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.
