Trooper Says Peter Told Details After Breaking Under 4th Quiz

DEDHAM. March 10-A packed but hushed courtroom and an attentive 14-man Jury listened with rapt attention this afternoon as a State Police sergeant bared for the first time the sordid details of the alleged murder confession of Peter Makarewicz.

Defense attorney Louis Goldstein legally dueled for 40 minutes against admission of the alleged confession which Peter did not sign. But Superior Court Judge Lewis Goldberg ruled in favor of the prosecution and recalled the Jury to hear the story.

State Police Sgt Walter Bogdanchik, under direct questioning by Dist. Atty. Myron N. Lane, related the Intimate details and gave a word picture of the tense scene when the 15-year-old Norwood boy allegedly broke down upon being questioned for the fourth time at Norwood Police Station, two days after the slaying.

No Motive Mentioned

Despite the lengthy recitation, there was no mention of a possible motive. Nor was there any evidence that Peter and slain Geraldine Annese, 15, a Norwood neighbor, had ever been on unfriendly terms.

And from the tone of questions in cross-examination of the prosecution witness by the defense, it was to be gleaned that Peter’s battery of lawyers may contend the confession was obtained from a dead-tired boy who may have been ill at this time. The boy is reported to have suffered from an attack of epilepsy.

Sgt Bogdanchik told also of the boy making the admission of the strangling a second time, in the presence of his father, summoned Into the room to bear from authorities the grim news that his son was to be charged with the murder.

“Your son just told us he killed Gerry.” State Police Det, Lt. William Delay told the father, it was testified and then, turning to the boy. the detective continued:

‘Now, Peter, tell your father what you did. The father at this point threw his arms around his son and said:

“No, Junior, you’re tired. They made you say It.”

“Yes, I did It,” police quoted Peter as telling his father.

Father’s Tears Told

At this point. police related, the parent fell to his knees and sobbed for a few moments before he was aided to his feet by Police Chief Mark Folan and Police Lt James Murphy of the Norwood Police.

“This is what we have brought you up for?” the grief-stricken parent said to his son. “This will kill your mother!”

Only prosecution witness of the afternoon, Sgt Bogdanchik said the boy broke down at 9:12 a. m. on Nov. 6 two days after the slaying when authorities confronted him with his clothing which had been chemically analyzed at State Police Headquarters.

Reading from notes at times and apparently reciting from his memory of the scene at others, Bogdanchik recalled it this way:

“Peter, how do you account for the blood,” the boy was asked as authorities placed before him s blood-stained pair of trousers, allegedly belonging to him.

“1 don’t see any blood,” the boy replied.

“Well, the chemists say it’s blood. Do you want us to get them?”

Dungarees Swept on Floor

The policeman recalled that Peter sat silent for a moment, hunched forward, and said the boy suddenly “grabbed the dungarees and swept them towards District Attorney Lane and myself.

Then, he continued, tne poy put his head down on the desk and started to sob, crying for about s minute until Chief Folan told the boy, “Pull yourself together, Peter,” and offered the boy s glass of water and an aspirin.

Chief Folan, under exsminatlon later by atty. Goldstein, recalled that when the boy swept the clothing off the table he said:

“I did it I killed her.”

Goldstein queried Folan In an effort to determine whether the boy waa in s state of collapse at the time he broke down. But, questioned by Lane, the police chief said the boy was never abused and “was treated extremely well during the entire thing.”

Bogdanchik said that Lt Delay took over questioning the boy after be broke down, saying to the boy: “Now, Peter, brace yourself and tell us what happened on Thuri day.”

Sergeant Gives Details

Peter’s story ran like this, according to Bogdanchik:

“On Thursday night, about 9:35, after my brother came home from the movies, I changed into dungarees, went downstairs Into the cellar and out through the cellar door, across the back lots, jumped over a fence and walked to the garage. (Two-car garage on Tremont st.)

“It was about 9:45 and I waited there until about 10 p. m when I heard Gerry walking up the sidewalk. As she was going up the stairs to the rear of the house I called to her:

” ‘Hi, Gerry, come here.’

“She replied, ‘Who’s there?”

“I answered, ‘Marky.’ “Gerry said, “What are you doing there, “I said, ‘Come here, I want to tell you something.’ “Gerry came into the garage and walked between the two cars. “I told her to turn around, put my hands around her neck, and strangled her. I kept my hands around her throat until her hands didn’t move anymore.”

Lt Delay, at this point, asked: “How long did you keep your hands around her neck?”

Paper Put ln Evidence

“About 15 or 20 minutes.” the boy allegedly replied.

Did she kick you?” Delay Inquired.

“No, she scratched me.

“Did anyone go into the house during this time?”

“No, someone a man left the house.”

Bogdanchik, continuing, said the boy told them he “Backed her onto the floor, removed her jacket, wrapped it around her nose and mouth, and then took off her sweater, dungarees, panties, and bra.

At this point police introduced into evidence a piece of paper on which was written the answer to two questions detectives asked the boy. The writing was purported to be Peters. The first mentioned an article of woman’s apparel The second was an affirmative answer to whether he had attacked the girl.

Bogdanchik said the boy then told of leaving the garage and retracing his steps to his home, breaking s picket in a fence in his haste to return.

“Did you notice any blood on your hands or person?” Delay asked.

“No.”

“Was Gerry dead when you left the garage?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“She was not breathing.”

“When did you decide to kill her?”

“1 was with my sister when 1 got the feeling I wanted to kill her and I went to the Garage.”

“Did you have the intention of killing her?”

“Yes”

“How did your fingerprints get onto the car?”

“Getting off the floor. … I used the fender for support.”

“Now tell us about the scratch on your face that you said you received playing football?”

“It was a lie.”

“What about the story of shooting the bird In your backyard?”

“That was a lie.”

At this point, police said, Peter’s father was permitted to see the boy. Following the meeting with his parent, Peter then was placed under arrest and charged with murder, still later, according to police, he reenacted the crime for them.

Present during the questioning were Bogdanchik, Folan, Murphy, Lane, and George Kenny, chief clerk in the district attorney’s office.

Lie Detector Test

In earlier testimony, Bogdanchik recalled having asked Peter to take a lie detector test. “I don’t see why I should. Would you take a lie detector test if you were in my place?” he quoted the boy as replying.

Bogdanchik told of asking Peter about his association with Gerry, with whom the boy purportedly had been on friendly terms six or seven years ago but had given little attention in recent years.

“He said Geraldine has changed,” the sergeant said.

The officer recalled that Peter told him of once having an argument with the girl “five or six or seven years ago.” He stated: “Peter said Geraldine was wearing a bright red sweater and that he took it off her and threw it on a barbed wire fence. He said Geraldine was very, very mad. It made a deep impression on him, he said, and he never forgot it.” Prosecution witness at the morning session was Dr. S. S. Bjornson State Police pathologist, who performed the autopsy on the Norwood schoolgirl. Bjornson explained his findings by flashing slides on a screen. Peter sat behind the screen, choosing not to see the slides. The trial resumes at 10 a. m. tomorrow. Goldstein will continue his cross-examination of Sgt Bogdanchik at that time.