BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The eldest son of a Connecticut couple who planned to cut him out of their will was in court on two murder counts on Tuesday, several days after the remains of his parents were discovered.
Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin of Easton disappeared in August. Their bodies were found on Thursday outside a vacant house in the nearby town of Weston. Both had been fatally shot.
Their son Kyle Navin, 27, was already in federal custody on a weapons charge, following a search of his Bridgeport home during the investigation into his parents’ disappearance. He appeared in a courtroom here on Tuesday after the State Police formally charged him with murder. Mr. Navin was placed under a $2.5 million bond and is due back in court for arraignment on Nov. 24.
His lawyer, Eugene J. Riccio, said the hearing was “just the start of a long judicial process” and declined further comment.
Investigators wrote in court papers that Mr. Navin’s mother had told a friend that she and her husband planned to sell their trash-hauling business and cut their son out of their will.
Jeanette Navin was upset about her son’s behavior and drug use, and his failure to pay the mortgage and taxes on the home they bought him, the affidavits said.
During the September search of Kyle Navin’s home, Jeffrey Navin’s blood was found near where the police discovered an 11-feet-by-7-feet piece of carpet missing from the basement floor, according to the affidavits.
A tiny amount of Jeanette Navin’s blood was found in her son’s truck near a bullet hole in the passenger-side seatbelt, according to the affidavits. Her blood also was found on a partial thumb print recovered from a garage door opener at his parents’ home. The police said that Kyle Navin could not be ruled out as a source of the print, but that tests failed to show to whom the print belonged.
Mr. Navin’s girlfriend, Jennifer Valiante, 31, of Westport, appeared in court on Monday, charged with conspiracy to kill his parents and hindering the prosecution. She was being held on $2 million bond.
The month before his parents disappeared, Mr. Navin texted Ms. Valiante saying he had the “perfect plan” to get “$ for life,” according to the warrant. He wrote that the plan would “solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life.”
Mr. Navin and Ms. Valiante talked about what they would do with the money, the police said. She texted, “That’ll allow us to stay in our house and pay for a full top-line remodel and a new garage,” according to the warrants.
Ms. Valiante’s lawyer, Elliot R. Warren, said that the text messages had been “taken out of context,” and that Ms. Valiante would deny talking with or texting Mr. Navin about killing his parents and taking their money.
Source: nytimes.com