, ''Did you do it?'' Dennis replied with one word, ''Yes.''

A few days later, Karin Aparo informed police that Dennis had confessed the murder to her. She revealed details only the killer could know. Dennis was arrested, charged with murder and spent the weekend in jail before his parents raised the $ 150,000 bond for his release.

Meanwhile, detectives, probing deeper, realized that Dennis was totally under his girlfriend's influence. He was capable of killing Karin's mother and as much as said so in letters found in Karin's condo. When police found Chris Wheatley's fingerprints inside Joyce's abandoned Jetta, both Chris and Kira Linter were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The next day, Karin was charged with being an accessory to the murder of her mother.

Wheatley and Linter made a deal. In exchange for their testimony, they were sentenced to short periods on probation. Dennis stood trial for murder. He insisted on taking full responsibility for the murder until he was informed that Karin had told several lies about him, absolving herself of all complicity in the murder and placing the blame entirely on him.

Here's what happened on the night of Joyce Aparo's murder. Karin had planned the murder and had urged Dennis from the beginning to kill her mother. He had resisted for some time but had finally consented to do the foul deed. He asked Chris Wheatley to help. Wheatley agreed. Kira Linter went along for the ride. Dennis told his interrogators he had entered Joyce's condo and had strangled her in her bed. As prearranged, Wheatley and Kira met him at Joyce's condo a little after 1 a.m. He carried Joyce's body out to her Jetta and placed it in the back seat. With Wheatley leading the way in his car, they drove for over an hour before deciding to dump Joyce's body under a bridge. The three young people then drove to the spot where they abandoned Joyce's car. Dennis jumped into Wheatley's car and was driven to his home in Glastonbury at 6 a.m. At 7 a.m., Dennis appeared at his place of employment in time for work.

The Connecticut jury found Dennis Coleman guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 34 years in prison on the murder charge and 20 years on the conspiracy charge. The good-looking high school graduate with the IQ of 138 is presently serving his sentence.

Karin Aparo was tried separately. The jury deliberated for three weeks before reaching their verdict. To the charge of being an accessory to murder, they found Karin not guilty and declared themselves hopelessly deadlocked on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

On Jan. 28, 1990, Karin Aparo walked out of court a free woman. While there has been some suggestion that the state will retry Karin in the future, as of this writing she remains free.






When the body of Joyce Aparo was found Aug. 5 under a highway overpass in Bernardston, Mass., 65 miles from her home here, the Connecticut police initially suspected she had been the victim of a kidnapping. The 47-year-old woman was wearing a nightgown and had been strangled with a pair of pantyhose.

Since then, the trail has led back home. On Aug. 13, the boyfriend of Ms. Aparo's 16-year-old daughter was arrested and charged with felony murder. And today, the daughter, Karin, was arraigned in court on charges of conspiracy and accessory to commit her mother's murder.

In addition, two other Glastonbury teen-agers, described by the police as close friends of the daughter and her boyfriend, 19-year-old Dennis Coleman Jr., were arrested last Friday and charged with hindering the prosecution of the murder.

Crime Planned 'Over a Year'

The police and prosecutors refused today to discuss a motive for the slaying. But at Miss Aparo's arraignment in State Superior Court in neighboring Manchester, the State's Attorney for the Hartford area, John M. Bailey, said the murder had been planned ''for over a year.'' ''I think it is a strong case,'' he said. Miss Aparo, a petite girl with short dark hair, appeared calm. She was released after family members posted a $100,000 bond set by Superior Court Judge M. Morgan Kline. She will stay with friends of the family, pending a court appearance on Sept. 15, according to her attorney, Hubert J. Santos.

''She'll be acquitted,'' Mr. Santos said outside the court building. He said the girl had cooperated with the investigation and had given the police information that led to the arrest of Mr. Coleman.

''She did not participate in the murder as an accessory or as a co-conspirator,'' Mr. Santos said.

The arrest warrant and affidavits outlining the case against the daughter were kept sealed at the request of Mr. Bailey, who said the investigation was continuing. He declined to say whether there were other suspects.

The case has stunned this quiet, well-to-do suburb southeast of Hartford. All four teen-agers are students or recent graduates of Glastonbury High School and are close friends, the police said.

Karin Called Fine Student

Karin Aparo, who was described by Mr. Santos as an excellent student and ''an accomplished violinist,'' lived with her mother in a well-kept, five-room, two-story, frame condominium in a recently-built development known as Milestone Commons. Her parents were divorced several years ago, Mr. Santos said. Her father, Martin Aparo, was in court with his daughter today but declined to talk to reporters.

A woman who answered the door at a neighboring condominimum, but who would not give her name, said, ''We're all shocked.'' She said the mother and daughter appeared to get along well.

Joyce Aparo, a former social worker for the State Department of Health Services, had worked since April 1986 as a social worker and placement coordinator for Athena Healthcare Associates of Waterbury, a management consultant and operator of nursing homes in the state, according to an attorney for Athena, R. Jeffrey Sands.

Mr. Coleman, who graduated from Glastonbury High School in 1986 and worked at a country club in Hebron, is free on $150,000 bond, pending an appearance Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Miss Aparo, if convicted, could face up to 80 years in prison, the Glastonbury police said.

