DA: Kayaker Watched Fiance Drown, 'Felt Good'

'Confession' was coerced, Graswald's lawyer says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 14, 2015 5:24 AM CDT
DA: Kayaker Watched Fiance Drown, 'Felt Good'
This undated photo provided by the New York State Police shows Angelika Graswald.    (New York State Police via AP)

In what Angelika Graswald's lawyer considers a suspiciously frank confession, prosecutors testified yesterday that she told investigators she tampered with her fiance's kayak and it "felt good knowing he was going to die." Assistant District Attorney Julie Mohl told a bail hearing that Graswald felt trapped in her relationship with Vincent Viafore and stood to gain $250,000 from life insurance policies, the AP reports. According to Mohl, Viafore managed to cling to his boat for up to 10 minutes after it capsized on their April 19 voyage on the Hudson River, but Graswald didn't place a call to 911 until 20 minutes after the capsizing—and witnesses saw her deliberately capsize her own kayak. Bail was set at $3 million, the New York Daily News reports.

After the hearing, Graswald's lawyer said there seemed to be "a really big difference" between the "inconsistencies" police spoke of when she was charged with murder earlier this month and the outright confession Mohl spoke of at the hearing, which he thinks may have been coerced, the New York Times reports. Graswald is from Latvia and her lawyer tells the Poughkeepsie Journal there was a "very clear language barrier" when she spoke to investigators. Before the hearing, the lawyer defended some suspicious social media posts and diary entries from his client. Police in Poughkeepsie say a body was pulled from the Hudson River yesterday, but they haven't confirmed it's Viafore, the Times reports. (More kayaking stories.)

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