June 11, 2010
Police: Suspect confessed to killing former girlfriend
By Jillian Jorgensen
jjorgensen@eagletribune.comPLAISTOW — Randi Huntley was bloody and having trouble breathing when medics found her in the driveway of her Danville home. But she still could speak.
"She said her boyfriend had stabbed her and run her over with a car," state police Sgt. Robert Estabrook testified in Plaistow District Court yesterday.
Estabrook, a member of the major crimes unit and the lead investigator into Huntley's killing, laid out details of her death. Those details included a confession from her ex-boyfriend, Jackson Mwangi, 28. During a probable cause hearing yesterday, Estabrook said Mwangi tried to kill himself after killing Huntley.
Huntley, 25, died after being stabbed, hit with a sledgehammer and run over with a car registered to Mwangi's mother.
District Court Judge David G. LeFrancois ruled there was probable cause to hold Mwangi, who is charged with first-degree murder. He is being held without bail.
Estabrook's testimony was based largely on interviews he conducted with Mwangi the night of Huntley's death on June 1.
Mwangi and Huntley have a preschool son, Jaden, and had lived together at the Cobbler's Ridge duplex where she was killed. But Estabrook said Huntley broke off the relationship in April.
Mwangi moved to Manchester, but kept in contact with Huntley, sending her text messages that were "threatening in nature," Estabrook said. Three days before he allegedly killed her, Mwangi met Huntley at her workplace, where he was dropping off their son.
"They got into an argument," Estabrook said. "He was angry, he was upset."
Suspect bought knife, BB gun
On the day of the killing, Mwangi took his son with him to two different Walmarts.
In Hudson, he purchased a hunting knife and zip ties, Estabrook said. In Salem, he purchased a BB gun. Estabrook said police reviewed security tapes from the two stores.
"It shows the defendant, with his son, purchasing these items at the counter," he testified.
From Salem, Mwangi went to Huntley's home that afternoon and met her outside.
"Jaden, his son, had to use the bathroom," Estabrook said.
When they went inside, Mwangi allegedly tried to restrain Huntley.
"He wanted her to put these cable ties, or zip ties, on her hands, so she would tie her own hands," Estabrook said.
Huntley refused — and Mwangi began attacking her, punching her in the side of her head, Estabrook said. Then he took out the newly purchased hunting knife, Estabrook said, and stabbed his son's mother.
"She was yelling for her son Jaden to get help," Estabrook said.
Mwangi later told Estabrook that his former girlfriend tried to fight him off.
"He said that she picked up that sledgehammer to protect herself from him," Estabrook said. "He took that sledgehammer from her and hit her in the head."
Witnesses: Mwangi drove over his former girlfriend
Huntley ran outside, where a couple moving in to a nearby apartment saw her, Estabrook said.
"They saw and heard a woman crying for help," he said.
Huntley fell to the ground, according to the witnesses, who said they saw a black man get into a gray car.
"(Mwangi) said at this point, he wanted her to feel as much pain as he was in," Estabrook said.
The witnesses said Mwangi ran Huntley down with the Infiniti.
"They saw the person look at Ms. Huntley, lying on the ground, and then they saw him run over her," he said.
The witnesses said the car was backed up twice before hitting Huntley.
"As Ms. Huntley was rising to her feet, at that time, the vehicle hit her," Estabrook testified.
Then Mwangi sped off, Estabrook said, leaving Huntley in the driveway.
She had been stabbed five times, twice in the area of her left breast, one wound nicking an artery to her heart. She also was stabbed in the shoulder, neck and her side, Estabrook said.
Neighbors wrote down the license plate number and called police at 3:50 p.m. Huntley still was alive when emergency workers arrived. She was rushed to Parkland Medical Center in Derry, where she died.
Police found Mwangi early that night on the side of Route 101 in Exeter.
"He had a zip tie around his neck," Estabrook said. "It was quite tight, so they removed it."
Estabrook said Mwangi told him that he put the tie there.
"He told me he wanted to kill himself for what he did to Randi," he said. "He told me Randi didn't deserve what he did to her. He spoke glowingly of her."
Investigator: Mwangi confessed to crime
Estabrook told Mwangi an ambulance was coming to check him out, but Mwangi refused medical attention.
"He told me that he did not want to go to the hospital," Estabrook said. "(He said) he should be going to jail because he had just murdered his girlfriend."
Police took Mwangi to the Exeter police station, where he waived his Miranda rights and spoke to Estabrook. Mwangi told police he had tried to kill himself twice before police found him.
Mwangi said he wound the zip tie around his neck, sat in a park-and-ride in Exeter, rolled up the car windows and turned on the heat. He then drove to a small pond off the side of Route 101. The water was only knee-deep, Estabrook said. Mwangi told him he laid down next to it and tried inhaling the water. But he couldn't kill himself, Estabrook said, so he decided to turn himself in.
About 40 minutes into the interview, Mwangi asked how Huntley was doing.
"I told him that she had expired due to her injuries," Estabrook said. "He asked that maybe we could stop talking."
Estabrook left Mwangi alone for about half an hour. When he returned, Mwangi wanted to continue.
"He said he wanted to tell me the whole truth," Estabrook said.
Defense attorney Adam Bernstein asked Estabrook yesterday about his client's state of mind leading up to the killing.
Estabrook said Mwangi told him his own mother was so worried about him she called Manchester police over Memorial Day weekend. Mwangi told Estabrook he had hoped police would find out about the threatening text messages he had sent so he could get help.
In the wake of his breakup with Huntley, Mwangi bought a bus ticket, but never used it.
"He said that because the whole thing bothered him, this breakup with Randi, he was going to go to Las Vegas to live in Vegas as a bum," Estabrook said.
Mwangi has not entered a plea because he is charged with a felony.
He will likely be indicted in the next three months.