Councilman charged in cold case to remain in jail
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Bridgewater Councilman Gregory S. Hopkins, 65, charged in the 1979 slaying of a Monaca woman, is taken back to jail by a Beaver County sheriff's deputy after his hearing Friday at Beaver County Courthouse.
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A Bridgewater councilman charged in the 1979 homicide of a Monaca woman will remain in jail for now, a Beaver County judge ruled Friday.
Gregory S. Hopkins, 65, has been held in the Beaver County jail since Sunday when he was arrested and charged with criminal homicide in the death of Catherine J. Walsh, 23. Mr. Hopkins' lawyer, James Ross of Ambridge, filed a motion on Tuesday for a hearing to set bond.
On Friday morning, Mr. Hopkins entered the Common Pleas courtroom wearing handcuffs and shackles around his legs. Karen Hopkins, his wife since 2001, sat in the row behind him with four other people.
On the other side of the courtroom sat family members of Mrs. Walsh, including her father, Peter J. Caltury of Monaca and her brother, Francesco Caltieri of Columbus, Ohio.
During the bail hearing, Richard Matas, a retired state police trooper who was among the first to respond to the homicide, testified that on the afternoon of Sept. 1, 1979, he found Mrs. Walsh face-down on her bed, clothed in a nightgown from the waist up. A handkerchief was tied around her neck, and her hands were bound with a softer rope, like a bathrobe cord, he said.
Frank Martocci, assistant county district attorney, submitted a coroner's report that indicated Mrs. Walsh had been strangled. He also submitted a state police analysis that matched DNA taken from the rope and the nightgown with a sample taken from Mr. Hopkins in December.
Mr. Ross, the attorney representing Mr. Hopkins, argued that prosecutors do not have evidence of premeditation, what he called "the key" in a first-degree murder case.
The evidence in Mrs. Walsh's bedroom, which had no signs of a struggle, could be a "sexual encounter gone bad," said Mr. Ross, after stating that he was not saying his client was involved.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:00 am
