Woman Arrested For Murder Of Brandon Chicklis
WINCHENDON (CBS) -- Investigators found the blood of murder victim Brandon Chicklis in and around a tree house near the home of a 21-year-old Ashburnham woman now charged in his murder, a prosecutor said.
Julia Enright was held without bail during her arraignment in Winchendon District Court Tuesday.
She and Chicklis, who had been classmates Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School and knew each other, spent the day together and had been drinking at her home prior to his murder, prosecutors said.
Chicklis' blood "was present on the stairs leading to the tree house, on the inside of the tree house, under the tree house and in the defendant's vehicle," prosecutor Terry McLaughlin said in court. "It was apparent that the tree house had recently been cleaned and a new rug had been placed on the floor. When the rug was removed, it appeared that blood had seeped down through the floorboards of the tree house, down underneath."
The 20-year-old Chicklis, of Westminster, went missing in June. He was found dead weeks later.
His body was found by a jogger along Route 119 in Rindge, N.H. on July 13.
McLaughlin said that a medical examiner observed "numerous wounds" on his body and ruled his death a homicide.
Sources also told WBZ-TV that a search conducted at an Ashburnham pond last week was in connection to Chicklis' murder investigation.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said cell phone records placed Chicklis at Enright's Packard Hill Road home in Ashburnham before he went missing. Investigators obtained several search warrants for the home and gathered evidence there.
Monday night, after conducting several interviews, police arrested Enright at the Ashburnham home, charging her with Chicklis' murder.
Early said investigators believe Chicklis was killed in Ashburnham, and then his body was taken to Rindge, N.H. and left by the side of Route 119.
According to Early, Tuesday would have been Chicklis' 21st birthday.
Enright is due back in court on Aug. 29.
