Inset: Donald Coffel (Groton City Police Department). Screenshot: Colonel Ledyard Cemetery (WFSB/YouTube).
A Connecticut man allegedly beat a woman to death with a baseball bat over $200 in cocaine, then lived with her body in their apartment for a week-and-a-half before he dismembered her, put her torso in a suitcase and rolled it to a nearby cemetery.
Donald Coffel stands accused of murder in the death of 58-year-old Suzanne Wormser in the city of Groton. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit posted to local CBS affiliate WFSB, Groton city police began investigating on March 19 when a passerby smelled a foul odor from a suitcase at the entrance of Colonel Ledyard Cemetery. The caller told cops he had noticed the suitcase near some trash cans and became curious about what was inside. When he walked up to the suitcase, it smelled as if something was rotting inside, so he called police.
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Cops got on scene and opened the suitcase to find the torso of a woman’s body that was missing the head and other extremities. Police on April 11 posted a press release on its Facebook page about the death along with an FBI tip line. Wormser’s sister called in to say she hadn’t heard from her in months and she didn’t call to wish her a happy birthday, which was unlike her. She gave cops Wormser’s address and detectives went to check out the apartment in the 100 block of Allen Street, which happens to be less than 1,000 feet from the cemetery.
Officers also learned that Coffel had lived with her for a time. Neighbors told cops they hadn’t seen Wormser in months and Coffel was in the hospital. Cops entered the home and it was evident there had been a crime committed, the affidavit said. There was blood on the walls, rugs, furniture and clothing. Investigators also found a baseball bat hidden behind a bookcase. On the bat, there appeared to be dried blood and strands of brown hair matted on it, according to the cops.
Detectives went to the hospital to speak with Coffel, who was receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. During a noncustodial interview, Coffel explained that he used to be Wormser’s neighbor before he moved to Arizona for a few months to live near his sister. That didn’t work out, so he moved back to Groton. Since he didn’t have anywhere else to live, Wormser allowed him to live with her starting in late November. He told cops Wormser had drug and mental health problems, and he didn’t particularly like her, but he tolerated her since she was allowing him to live in the apartment.
Coffel said he had back surgery in late December and stayed in the hospital before returning home in late January. He said she was there when he came home, but later left. Cops noted in the affidavit he “seemed to settle on the idea of the victim going missing between January and February when he came back from a hospital visit.” Coffel allegedly said he didn’t know where she went and it wasn’t unusual for her to leave for a day or two at a time and return.
Meanwhile, investigators tested the blood in the apartment and it came back as a DNA match to the remains found in the suitcase at the cemetery.
Detectives received a call on April 22 from a witness who told them Coffel allegedly admitted to him that he beat Wormser with a baseball bat because she stole $200 worth of cocaine that was in his briefcase. They returned to the hospital on April 23 and confronted Coffel about this revelation and questioned if they were going to find his DNA on her body, the affidavit said. After repeated questioning, Coffel allegedly copped to his crime.
“Alright man,” he said, according to the affidavit. “I did it. I hit her in the head with a f—ing baseball bat and it cracked her f—ing head open.”
Coffel allegedly told cops he killed her sometime in the early part of January. Upset about the missing drugs, he said he walked up to her with the bat and hit her in the head three times, killing her, according to cops. After about a week-and-a-half of living with the body, he used a hacksaw to chop her up, cops said. He disposed of her parts in trash bags and dumped them in two different dumpsters, the affidavit said. He put the torso in the suitcase and took it over to the cemetery, according to the affidavit.
Police obtained a warrant for murder and arrested him at the hospital, where he remains.
Because the case was so gruesome and there were so few details publicly released in the early part of the investigation, rumors swirled about a possible serial killer. But cops debunked that rumor at a Friday press conference announcing Coffel’s arrest.
Coffel is being held on a $1 million bond.
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