Richard W. Rogers
Coincidence?
On November 9, journalist Kathleen Hopkins for the Asbury Park Press reported that Lt. Matthew Kuehn, from the New Jersey State Police, testified to his involvement in the 1993 murder investigation of Michael Sakara. This case was allowed into the trial of Richard Rogers for the murders of Anthony Marrero and Thomas Mulcahy, due to its similarities to those two crimes.
After bartender Lisa Hall mentioned that the man she'd seen Sakara with on the night before he disappeared was a nurse, Kuehn had collected photos of male nurses from employment records in the local hospitals. He showed them to Hall, who had picked out Rogers right away. Kuehn then looked at Rogers' employment records and found that he'd taken days off from his job as a surgical nurse at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital during times that coincided with the four victims going missing. Thus, Rogers not only had no alibi from co-workers but he was also last seen with some of the victims.
Kuehn also stated that there was no evidence that Rogers had killed either man on Staten Island, which would have transferred the case to New York's jurisdiction. Defense attorney David Ruhnke challenged this, saying that no crime scene had been established in New Jersey and indicating that Rogers, if he did indeed commit the murders, would more likely have done so in the comfort of his home turf, Staten Island. Lt. Kuehn responded that it would have been quite difficult for Rogers to have killed and dismembered the victims in his fifth floor apartment, and then carried the bloody bags through the halls without anyone noticing.
Also testifying that day was Sergeant George Kegerreis, who indicated that eighteen fingerprints and a palm print lifted from the bags containing parts of victim Peter Anderson (found in Pennsylvania) had been matched to eight of Roger's prints and his palm. This case, too, while not among the two being tried, had been allowed as evidence. With this testimony, the other fingerprint evidence, and eyewitness testimony, the State of New Jersey rested its case.
John O'Brien, for the Staten Island Advance, described Rogers' demeanor during this final stretch of the trial. It seemed as though he were beginning to crack, he observed. He wrung his hands, bounced his legs and grimaced at his attorney. Apparently up until this point, Rogers had maintained a calm composure. He'd been arrested on May 28, 2001 and had been awaiting trial for over four years.
On November 10, Rogers indicated through his attorney that he would not take the stand to testify on his own behalf. Ruhnke also indicated that he will not call any witnesses on Rogers' behalf, according to the Asbury Park Press. That newspaper also reported that altogether thirty-five fingerprints and two palm prints from all four cases had been identified from various bags used to wrap the victims' parts.
As the trial wound down, reporters speculated that Ruhnke's strategy would involve challenging testimony that Thomas Mulcahy and Anthony Marrero had been killed in New Jersey. He would also utilize prior cases in which fingerprint analysts had been in error when they made an identification notably the FBI's error when it matched the wrong man to a fingerprint lifted in connection with the 2004 train bombing in Madrid. Ruhnke raised the issue of the lack of a New Jersey-based crime scene with Judge Citta and requested an acquittal. Citta denied the request, indicating that the jury must make this decision.