Man accused of killing woman in Cortland

CORTLAND, NY Andrew Kissel, 46, was found tied up and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar fraud case.

Police say Kissel driver Carlos Trujillo, 47, and his cousin, Leonard Trujillo, 21, were arrested over the weekend in connection with the developer's death.

As Greenwich detectives led Carlos Trujillo out of police headquarters in shackles Monday morning, a reporter asked if he killed Kissel.

"No I didn't," he replied.

He was held on $1 million bond and is due to appear Monday afternoon in Stamford Superior Court on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Leonard Trujillo was held without bond and is scheduled to appear in Worcester District Court in Massachusetts to face charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The arrest warrants are sealed.

Carlos Trujillo had been interviewed by police several times and had given them samples of his DNA, fingerprints and some personal documents, his attorney has said. He has denied any involvement in Kissel's death.

Kissel's brother, Robert, was a wealthy banker whose wife was convicted of murder in Hong Kong in September 2005 and sentenced to life in prison after feeding him a milkshake laced with drugs and then beating him to death in November 2003.

Andrew Kissel and his estranged wife, Hayley, had cared for Robert Kissel's three children until they were handed over to the custody of a relative, who lived near Seattle. Andrew and Hayley Kissel had two children of their own.

The couple's divorce was heating up before he was killed, court records show. In divorce papers, Hayley Kissel had accused her husband of being a belligerent alcoholic.

Kissel's criminal cases were pending in federal and state courts in New York at the time of his death. The federal case charged him with real estate fraud and state prosecutors charged him with grand larceny, alleging he stole nearly $4 million from his Manhattan apartment cooperative.

Kissel also was being sued by a former business partner.

Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.