John Heath’s murder trial delayed. It is now set for March 20, 2013. The CT Post writes “John Heath, the Newtown man who was charged last year with his wife’s decades-old murder, had his trial at Danbury Superior Court continued to March 20, according to the city’s state’s attorney’s office.
His attorney, Frank O’Reilly, previously derided the prosecution’s case against his client as mere “speculation and conjecture.
” The evidence against John Heath is largely circumstantial — based on his statements to investigators and items discovered in the dry well where his wife’s skeletal remains were found in 2010 — and prosecutors have so far been unable to produce any witnesses who could testify that he committed murder.”
John Heath is accused of murdering his wife Elizabeth. She went missing in 1984. Her skeletal remains were found in 2010. She was positively identified by her dental records. Homicide was confirmed in September of 2010.
UPDATE: Elizabeth Heath went missing in 1984 while she was divorcing her husband. John had reported his wife missing on April 6, 1984. Heath’s family had Elizabeth declared dead in 1991. In 2010, Elizabeth’s remains were found during a home renovation on the property at 89 Poverty Hollow Road. That is where the couple used to live. John Heath left the property in 2005 when the bank foreclosed on the home. Elizabeth was identified by dental records. Examination found that Elizabeth had been beaten to death. She was killed by at least four blows to her head with a “narrow, heavy” club-like weapon. Then she was wrapped in bedclothes and plastic bags before she was shoved head-first into the 3-feet deep, 18-inch square dry well. In 2013, a jury found John Heath guilty. On Dec 18, 2013, Heath was sentenced to 50 years. The state Department of Correction’s website now lists Heath’s maximum release date from prison as April 30, 2062.