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Suspected Gay Advance Seen as Factor in Slaying

WATERBURY, Conn. – Police say a Waterbury man murdered a disabled homeless man because he believed the victim had made a sexual advance toward him.

The Republican American reports that according to statements to police, Matthew O’Brien-Veader allegedly killed Joed Olivera in June 2009 because he suspected he made an advance as they slept in an abandoned factory.

Court documents say O’Brien-Veader tried to throw Olivera down a flight of stairs, beat him with the victim’s own crutches until they broke and stabbed him with a dagger after pushing him through a hole in a floor.

Jason Benoit, a friend of the 23-year-old O’Brien-Veader, testified in Waterbury Superior Court on Tuesday that O’Brien-Veader didn’t approve of gay people and once said they should be dropped on an island.

If convicted, O’Brien-Veader faces life in prison.

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Associated Press

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