Guard Teams Up With Prisoner in Murder Plot
A former guard at the federal prison in Danbury was sentenced Thursday for having sex with a female inmate and plotting with her to kill his wife. Michael Rudkin, of Brewster, N.Y., faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty last August to sexual abuse of a ward and attempted murder for hire. Rudkin and the inmate had a sexual relationship for several month and he promised to pay her $5,000 to arrange for his wife's murder, prosecutors said.
Police Sergeant May Have Taken a Gamble
A former Manchester Police sergeant accused of gambling with money she took from department youth programs returns to court Thursday. Michelle Wagner, 34, took $19,000 from accounts for the police explorers and child safety seat programs, police said. Investigators said she spent most of it at two casinos in southeastern Connecticut. Wagner is charged with three counts of first-degree larceny and one count of second-degree larceny. she has not entered a plea.
Groton Town Police evacuated a neighborhood Wednesday night after a man barricaded himself inside a home on Poquonnock Road. The man locked himself inside the home around 9 p.m. when officers tried to serve a warrant to search the home, police said. Officers soon heard a gunshot. State police, along with Ledyard police, were called in to help. When officers finally got inside the home around midnight, the man was dead. Investigators said he was the only person inside the home at the time of the shooting. His name has not been released.
Suspect in Home Explosion In Court
A Griswold man accused of killing his mother and then blowing up the home they shared heads to court Thursday on murder and arson charges. Police said Carson Mueller strangled his mother and left her body in the Pachaug State Forest before dousing their home with gasoline. Court documents state Mueller confessed to the crime in a suicide note. He is behind bars on a $2 million bond.
Deadly Crash in Putnam
Two people are dead after a head-on car crash in Putnam Thursday evening. Edward Navarro, 77, of Pomfret, hit a car on Route 44 and careened off the road, traveling 500 yards to hit a car driven by Pauline LeBlanc, 70, of Putnam, state police said. LeBlanc died at the scene. Navarro was flown by Lifestar helicopter to UMass, where he later died. There is no word on what caused the crash.
