Leonard Trujillo extradited to face charges of conspiring to kill convicted Greenwich real estate developer Kissel

Leonard Trujillo, 21, of 63-13 Outlook Drive, Worcester, did not enter a plea at his brief arraignment yesterday in state Superior Court in Stamford, where he was represented by Public Defender Benjamin Aponte. In requesting a $1 million bond, Assistant State Attorney Paul Ferencek told Judge Robin Pavia that Trujillo was a U.S. Army veteran who had served 10 months in a military prison on a unrelated crime and is unemployed. "He has no connection to the state of Connecticut, and we feel the level of bond is appropriate," Ferencek said. Aponte did not object to the bond but reserved the right to seek a reduction at a later date. Trujillo and his cousin, Carlos Trujillo, 47, Kissel's longtime personal assistant, were arrested last weekend and charged with conspiring to kill Kissel, whose body was discovered in his Greenwich mansion April 3, 2006. Pavia has sealed warrants for both men, and police have not revealed a motive for the killing. Yesterday, Leonard Trujillo's relatives walked briskly out of the courthouse, shielding their faces as they were trailed by a crowd of reporters and cameramen.
"We just want to deal with this right now," one of them said. "Please respect
us enough to stay away from us right now."
Trujillo was arrested at about 8 a.m. Saturday in his Worcester home.
Police charged Leonard Trujillo with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Carlos Trujillo, of Bridgeport, was arrested Friday night in Stratford and has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. He is being held on $1 million bond and is scheduled to appear again today in state Superior Court, according to the criminal clerk. Lindy Urso, the Stamford-based attorney for Carlos Trujillo, yesterday said he had reviewed the warrant for his client, but declined to comment.
"I'll just say Carlos remains adamant that he is innocent and had nothing to do with this," Urso said. During the hearing yesterday, Pavia said she will unseal Carlos Trujillo's arrest warrant at his appearance April 3, and Leonard Trujillo's at his court appearance scheduled for the next day.
Kissel was facing up to eight years in federal prison for mortgage fraud, and his sentencing was set three days after his body was discovered.
Kissel admitted using false documents to get millions in loan from banks and other institutions, presenting himself as the owner of the properties used to secure the loans. Yesterday, Chief David Ridberg said that police continue to investigate the murder, with more arrests possible.Andrew Kissel's brother died in the infamous “Milkshake Murder”, when his wife served him a strawberry drink laced with sedatives before bludgeoning him with a statuette in their flat in Hong Kong.
A year later Andrew Kissel himself was found, bound to a chair and gagged, in a pool of blood in his Connecticut mansion. Now police have arrested his chauffeur and the chauffeur's cousin for a killing that could prove even more bizarre than the Milkshake Murder: detectives are considering the possibility that this was a case of “suicide-for-hire”, in which Mr Kissel, 46, arranged his own death so that relatives could benefit from an insurance payout. Mr Kissel, whose body was found in April 2006, was once a property tycoon who owned a $3 million (£1.5 million) yacht, a jet, a ski chalet in Vermont and a fleet of classic sports cars. But his life had been ruined by charges that he embezzled $3.9 million from the Park Avenue building where he lived and served as treasurer. His wife, Hayley, a stock analyst and former mogul skiing world champion, had left him and he was about to plead guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud charges that could have sent him to jail for a decade. With creditors circling, his main asset was a $15 million life insurance policy benefiting his children, Ruth, then 8, and Dara, 6. In making the arrests, police offered no motive for Mr Kissel's murder. But investigators refused to rule out an extraordinary “suicide-for-hire”. “If it ends up being the case, that's fine,” David Ridberg, the Greenwich police chief, told a press conference. “If it doesn't end up being the case, that's fine, too.” He said that the suspects would face murder charges and could not use “suicide-for-hire” as a defence. Carlos Trujillo, 47, who served as Mr Kissel's personal assistant and chauffeur for six years until the day of his death, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in nearby Stratford, Connecticut. His cousin, Leonard Trujillo, 21, was arrested at his home in Massachusetts. Police said that Carlos Trujillo, a Colombian immigrant, had been top of their list of suspects from the start. “The information we had in the beginning was that he was the last one to see him alive so that seemed a natural place to start,” Mr Ridberg said.
The Hartford Courant reported that Mr Kissel had used the Trujillo family in financial transactions to hide his dwindling assets from creditors and his estranged wife. As he was led out of police headquarters in handcuffs, Carlos Trujillo was asked if he had killed his former boss. “No, I didn't,” he replied.
“I think Carlos is here because he is the easiest suspect,” Lindy Urso, his lawyer, told reporters. The 2003 killing of Mr Kissel's younger brother, Robert, a Hong Kong-based investment banker, mesmerised the former British colony with revelations of his cocaine use and online searches for gay sex and bondage. His wife, Nancy, was jailed for life. Andrew Kissel and his wife took in the couple's three children until their marriage also collapsed.