Investigator: Woman confessed to pulling plug on fiance's kayak
Eyewitness News
Updated 2 hrs 45 mins ago
GOSHEN, New York (WABC) -- A New York State Police investigator says a woman accused of fatally sabotaging her fiance's kayak on the Hudson River admitted that she removed a plug on his kayak and manipulated his paddle.
Authorities say Angelika Graswald removed a drain plug from Vincent Viafore's kayak in April 2015 and pushed a floating paddle away from him after his kayak capsized.
A Cornwall police officer testified Monday that Graswald appeared calm and emotionless after she was rescued.
State Police Senior Investigator Aniello Moscato also testified Graswald told another investigator she had pulled a plug on the kayak and manipulated the ring on Viafore's paddle.
Neither prosecutors nor the defense can comment due to a gag order.
Graswald has denied murder and manslaughter charges and her lawyer has argued that Viafore died accidentally after having had a few beers and falling into the cold water.
The drowning death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner who wrote in an autopsy report obtained by The New York Times that Viafore's death was the result of a "kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other."
Defense attorney Richard Portale told the newspaper the medical examiner's ruling was ill-informed and lacked medical evidence.
Graswald told ABC News in an interview broadcast in November that she loved Viafore and wouldn't have done anything to kill him. She said she's a good person, not a killer.