CT Man Arraigned for Murder of Businesswoman in Middletown

Zachary Lepelusa, 24, of Milford, CT., was arraigned in Newport County Superior Court on Thursday and continues to be held without bail in connection with the March 29 stabbing death of  , the New Haven Register reports.

A statewide Grand Jury last week indicted Lepelusa on one count of murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of eluding the police.

Lepelusa has been held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) in Cranston since his arrest.

The conducted the investigation, in which a resident of East Haven, CT., was stabbed repeatedly in broad daylight in a parking lot outside Residence Inn hotel on West Main Road, where she was staying while in Rhode Island on company business for the .

Lepelusa was initially charged by Middletown police with one felony count of murder and one felony count of kidnapping before the case was reviewed by the Rhode Island Statewide Grand Jury, which added the charge of eluding police.

Bruce and Lepelusa previously worked together in Connecticut at a Christmas Tree Shops store and had been involved in a work-related dispute. Lepelusa no longer worked for the company and Bruce was in Middletown for two weeks to assist in a temporary retail reconfiguration project at the local store on East Main Road.

The first-degree murder charge alleges that Lepelusa had intended, or premeditated, the attack on Bruce when he met with her in the hotel parking lot and stabbed her to death.

Also last week, Middletown Police Detective Walter Mey received the for his work in the case. On March 29, Mey apprehended Lepelusa following a foot chase through a farm field.

More can be read about the case here.