Investigator: Woman confessed to pulling plug on fiance's kayak

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
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Investigator: Woman confessed to pulling plug on fiance's kayakPhotos from the case of Angelika Graswald, accused of tampering with his fiance's kayak, killing him.

GOSHEN, New York (WABC) -- A New York State Police investigator says a woman accused of fatally sabotaging her fiance's kayak on the Hudson River admitted that she removed a plug on his kayak and manipulated his paddle.



Authorities say Angelika Graswald removed a drain plug from Vincent Viafore's kayak in April 2015 and pushed a floating paddle away from him after his kayak capsized.



A Cornwall police officer testified Monday that Graswald appeared calm and emotionless after she was rescued.



State Police Senior Investigator Aniello Moscato also testified Graswald told another investigator she had pulled a plug on the kayak and manipulated the ring on Viafore's paddle.



Neither prosecutors nor the defense can comment due to a gag order.



Graswald has denied murder and manslaughter charges and her lawyer has argued that Viafore died accidentally after having had a few beers and falling into the cold water.



The drowning death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner who wrote in an autopsy report obtained by The New York Times that Viafore's death was the result of a "kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other."



Defense attorney Richard Portale told the newspaper the medical examiner's ruling was ill-informed and lacked medical evidence.



Graswald told ABC News in an interview broadcast in November that she loved Viafore and wouldn't have done anything to kill him. She said she's a good person, not a killer.

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