Last Friday, the same day that Miss Aparo was arrested, the state and Glastonbury police also arrested Kira Lintner, 16, and Christopher E. Wheatley, 19, both of Glastonbury, and charged them with hindering the prosecution. They were released on $20,000 bond each and are scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on Oct. 2.

According to the arrest warrants in their case, which were made public today, Miss Aparo, who was visiting friends in Darien, last talked to her mother by telephone on the night of Aug. 4, a few hours before her mother was strangled. On Aug. 12, Mr. Coleman told the daughter how he murdered her mother, the documents said. #2 Cars Drove North Ms. Lintner and Mr. Wheatley initially told investigators that they had been elsewhere on the night of the murder, according to the documents. But they told detectives later that they had followed Mr. Coleman, at his request, while Mr. Coleman drove Ms. Aparo's 1986 car, with her body in the back seat, to a remote area in Massachusetts near the Vermont border, where the body and car were abandoned.

On the return trip to Glastonbury early on the morning of Aug. 5, Mr. Coleman told his two friends how he had killed Ms. Aparo in the bedroom of her Glastonbury condominium, the warrant said.

Nineteen-year-old Karin Aparo, who was charged with engineering the murder of her mother nearly three years ago in an affluent Hartford suburb, was cleared today of the most serious charge against her - that she was an accessory in the killing.

But the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked on whether she had helped plan the murder, leaving one of the central mysteries of the case unresolved.

Judge Thomas H. Corrigan declared a mistrial on that charge.

Miss Aparo reacted quietly to the verdict, showing little emotion except to turn to hug her lawyer, Hubert J. Santos. She was immediately surrounded and embraced by friends who rushed to the defense table.

No Decision on a New Trial

Prosecutors said they would decide in the next few weeks whether to seek a new trial on the charge that was not resolved.

Miss Aparo, who was 16 when her mother, Joyce, was strangled in her bed at the family's condominium in Glastonbury in August 1987, had faced up to 80 years in prison if convicted of being an accessory to the killing and of conspiring to commit the crime. In their verdict today, which came after nine days of deliberations in Superior Court, the jurors said Miss Aparo had not participated as an accessory, a felony with a maximum 60-year sentence.

The jury deadlocked on the second count - that she had conspired to commit the crime but had not actually participated in it. The final vote was 7 to 5 for acquittal, jurors said afterward. The conspiracy count carried a maximum 20-year sentence.

''Some people had an opinion that Karin was responsible in some way,'' said the jury foreman, Richard Meister, an engineer for Northeast Utilities. ''But always the majority was 'not guilty.' ''

Star Witness Not Believed

Mr. Meister and three other jurors said outside the courthouse that a large part of their deliberations mirrored the central drama of the trial: whether to believe Miss Aparo's former boyfriend, Dennis Coleman, 22, the prosecution's star witness against the girl he said he once loved ''beyond obsession.''

Mr. Coleman admitted last year that he had strangled Mrs. Aparo with a twisted length of pantyhose. He is now serving a 34-year sentence in state prison. He told the court he had killed at Miss Aparo's behest, ending a yearlong conspiracy to free the young lovers from Mrs. Aparo's meddling and to collect $300,000 from an insurance policy. The jurors simply did not buy it. ''We had legal yellow pads full of inconsistencies,'' said Michael J. Ward, another juror. He said once the jurors had concluded that Mr. Coleman's testimony was not credible, the center of the state's case was gone and acquittal was almost inevitable.

Mr. Ward said the defense team's lengthy presentation about how Miss Aparo had been physically and emotionally abused by her mother - a history that defense lawyers said explained the defendant's ambivalent behavior about the killing after it occurred - was not a factor.

''It was never even discussed,'' he said.

What apparently confounded the jury was the extent to which they believed Miss Aparo wanted her mother dead or plotted the killing with Mr. Coleman. In numerous letters and diary entries that were entered as evidence, she wrote of a ''plot'' with Mr. Coleman, and she admitted in her testimony that she once had secretly put ground-up tranquilizers in a sandwich she made for Mrs. Aparo about a year before the killing.

Miss Aparo also told the jury of one plan under which she would flick the lights at her condominium, which would be a signal for Mr. Coleman, who lived across the street, to come over and commit murder. She said she had dismissed the talk as a fantasy and never believed it would ever occur. As for the pills, she said, they had simply been designed to calm Mrs. Aparo.

Conflicting Testimony

Mr. Coleman, by contrast, said both incidents had been genuine attempts at murder that simply failed - in the light-flicking episode because he been unable to bring himself to kill and in the tranquilizer incident because Mrs. Aparo had rejected the sandwich as bad-tasting.

Miss Aparo, who left the courthouse surrounded by her lawyers and friends, declined to comment on the verdict. But the lead defense lawyer, Mr. Santos, said he hoped the jury's conclusions would conclude the case and allow Miss Aparo to resume her life.

''We're hopeful that this will end the prosecution,'' Mr. Santos said.

The State's Attorney in Hartford County, John M. Bailey, said he could not comment on the verdict or the mistrial because the matter was still before the court. He said he would make a decision about a retrial in two or three weeks after consulting with the assistant state's attorney who prosecuted the case, James E. Thomas. Mr. Thomas could not be reached for comment.