Husband Charged in Mystic Teacher's Death

Police have arrested the husband of a Mystic schoolteacher found dead in her home in May 2002.

Detectives from Stonington Police, inspectors from the Cold Case Unit and the Office of the State's Attorney arrested Charles Buck, 62, Thursday at 10:41 a.m.  He later appeared in New London Superior Court.

Buck was charged with murder as a result of a cold case investigation into the 2002 death of his wife, schoolteacher Leslie Buck.  Right now State Police aren't publicly releasing what new findings led to his arrest.

"All they have is circumstantial evidence," said Donald Beebe, Buck's attorney. "They have no confession."

On May 4, 2002, Charles Buck called Stonington Police and reported that he found Leslie Buck at the bottom of a staircase in their home on Masons Island Road in Mystic. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Two days earlier, Leslie Buck, a Stonington schoolteacher, had escaped from a kidnapper and returned home.

Russell Kirby, a handyman who worked for Charles Buck, was charged in the kidnapping. He was in police custody at the time of Leslie's death.

Kirby remains in the custody of the State of Connecticut Department of Correction. The kidnapping case against him is pending in New London Superior Court.

Buck’s bond was set at $2.5 million.

The court has ordered the arrest warrant application sealed.

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