By BOB DUNN
@BDGazette
NORTHAMPTON — Questions about the thoroughness of the investigation into Annamarie Cochrane Rintala’s death and the age of a DNA sample occupied Friday’s testimony in her wife’s murder trial.
Cara Lee Rintala, 47, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in connection with the strangulation death of Annamarie Rintala, 37, in the couple’s Granby home March 29, 2010.
Her first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in March. Testimony in the retrial began Jan. 9 and is expected to conclude early next week.
Cara Rintala’s defense attorney David Hoose on Friday continued the cross-examination of the lead investigator, state police Detective Jamie Magarian, who first took the stand Wednesday.
Hoose took exception to several aspects of the investigation he thought should have been considered more closely.
Specifically, Hoose went after Magarian about how closely he investigated Springfield Police Officer Carla Daniele, an “on-again, off-again” ex-girlfriend of Annamarie Rintala’s, and Mark Oleksak, who earlier testified he had a “financial and emotional affair” with Annamarie Rintala.
Hoose also asked if investigators contacted people associated with phone numbers from the Long Island and New York City areas that showed up on a cellphone account of Annamarie Rintala’s active from January to March of 2010. Magarian said some names attached to the numbers were found, but weren’t investigated.
Hoose criticized Magarian’s lack of follow-up investigating Daniele’s whereabouts on the day of Annamarie Rintala’s death.
Hoose said Daniele checked in to a gym in Longmeadow about 3:10 p.m. and, despite the rainy conditions that day, told police she went for a run outside the building. Video surveillance shows her car left the gym about 7 p.m., Hoose said.
Daniele also helped Annamarie move into an apartment when she was separated from her wife in the summer and early fall of 2009, including helping pay for a security system, Hoose said.
When she moved back in with her wife around September 2009, Annamarie Rintala told Oleksak she didn’t want to go back to the apartment because of too many “bad memories” there.
When questioned by Hoose, Magarian said he didn’t follow up to find out what those memories may have been.
Hoose has suggested that someone Annamarie Rintala was in debt to could have taken her life while Cara Rintala was out of the house. Annamarie Rintala was in debt $7,000 to Oleksak and $10,000 to Daniele, Hoose said.
Annamarie Rintala was carrying approximately $33,000 in credit card debt, was making car payments of more than $600 per month, paying back a fraudulent $25,000 loan she took out using her wife’s personal information and had numerous other credit accounts that were either in collection or had resulted in a bad credit mark, Hoose said.
Oleksak said he lent Annamarie Rintala $350 a few days before she died to buy a dog, which she never did. Oleksak allegedly told investigators he’d be willing to do anything for a friend as long as they didn’t lie to him.
In response to questions from Hoose, Magarian said records of Oleksak’s whereabouts the day of the killing weren’t sought until nearly two years after the fact, making many of them unavailable.
DNA evidence
While the prosecution hasn’t rested its case yet, a defense witness, Dr. Frederick Bieber, testified Friday to accommodate his schedule. A similar accommodation was made for defense witness Dr. Jonathan Arden during Thursday’s session.
Bieber was questioned about the results of DNA testing of a rag recovered from a Holyoke McDonald’s trash bin that indicated it could have come from Annamarie Rintala.
Prosecutors allege Cara Rintala dumped the rag and other trash there on the day of the killing in an effort to dispose of evidence.
Bieber said the DNA sample was “degraded,” so it couldn’t provide a match to Annamarie Rintala with a high degree of certainty. The odds of it being a match to any Caucasian were one in 98, Bieber said. A complete sample can raise those odds into the trillions or higher, he said.
Bieber testified that, although the rag was found in a open trash can exposed to the rain, he wouldn’t have expected the sample to be as degraded as it was. Though it was found a day after the killing, he said it could have been months or years old.
During cross-examination by prosecutor Steven Gagne, Bieber said other factors can degrade DNA, including bleach or other cleaning agents and bacteria.
Gagne suggested the rag could have been infused with cleaning chemicals or affected by bacteria in the restaurant trash can.
At the close of Friday’s session, the jury of 10 women and five men was told it may begin their deliberations Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts carries a penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole.
Bob Dunn can be reached at [email protected].
