Opinion
Connecticut elections official charged with murder for allegedly shooting tenant who stopped paying rent
An elections official in Connecticut is charged with homicide after allegedly taking pictures her tenant lifeless.
Ellen Wink, a 61-year-old Republican deputy registrar of voters in Norwalk, Conn., was being held Friday on a $1 million bond following the lethal taking pictures in a house she owns on Nelson Avenue. The sufferer, recognized as 54-year-old Kurt Lametta, was renting the house the place the taking pictures passed off, and Wink, who reportedly was his landlord, lived in the home subsequent door on the identical avenue.
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Norwalk police stated patrol officers responded to a 911 at 11:52 a.m. a few “disturbance” involving the 2 inside the house and located Lametta “had sustained a number of gunshot wounds.” The person was pronounced lifeless on the scene by Norwalk Hospital Emergency Medical Service. Patrol officers positioned Wink on the scene and instantly detained her, in line with a press launch from the division.
Ellen Wink, 61, is being held on a $1 million bond for homicide.
(Norwalk Police Division)
Detectives positioned Wink below arrest by 1 p.m. Thursday and charged her with homicide, although the investigation stays ongoing. Decide John Blawie saved bond at $1 million throughout an arraignment listening to in State Superior Courtroom in Stamford on Friday. Wink’s protection lawyer, Kevin Black, had requested for it to be lowered to $200,000, arguing the taking pictures was an remoted incident. Whereas, Assistant State’s Lawyer Michelle Manning requested bond be bumped to $2 million, claiming Wink is a “hazard to society.”
Wink’s subsequent courtroom date is scheduled for March 16. Along with serving as deputy registrar, she beforehand served as Norwalk metropolis clerk from 2009 to 2011 and unsuccessfully ran in 2020 for state consultant for the 137th District, shedding to Democratic incumbent Chris Perone.
Native stories say Lametta, whose nickname was “Puff,” labored in development, and he was remembered by one longtime household pal as a “light big.”
Kurt Lametta, 54, was allegedly murdered by his landlord on Thursday.
(Fb)
The Hour of Norwalk reported that information present Wink was arrested in September over one other incident involving a tenant, solely recognized on the time as a 54-year-old. The tenant instructed officers he had been residing on the dwelling for a 12 months when he got here again one Saturday to search out Wink locked him out and threw away his garments, jewellery, money and different belongings, in line with Norwalk police Sgt. Sofia Gulino.
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Information say Wink didn’t dispute the tenant’s account and nonetheless denied him entry. After ignoring requests and warnings from officers to unlock the door, Wink was arrested and charged with prison lockout, first-degree prison mischief and fourth-degree larceny. That case was nonetheless pending.
“Wink and the sufferer on this case had quite a few interactions over the course of a month,” Manning stated Friday. “She then very clearly confirmed her anger in the direction of the sufferer. That anger escalated to the purpose the place she shot him in his dwelling — she introduced the gun to that home and shot him yesterday. That, within the state’s view, reveals that she is a really harmful one that lets her anger information her finger.”
The homicide occurred in Norwalk, Connecticut, a metropolis of 90,000 about 50 miles north of New York Metropolis.
(Norwalk Police Division)
The connection between the owner and the tenant first started to deteriorate in September 2020 when Lametta allegedly stopped paying lease, and Wink needed to promote the house, police stories point out.
In a dialog with the 911 dispatcher following the taking pictures, Wink allegedly stated she had gone to Lametta’s condo to do some cleansing when he out of the blue “got here” at her. She additionally expressed she was “so bored with this man” and that “she had saved telling him to get out and had sufficient,” a police report says.
Regardless of the homicide cost, Wink was not instantly eliminated as deputy registrar of voters.
“We have to wait and see because the investigation unfolds and extra data involves gentle earlier than we make any motion,” Republican City Committee Chair Fred Wilm instructed The Hour. “Ellen has been actively engaged in Norwalk, a longstanding member of the neighborhood in so many various capacities. This story may be very surprising. After all, our ideas exit to the sufferer’s household. My ideas exit to Ellen and her household.”
