CSI Nantucket: Jury Sees Chilling Crime Scene Video
Ten-inch knife confiscated from Toolan at airport the day before the murder.
June 13, 2007 — -- A silent video of slain Manhattan executive Elizabeth Lochtefeld's body lying facedown on the floor of her Nantucket cottage was shown to the jury Tuesday during the trial of her former boyfriend, ex-Citigroup bank executive Thomas Toolan III.
The video also panned to a bedroom, where jurors saw a bloody mattress beside a nightstand where a blood-speckled book called "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" was chillingly visible.
Later Tuesday, three law enforcement officials testified that on Oct. 24, 2004, the day before the murder, Toolan tried to board a flight to Nantucket, the exclusive island off the coast of Massachusetts, carrying a 10-inch knife wrapped in a rag.
The law enforcement officials testified that Toolan alternately explained that he had forgotten he had the knife, that he needed it for a fishing trip, that he needed it for a family dinner and finally, that he needed to bring it to Nantucket to cut a birthday cake. All three testified that they had smelled alcohol on Toolan's breath. The knife triggered an alert during passenger screening, according to testimony.
The previous week Lochtefeld allegedly told Toolan she wanted to end things. He refused to let her leave his Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan, police said, so she reportedly slipped out at 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning after he had fallen asleep. She headed to Nantucket, where she was renting a cottage.
Toolan was unable to board the Sunday flight to Nantucket after the knife was confiscated, according to testimony. Police say he boarded a flight to the island the following day, rented a car and purchased a four-inch fishing knife with an orange handle, which has never been found.
Port Authority patrol Officer Frank Pulizzi said on the stand Tuesday that he had given Toolan a summons and confiscated the 10-inch knife.
"He apologized for having a knife," Pulizzi told prosecutor Brian Glenny. "He said his sister was having a turkey. … Possibly had had a few drinks. I could smell alcohol on his breath."
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