73-year-old Robert Honsch, was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in Hampden Superior Court, Massachusetts. A Springfield jury found him guilty of murdering his 53-year-old wife, Maria Honsch, 22 years ago. Her decomposed body was dumped and, then, discovered by a hiker in Tolland State Forest. Tolland, MA, on October 6, 1995. She was shot in the head and killed.
The jury was comprised of four women and eight men. Their deliberations extended from late Wednesday and all day Thursday and Friday before they reached a verdict at 11 a.m.
Convicted murderer moves on
The killer was tracked to Dalton, Ohio, by detectives from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. He was living with his three children and his new wife under the assumed name, Robert Tyree, the Boston Globe reported.
Honsch, along with his wife, Maria, and their teenage daughter, Elizabeth Honsch, lived in Brewster, NY, at the time. The couple’s daughter was also murdered. Her body was found on September 28, 1995. She was also shot in the head not long before her body was discovered – dumped behind a shopping plaza in New Britain, CT.
Detectives from New Britain, state police from Massachusetts, and DNA analysts worked together in determining that the bodies in New Britain and in Tolland, MA, were potentially mother and daughter.
After New York state police became involved in investigating in June 2014, authorities learned the identities of the deceased females.
Within in a month of a relative having filed a missing persons report with troopers in New York, New Britain and Massachusetts police obtained arrest warrants. In July of 2014, Honsch was charged with murder in Connecticut.
According to the Boston Globe, this was a case of domestic violence.
Closure to a cold case
James Wardwell, the police chief of New Britain, said, Honsch’s wife and daughter were nameless and known as Jane Does for a long time. Honsch, he said, denied them the dignity of their identities. Justice was served yesterday, he stated, for Honsch’s wife.
He is confident the same will, soon, result for his daughter, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s body was discovered behind the shopping plaza where accused serial killer William Devin Howell dumped seven victims – one man and six women. Howell is awaiting trial in jail.
Honsch’s attorneys, Paul Rudof and Andrew Klyman, claim their client had nothing to do with the deaths of his wife and his daughter. He faces the life in prison, without parole, following Monday’s conviction for first-degree murder. He is scheduled for sentencing noon on Monday when Marcia Honsch’s family will give their impact statements. Convictions in such cases are automatically reviewed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Anthony D.
Gulluni, Hampden District Attorney, released a statement on his website following the guilty verdict, stating that his sympathy is with Honsch’s wife and daughter’s family. He is also hopeful that the conviction will offer some closure for their family following the criminal justice process. Gulluni additionally thanked law enforcement agencies that were involved for their commitment to justice. Karen Bell, Assistant District Attorney, represented the state in its case against Honsch.
