Mar 5, 2006 10:45 am US/Eastern
New Information In Burned Body Murder Mystery
by Mike Hellgren
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ/AP) ―
WJZ Eyewitness News has uncovered new information in the case of the Millersville teenager accused of killing his mother's boyfriend while she apparently watched and cleaned up the bloody mess inside her home.
17-year-old Matthew J. Haarhoff faces first-degree murder charges in the February 22nd death of 50-year-old Anthony Fertitta. The victim's body was found in flames near the home Haarhoff shared with his mother -- Cynthia McKay -- who was dating Fertitta.
A judge denied bond for Haarhoff on Friday.
Haarhoff was apprehended in Salisbury on Thursday after a witness told police he confessed to stabbing the boyfriend and setting his body on fire. His mother faces accessory charges for allegedly helping to clean up the crime scene with bleach.
Earlier this week,
Eyewitness News learned McKay's former husband, Clarence "Buddy" Downs, died in house fire on Christmas Day in 2002.
Investigators had previously ruled Downs' death as an accident, but, in light of the recent murder of Fertitta, investigators are now re-examining the cold case.
On Saturday, sources revealed to
WJZ's Mike Hellgren that Downs had told McKay he had planned to divorce her, and that following the fire, McKay had moved to the eastern shore with a former husband.
Police sources reveal that the former husband contacted arson investigators and expressed his own suspicions about the fire that killed Downs.
It would be several months before St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore--McKay's former employer--contacted police after they believe she had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sources say a detective told McKay's then-lawyer that he had planned to question her about the embezzlement and the fire. But McKay became distraught and began to cry.
Shortly after, police found McKay's SUV and a suicide note as she attempted to fake her own death. But police found her Norfolk at a shelter. She would go onto plead guilty to embezzlement and was sent to prison. In July of 2005 she was released.
WJZ Eyewitness News obtained Downs' autopsy report, which states the following:
"The deceased had been drinking alcohol in his home for most of the day, lying on the couch watching television. He had also been smoking and using a small piece of aluminum foil as an ash tray. His wife and son had gone to bed on the second floor. When they were awakened by the fire, they saw the deceased engulfed by flames on the couch, but could not reach him."Haarhoff's lawyer, Stephen Freedman, initially represented McKay, whose case is now being handled by a public defender. Nonetheless, Freedman still proclaims McKay's innocence in her former husband's death.
"There was absolutely no indication that she set that house on fire," Freedman says. "She's really being unjustly accused of additional crimes."
Both McKay and Haarhoff say they are innocent in the most recent crime. Although Haarhoff had nor prior trouble with the law, Eyewitness News learned his mother has an extensive criminal background.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
