Bridgeport caregiver pleads guilty in beating death of uncle

by Daniel Tepfer

 

Tynisha Hall, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty to killing her elderly uncle. 

Bridgeport Police Department / Contributed photo

BRIDGEPORT — A licensed caregiver, accused of beating her disabled uncle to death and then propping him up with a lit cigarette in his hand to cover up the crime, agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to reduced charges.

Tynisha Hall, who had been charged with murder in the 2017 crime, pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine before Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo to first-degree manslaughter, first-degree abuse of an elderly person and three counts of risk of injury to a child.

State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino told the judge that under the plea bargain he is recommending Hall be sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by a period of probation.

The judge set the sentencing hearing for Dec. 15.

Under an Alford Doctrine plea, the defendant did not admit to all the facts of the case but conceded there is a likelihood she could be found guilty if she went to trial.

The judge then made a finding that she is guilty of the crime.

Hall’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender James Pastore, declined comment as he left the courtroom. His client had no comment as she was led away in handcuffs by judicial marshals.

A mother of three children and a licensed nursing assistant, Hall was married to a computer programmer. The couple previously owned a home in Windsor and rented a home on Dover Street in Bridgeport, where police said the crime occurred in early February 2017.

Shortly before 3:30 on the afternoon of Feb. 8, police said, medics were dispatched to the Dover Street property for a report of a man having a heart attack. When the medics got there, police said, they found 61-year-old Robert Jones, of Hedgehog Circle in Trumbull, sitting up in a chair with burns on his hand and in his lap from a cigarette. Police said it was obvious Jones had been dead for some time — his body was in rigor mortis.

Police said Jones had one large and one small laceration in the back of his head which the medical examiner said would have led to a large amount of bleeding, but no obvious blood had been found in the Dover Street home.

Police said Hall told them she had brought her uncle to the Dover Street house to care for him.

Police Detective Kimberly Biehn then went back to the Dover Street home and this time sprayed the bathroom with BlueStar, a reagent used to find blood stains that may have been washed off and were no longer visible to the naked eye.

The spray immediately lit up the bathroom walls in a blue luminescence and there was a blood-splatter pattern that stretched from the ceiling to the floor, police said.

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Bridgeport caregiver pleads guilty in beating death of uncle

Police seek home health aide’s arrest in murder of 75-year-old in Rocky Hill

By Jessika Harkay and Christine Dempsey

The state police are asking for the public’s help in finding a home health aide suspected in the beating death of a 75-year-old Rocky Hill man this week.

Melissa Feliciano, 31, is wanted for arrest on charges of felony murder, murder, first-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny in the death of Robert Iacobucci.

Her mugshot, from June 2020, is the most recent picture police have of Feliciano, they said.

Melissa Feliciano is wanted on murder charges in the beating death of Robert Iacobucci, 75, of Rocky Hill, state police say. (Provided by the Connecticut State Police)

Feliciano is described as 5-foot-2, 85 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Police said they don’t know if she has any weapons.

State police said Feliciano has moved around a lot, with various addresses on file, but is known to frequent the Hartford and Manchester area.

Feliciano, a native to Delaware, may have left the state, police added. “It’s always a concern,” they said Thursday afternoon.

The 31-year-old has two pending cases in community court in Hartford, according to online court records. She was arrested in Rocky Hill on Dec. 28, 2019, and charged with second-degree criminal trespass. A second-degree failure to appear charge was added to the case Feb. 4, 2020.

In the second case, Feliciano was charged by West Hartford police with interfering with an officer on Nov. 11, 2020. She’s due back in court on May 27 in both cases.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Feliciano is asked to call Det. Christopher Scott at the Troop H barracks in Hartford at 860-534-1000.

Melissa Feliciano is a murder suspect in the beating death of 75-year-old Robert Iacobucci of Rocky Hill, state police say.

Feliciano is one of three people who police believe were involved in the homicide earlier this week. Franklyn Cruz, 42, and Madeline Dickey, 35, were arrested after a witness alerted police to what had happened in Iacobucci’s house on Pondside Lane, state police said.

Iacobucci was found dead on the second floor of his home Monday, with his hands tied and injuries to his face and head, state police said.

A police report released Tuesday recounted the series of events that led to Iacobucci’s murder, including interviews from the witness and Dickey and Cruz themselves.

Cruz and Dickey told police that Feliciano was Iacobucci’s home health aide, but they haven’t been able to verify that information yet, state police said.

Dickey also told police that the attack began when Feliciano complained about how she was treated poorly by Iacobbuci and convinced her and Cruz to “scare him” into giving them money. The trio went to Rocky Hill around 1 a.m. Monday, and Cruz and Feliciano tied up and beat the 75-year-old, while Dickey waited in the garage and played with his dog, she said.

Following the attack, the couple said they dropped off Feliciano in Hartford. She hasn’t been seen since.

Later Monday morning, Cruz and Dickey returned to Iacobucci’s home to check on him, Dickey said. They discovered the attack had left the man dead. The couple decided to steal Iacobucci’s German shepherd, one of his cars and other items, instead of calling 911, the police report said.

 

They then met up with an acquaintance and Cruz told him about a plan to move the body, to make “it appear [Iacobucci] voluntarily left with a prostitute, then move themselves into his residence, essentially taking it over,” the police report said.

 

 The acquaintance called Rocky Hill police to conduct a wellness check, and officers found that one of Iacobucci’s two vehicles was stolen and his phone was answered by a woman who said her name was “Melissa,” but she couldn’t explain why she had Iacobucci’s phone, police began to investigate further.

Police interviewed the acquaintance Monday, and he added that he recently met with the couple again that day and that they were planning to go home, change clothing, change the license plate on the stolen vehicle then dispose of Iacobucci’s body, the police report said.

Police arrested Dickey and Cruz outside their New Britain residence. Inside the home, they also found Iacobucci’s dog, who is safe, healthy and with Iacobucci’s family members, Brian Foley, a spokesman for the state police, said Thursday afternoon.

Cruz’s bail was set at $2 million and his next court date is scheduled for April 28. Dickey’s was set at $1 million; she is due in court April 27.

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Police seek home health aide’s arrest in murder of 75-year-old in Rocky Hill