Daughter charged with Windsor Locks man?s murder
Placed herself at apartment at time of death
By Anthony Branciforte
and Jessica Lerner
WINDSOR LOCKS ? Local police charged the 24-year-old daughter of the man found dead in a Main Street apartment this week with his murder, saying inconsistencies in her story lead them to her arrest.
Jessica Keene, of 74 Main St., Apt. 2, was picked up by police around 6 p.m. Friday at the Travel Inn Motel on Weston Street in Hartford. She was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Michael Keene, 51, of the same address.
She was apprehended and taken into custody without incident, Lt. Paul Cherniack said, adding that police believe she wasn?t yet on the run, as she seemed surprised detectives were knocking on the door.
While the investigation still is ongoing there are other persons of interest connected to this case, Cherniack said, but the ?most consistent evidence? indicated Jessica Keene was the strongest suspect.
?Her story had many inconsistencies to it. Things she said definitely pointed us directly at her,? he said, adding that she placed herself at the apartment during the time of death.
Cherniak noted there were ?a lot of people coming and going in that home.?
A motive has yet to be determined, but Cherniack said police have talked with people who know the family, many of them describing family members as ?nice people.
?They don?t know them as involved in any sort of crime? he said.
Despite the ?heinous? nature of the crime, Cherniack reiterated there is no threat to the public, describing it as an isolated incident.
Jessica Keene in being held in lieu of $1 million bond until she is arraigned Monday in Enfield Superior Court.
Michael Keene?s apartment is located in the Waterside Village complex on the corner of Main and Spring streets.
According to police, he ?suffered from what appeared to be multiple wounds consistent with a sharp instrument.?
The statement from police came Friday afternoon, one day after the chief medical examiner confirmed to the Journal Inquirer that Keene?s death was ruled a homicide as a result of ?sharp force injuries to the neck and torso.?
Cherniack said there had been a ?putrid odor? in the apartment that kept getting worse, and upon investigating the smell, the person found the body, which wasn?t ?obvious to the naked eye.?
?To the casual observer, you wouldn?t have noticed,? he said.
Cherniak said a family member of Keene?s called police and reported a foul smell and a possible dead body in the apartment on Tuesday. Cherniak could not confirm which family member called police, or if they lived at the apartment.
Keene initially was reported missing around Thanksgiving, Police Chief Eric Osanitsch said Wednesday morning as local and state police were processing the crime scene.
But police said Friday that, although the report was filed last week, Keene was reportedly last seen Nov. 11, making him missing for more than two weeks before his body was found.
This is mostly consistent with an account from Doug Dion, a close friend of Keene?s, who spoke with the Journal Inquirer on Friday morning. Dion said he last spoke to Keene on Nov. 12.
According to Dion, he, his girlfriend, and his sister filed the missing person report on Thanksgiving after Keene hadn?t responded to Dion?s attempts to reach him for about a week. Dion said the two frequently spoke to and saw one another regularly.
Irene Argenta, Keene?s 84-year-old mother, was distraught when she talked to the Journal Inquirer on Friday, hours before her granddaughter?s arrest.
?He was murdered,? she said over the phone, clearly upset. ?A horrible, horrible thing happened to my son.?
Dion said he wished he filed the missing person report earlier, as it was uncharacteristic of Keene to go so long without contact.
?I knew something was wrong,? Dion said, fighting through tears. ?There?s no way Michael doesn?t text me for this long.?
Dion said Keene moved to Florida in the mid-1980s shortly after graduating from Windsor Locks High School, and remained there for 27 years.
He returned about seven years ago to live with his mother in the Waterside Village apartment, he said.
Both Dion and Argenta were in the apartment when they spoke to the Journal Inquirer by phone.
Dion confirmed that Argenta lived in the apartment during the approximately two-week period that Keene was missing. But he said he didn?t want to comment further on those details.
Dion said he had asked Argenta about Keene whereabouts during the time he was missing, but she told him that he wasn?t home.
Dion described Keene as a hard worker and a ?funny guy? who had an array of interests and hobbies, including watching baseball and football, a hobby the two enjoyed together until Keene?s death. He remembered riding bikes ?everywhere? with Keene during childhood, including to a movie theater in Enfield and Sunrise Park in Suffield.
As a child, Dion said, Keene had many jobs, including a newspaper delivery route, working tobacco farms, and snowblowing driveways.
After moving to Florida, Keene worked construction for many years and started a family, though he was later divorced. He returned to Connecticut when he lost his job during the recession, Dion said. Since then, he had been collecting disability benefits, likely due to the toll decades of construction work took on his body, Dion said.
Keene?s cousin, Cheryl Jasinowski, of New York, painted a similar picture of Keene.
?He was a fun-loving guy,? she said before Jessica Keene?s arrest. ?He loved his family, he loved the Dallas Cowboys and the Boston Red Sox, he loved the snow, he loved life. There?s no other way to explain it.?