Post by CCADP on Aug 25, 2005 9:53:59 GMT -5
Death sought in Minquadale slaying----Transient had been living with
victim
State prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a transient accused of
killing a Minquadale man in whose home he'd been living, then attacking a
woman living in the home, with whom he had had an affair.
Michael R. Neff, 45, was stabbed to death at his home in Minquadale on
March 6. Afterward, police said, James D. Cole attacked the woman, then
stole her minivan and fled to Pennsylvania, where he was seriously injured
in an automobile accident.
Cole was charged with 1st-degree murder, two counts of first-degree rape,
second-degree rape and a weapons offense. Superior Court Judge Charles
Toliver IV ruled in a hearing Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to
hold Cole without bail.
According to testimony at the hearing, Cole had been smoking crack on the
night of the killing, and after fleeing in the minivan, struck a utility
pole on Pa. 82 in southern Chester County. Cole survived that accident
largely unharmed, but then was struck head-on by a drunken driver, which
caused life-threatening injuries and left him in a coma.
Cole recovered and was in court Wednesday to hear the state's evidence
against him.
New Castle County police Detective Thomas J. Abram testified that Cole had
been living at the Neff home about three months to keep Neff and his three
children company while Neff and the woman were separated. Abram said
Michael Neff and the woman had an on-again, off-again relationship and
each had obtained protection-from-abuse orders against the other.
Under cross-examination from Cole's attorney, Bradley Manning, Abram said
that at the time of Michael Neff's death, the woman was under a court
order to stay away from the house.
She had also had an affair with Cole several months earlier, Abram said,
although he doesn't think Michael Neff knew about it.
There was no history of violence between Cole and Neff or the woman, Abram
said, though Neff himself had been accused of beating her with a vacuum
cleaner.
On the night of the slaying, Abram said, the woman had decided to return
to Neff's home to live.
She arranged for Cole to drive with her to her mother's home in Maryland
so she could retrieve some of her belongings. Afterward, the pair returned
to the Newark area, where they bought crack cocaine. After they smoked
some of it, Abram said, Cole tried to have sex with the woman several
times. She refused, and he kept smoking the drug, police said.
About 1:30 a.m., they returned to Neff's home, where Cole partially
undressed and began to watch a pornographic movie in the living room,
Abram said.
The woman told police Cole refused to help her bring her things in from
the minivan, so she went alone. When she returned to the house a few
minutes later, she found Cole completely naked and splattered with blood.
"I killed the [expletive] and you and the kids are next," Cole told her,
according to Abram.
The 2 struggled in the bedroom, where Neff lay in a pool of blood, then
Cole dragged her back to the living room, the detective said.
Afterward, Cole pulled phone lines from the walls, tied the woman's hands
and fled with some prescription medication and $50, Abram said. She was
able to call 911 with a cell phone about 2:30 a.m.
Authorities later determined Michael Neff died from a single stab wound to
the neck. A butcher knife from the kitchen was found next to the body and
is believed to have been the murder weapon.
3 children between the ages of 5 and 10 were in the home when the slaying
and subsequent attack occurred, according to Abram, but they apparently
never woke up.
(source: The News Journal)
victim
State prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a transient accused of
killing a Minquadale man in whose home he'd been living, then attacking a
woman living in the home, with whom he had had an affair.
Michael R. Neff, 45, was stabbed to death at his home in Minquadale on
March 6. Afterward, police said, James D. Cole attacked the woman, then
stole her minivan and fled to Pennsylvania, where he was seriously injured
in an automobile accident.
Cole was charged with 1st-degree murder, two counts of first-degree rape,
second-degree rape and a weapons offense. Superior Court Judge Charles
Toliver IV ruled in a hearing Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to
hold Cole without bail.
According to testimony at the hearing, Cole had been smoking crack on the
night of the killing, and after fleeing in the minivan, struck a utility
pole on Pa. 82 in southern Chester County. Cole survived that accident
largely unharmed, but then was struck head-on by a drunken driver, which
caused life-threatening injuries and left him in a coma.
Cole recovered and was in court Wednesday to hear the state's evidence
against him.
New Castle County police Detective Thomas J. Abram testified that Cole had
been living at the Neff home about three months to keep Neff and his three
children company while Neff and the woman were separated. Abram said
Michael Neff and the woman had an on-again, off-again relationship and
each had obtained protection-from-abuse orders against the other.
Under cross-examination from Cole's attorney, Bradley Manning, Abram said
that at the time of Michael Neff's death, the woman was under a court
order to stay away from the house.
She had also had an affair with Cole several months earlier, Abram said,
although he doesn't think Michael Neff knew about it.
There was no history of violence between Cole and Neff or the woman, Abram
said, though Neff himself had been accused of beating her with a vacuum
cleaner.
On the night of the slaying, Abram said, the woman had decided to return
to Neff's home to live.
She arranged for Cole to drive with her to her mother's home in Maryland
so she could retrieve some of her belongings. Afterward, the pair returned
to the Newark area, where they bought crack cocaine. After they smoked
some of it, Abram said, Cole tried to have sex with the woman several
times. She refused, and he kept smoking the drug, police said.
About 1:30 a.m., they returned to Neff's home, where Cole partially
undressed and began to watch a pornographic movie in the living room,
Abram said.
The woman told police Cole refused to help her bring her things in from
the minivan, so she went alone. When she returned to the house a few
minutes later, she found Cole completely naked and splattered with blood.
"I killed the [expletive] and you and the kids are next," Cole told her,
according to Abram.
The 2 struggled in the bedroom, where Neff lay in a pool of blood, then
Cole dragged her back to the living room, the detective said.
Afterward, Cole pulled phone lines from the walls, tied the woman's hands
and fled with some prescription medication and $50, Abram said. She was
able to call 911 with a cell phone about 2:30 a.m.
Authorities later determined Michael Neff died from a single stab wound to
the neck. A butcher knife from the kitchen was found next to the body and
is believed to have been the murder weapon.
3 children between the ages of 5 and 10 were in the home when the slaying
and subsequent attack occurred, according to Abram, but they apparently
never woke up.
(source: The News Journal)