Government examiners throughout the course of recent days have uncovered the trap of individuals the Matusiewicz family used to keep an eye on Christine Belford in the years paving the way to her homicide.
The most recent models incorporated the family’s previous real estate agent and a long-term companion of Belford’s ex, David Matusiewicz. That’s what the two ladies affirmed, at the family’s solicitation, they drove past Belford’s home and revealed back what they had seen.
Sandra Peterson, a companion of David Matusiewicz from secondary school, said when she and one more lady drove by Belford’s Newark home on Donegal Court in October of 2011, they were “extremely anxious.”
“Since we were driving by someone’s home,” she said. “It just felt extremely interesting … exceptional entertaining.”
A little more than a year after the fact, on Feb. 11, 2013, Belford was killed by her ex-father by marriage, Thomas Matusiewicz, as she strolled into the New Palace District Town hall for a youngster support hearing in regards to the three young ladies Belford and David Matusiewicz had before their separation.
Thomas Matusiewicz likewise killed Belford’s companion, Laura “Beth” Mulford, and himself in the wake of trading gunfire with police.
Government investigators have claimed the excess Matusiewicz relatives – his wife Lenore Matusiewicz and his kids Amy Gonzalez and David Matusiewicz – were important for a mission to bother and follow Belford years before the shooting. They are presently being investigated in U.S. Locale Court in Wilmington.
The three could confront life in jail assuming they are viewed as at legitimate fault for the most serious offense – cyberstalking bringing about death.
Since the preliminary began, examiners have focused on different observers who supported the family in big and little ways: one of David Matusiewicz’s girlfriends took advantage of her kinship with Belford to furnish the Matusiewicz family with cozy insights concerning Belford’s life and photos of the young ladies; another of his girlfriends helped spread the family’s allegations that Belford had physically manhandled their oldest little girl.
Betty Lou Griffith, a realtor who helped Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz trade their Smyrna home, affirmed Tuesday she assisted keep with following of Belford.
On two events Griffith drove by Belford’s home in line with Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz. She then, at that point, sent them photos of the house and the tag number of a left vehicle.
She likewise involved an information base for Real estate professionals to look into whether Belford’s home had sold and to send them the addresses for Belford and others.
At the point when inquired as to why she did this, Griffith answered: “I was worried since [Thomas Matusiewicz] was so exceptionally stressed over his grandchildren.”
The couple adulated her for her assistance, proposing to take her out to eat and, in one email in October 2011, expressing: “Assuming you at any point choose to quit any pretense of selling houses and go into private examination, Tom and I will give you totally gleaming references!”
Also, Thomas Matusiewicz requested that Peterson drive by Belford’s home and take photographs. She and another lady, a companion of Gonzalez, cruised all over Belford’s rural area and noticed a dark SUV in her carport.
Since they couldn’t make out the tag, they went to breakfast and drove back once more, however the vehicle was no more.
At the point when asked by Colleague U.S. Lawyer Jamie McCall why the pair would return a subsequent time, Peterson said it was “to have the option to say we attempted two times and nothing happened to it.”
Thomas Matusiewicz additionally requested that Peterson drive by the home of Belford’s legal counselor. She declined, making sense of for the court that she “figured no decent could happen to it by any means.”
Peterson met for lunch with David Matusiewicz and his folks only days under the steady gaze of the town hall shooting. She got some information about the young ladies and the authority circumstance with their mom.
“He said, “I’m attempting to show restraint. I’m not patient,'” Peterson affirmed.
After four days Thomas Matusiewicz gunned down Belford in the town hall campaign.
The guardianship of the three young ladies had been a milestone for Belford and David Matusiewicz since they separated in 2006.
In the late spring of 2007, David Matusiewicz and his mom seized the kids and took them to Focal America, skipping between different nations before they were found in Nicaragua.
The kids were then gotten back to Belford and David and Lenore Matusiewicz were condemned to jail.
The family court ended David Matusiewicz’s parental freedoms and dismissed his allegations that Belford had physically manhandled the oldest of their three little girls.
