Heath Pleads Not Guilty To Murdering His Wife In 1984

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — John Sherman Heath, 68, of Bridgewater pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder on Tuesday in Danbury Superior Court, after being arrested on a warrant by Newtown police for having allegedly killed his wife Elizabeth Gough Heath, 32, in April 1984, at their Poverty Hollow Road home in Newtown.

Several judicial marshals escorted Mr Heath into Courtroom 2 where Judge John Blawie presided at the arraignment.

Mr Heath elected to have a jury trial on the murder charge, which is a Class A felony.

His next court appearance is slated for May 16, when a supervised pretrial conference would be held among Mr Heath’s attorney, the prosecutor, and a judge. A hearing for probable cause is scheduled for June 19.

After explaining his legal rights to him, Judge Blawie asked whether the defendant understood those rights.

“Yes, I do, your honor,” Mr Heath responded in a clear, firm voice.

During the arraignment, the defendant sat at a desk in the courtroom breathing oxygen through a plastic cannula attached to an oxygen canister. Mr Heath has “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” according to court documents.

The retired house painter, who has long graying hair tied in a ponytail and a long beard, wore street clothes in court.

Mr Heath is being held on $1 million bail at the Bridgeport Correctional Center by the state Department of Correction.

Public Defender Miles Gerety, who was assigned to temporarily represent Mr Heath, asked that bail be reduced to $500,000, but Judge Blawie sided with State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III and with the court’s bail commissioner who recommended that bail be maintained at the $1 million level, which was the amount specified in the arrest warrant.

A special public defender will be appointed to represent Mr Heath, the judge said. Also, Mr Heath would be provided with medical care while being held on bail.

Mr Sedensky told the judge that officials recently saw activity involving U-Haul trucks at the 5 Keeler Road property in Bridgewater where Mr Heath rents a home, so the state needed to move quickly in making an arrest.

Mr Gerety explained that Mr Heath was planning to move to Trumbull on May 30.

If Mr Heath should post the $1 million bail, he would be required to surrender his passport, Judge Blawie said.

Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that police obtained the arrest warrant for Mr Heath on Monday.

On Monday evening, police stopped a vehicle on Hanover Road in which Mr Heath was a passenger and made that arrest, the police chief said. Six police participated.

“We are pleased that we’ve come this far with this investigation and we’re getting closer to closure,” Chief Kehoe said of the case’s eventual disposition.

“It certainly is a circumstantial case,” Chief Kehoe said of the many elements of the situation that led to police receiving a court warrant for Mr Heath’s arrest on the murder charge.

The police chief stressed that police sought to be thorough in their investigation into Elizabeth Heath’s homicide.

The chief state’s medical examiner determined through an autopsy that Elizabeth Heath’s homicide was caused by a “blunt traumatic head injury,” or a forceful blow to the head.

The 27-page arrest warrant affidavit submitted by Detective Jason Frank lists the many elements that led police to determine that John Heath had murdered Elizabeth Heath, against whom he had just filed divorce papers.

Details

According to the affidavit, on March 28, 1984, John Heath filed for divorce against Elizabeth Heath, whom he had married on May 21, 1978. They had a child, Meghann, on September 13, 1979.

On April 6, 1984, John reported Elizabeth missing to Newtown police. John claimed in a written statement to police that Elizabeth had left her car at home and only took about $600 with her, adding that she had not left a note explaining her actions and had not been in contact with him or friends since April 1.

On August 14, 1984, John Heath received a divorce in court.

On June 16, 1985, John Heath married Rachel Figueroa, whom John Heath had added as an owner of the 89 Poverty Hollow Road property on February 5, 1985.

“Raquel was described by friends and family to be good friends with Elizabeth and also the babysitter for Meghann,” according to the affidavit.

On March 31, 1991, Elizabeth Heath was declared as “‘presumed dead”’ in probate court documents.

On June 14, 2004, John and Raquel Heath’s property at 89 Poverty Hollow Road was foreclosed.

Kenneth J. Wright purchased the property on September 18, 2007.

On April 14, 2010, Elizabeth Heath’s skeletal remains were found by Kenneth Wright, MD, and his son Jordan as they were renovating a room that was inside the lower level of a barn at the property. The remains were found well hidden within a structure beneath some flooring there.

Police were notified that a skeleton had been found and responded to the property to investigate.

The medical examiner determined that the victim’s left forearm had been broken, consistent with an assault having occurred against her.

On April 29, 2010, police executed a search-and-seizure warrant at Heath’s Bridgewater home and collected various evidence for their murder investigation.

Items seized there were similar to items that were found within a cavity beneath the floor where Elizabeth Heath’s skeleton was found at 89 Poverty Hollow Road, according to the affidavit.

Police had considered the disappearance of Ms Heath a “cold case,” or a probe into which the investigatory leads had grown cold, until the discovery of her skeletal remains provided fresh information for their two-year investigation.