Former Councilman Found Guilty In Beaver Co. Cold Case Trial
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Former Bridgewater councilman Gregory Scott Hopkins has been found guilty of third-degree murder in the 1979 strangling death of 23-year-old Catherine Walsh.
Walsh's body was found in her apartment in Monaca with a handkerchief tied around her neck and her wrists bound.
Hopkins' family had no comment as they left the courthouse Friday morning.
However, Walsh's family is looking forward to the closure this verdict provides.
"I hate to be a stickler for detail. The first time you asked me that I said, 'This is the start of closure.' The door is almost latched shut. When I hear the sentence that he finally gets and I see the latch finally close on that door, it'll be closure for myself. My father, my brother, my mother they're going to have their closure in the afterlife, but for me, it will be here very soon," Francesco Caltieri said.
During the trial, Hopkins took the stand and admitted to a sexual relationship with Walsh. However, he said it must have been old semen, because he was not in the apartment the night of the murder.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, testifying for the prosecution, concluded that the semen found on Walsh's night gown, sheets and the rope were the result of sexual activity during strangulation.
At one point during their deliberations this afternoon, the jurors asked to see those sheets again.
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