GREENWICH — Police made an arrest in the cold case murder of a newborn. The Greenwich Town Party rocked out again at the waterfront. A hurricane slammed the region, killing two professors across the border in New York. An elementary school was repaired after a ceiling collapse caused a damaging flood.
Here are some of the stories that we will remember from 2021 in Greenwich that went beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts.
Arrest made in cold case death of newborn
After “herculean” work by a Greenwich detective, police made an arrest in November in the cold case murder of a baby boy in 1986.
Janita M. Phillips, 62, of Lake Mary, Fla., a former Greenwich resident, was arraigned Nov 19 on a murder charge in Superior Court in Stamford. Her arrest was the culmination of advances in genetics testing that showed she was the murdered baby’s mother.
Crime-lab forensics was allied with thousands of hours of detective work, according to court filings, as a Greenwich police detective searched through trash near Phillips’ home in Florida to find cotton swabs, cigarette butts and water bottles. In the lab, DNA harvested from the items led investigators to solidify the case against Phillips, and establish her connection to the victim.
The baby’s body was found in the trash compactor of a garbage truck at 27 Havemeyer Place, an apartment building operated by the Greenwich Housing Authority that is across the street from police headquarters, on May 16, 1986. The medical examiner determined the child had been strangled.
Police said Phillips, who was a 26-year-old mother of a young child at the time, was deemed a “person of interest” and interviewed back then. “However,” said Deputy Police Chief Robert Berry, “the investigation at the time was inconclusive.”
Berry said Phillips had kept her pregnancy a secret. Court documents stated that her husband, Jerry, was unaware she had given birth in their Greenwich apartment until police confronted him at the couple’s home in September 2021.
Defense attorney Lindy Urso said Janita Phillips had lived “a stellar life” since 1986 and held a job in the insurance industry for over 30 years. She was released without bond and is due back in court in March.
Valerie Reyes’ killer gets 30 years in prison
Before he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, Javier Da Silva heard the words of the woman whose daughter he had killed and dumped on a wooded road in Greenwich in 2019. She called her daughter’s killer “a worthless soul.”
“A mother can never prepare to face a terrible day like this,” Norma Sanchez, the mother of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes, told Judge Vincent Bricetti in a White Plains, N.Y., federal courtroom on Sept. 23.
In 2020, Da Silva pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in death in the killing of Valerie Reyes, a bookstore worker and aspiring artist. The two had dated briefly in 2018.
He admitted he went to her apartment in New Rochelle, N.Y., in January 2019 and engaged in a violent confrontation that resulted in her death. Federal prosecutors say Da Silva put Reyes in a suitcase, bound in packing tape and twine. She died by asphyxiation.
Reyes’ body was found by DPW workers in Greenwich who spotted the suitcase off the side of Glenville Road.
Da Silva, an immigrant from Venezuela who was living and working at a restaurant in Queens, N.Y., at the time of the killing, addressed the judge before his sentencing, speaking in Spanish translated into English by an interpreter.
“My words can never express how repulsed I am by the acts I committed,” he said. “My acts caused Valerie’s death, and I can never forgive myself for doing that. … It’s my fault that she’s not here any longer.”
The judge highlighted the cruelty of the killing, as well as how Da Silva profited from her death, stealing money from her bank account and trading one of her electronic devices for computer equipment.
“Look at me,” Briccetti told the defendant. “What you did to this woman was sickening. … Anyone who could do such a thing is not a good person, by definition. Anyone who can do a thing like that is an evil person. Justice requires an evil deed be punished by a lengthy prison sentence.”
Von Keyserling sentenced to house arrest
Chris von Keyserling, a former member of the Greenwich RTM, was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest on Oct. 5 after he was convicted over the summer of fourth-degree sexual assault.
A jury found Von Keyserling guilty of inappropriately touching and grabbing a woman at the Nathaniel Witherell, a town-owned and -managed nursing home and rehabilitation facility, in 2016.
Judge Kevin Randolph ordered von Keyserling to wear an electronic monitor and said he would be allowed to leave his residence only for medical treatment or religious services. The judge also required von Keyserling, 76, to undergo counseling and therapy.
Lynn Mason, the victim in the criminal case, said the sentence was “fair” and that she was relieved that the litigation was over. Before the sentencing, Mason told the judge the past five years “have been enormously stressful for me,” saying she had suffered from insomnia and taken anxiety medication.
Von Keyserling read a brief statement, stating that he was “sincerely sorry” for the incident.
Tommy Hilfiger estate sells for $45 million
Designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife sold their backcountry French Normandy-style estate in January in one of the area’s largest-ever home sales.
Listed last year for $47.5 million, the Hilfigers’ six-bedroom house, at 30 John St., had ranked as Greenwich’s most expensive residential real estate listing. It sold for $45 million.
Known internationally for his namesake clothing brand, Hilfiger said in 2020 that he and his wife, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, were moving to Palm Beach, Fla., a long-planned relocation that was accelerated because of the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Greenwich Town Party returns — and rocks out
After a cancellation in 2020 and a three-month delay in 2021, the Greenwich Town Party made a triumphant — if wet — return, with the Eagles topping off the show in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park.
The daylong music festival, usually held on Memorial Day weekend, was staged in 2021 over a rainy Labor Day weekend.
Country singer-songwriter Caroline Jones, who grew up in Greenwich, took the stage as one of the earlier performers along with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Zac Brown Band. And the Eagles rocked the house and the audience with its classic hits as the final band in the Sept. 6 event.
Jen Psaki takes over as White House press secretary
Jen Psaki, a member of the Class of 1996 at Greenwich High School, became the face of the Biden administration on Inauguration Day, when she held her first briefing as the White House press secretary.
A veteran political communicator, Psaki is known for her calm delivery of President Joe Biden’s plans and policies, making few stumbles and rarely uttering the name of his predecessor.
She was an all-state swimmer, and returned to Cardinal Stadium in June 2009 to give the commencement address at Greenwich High.
Her first presidential campaign was for then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 bid. Barack Obama tapped her to be traveling press secretary for his 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
She followed Obama to the White House, working as his deputy press secretary and deputy communications director. Then, she reunited with Kerry at the State Department, where he was secretary of state, advising him on communications strategy for two years. She then returned to the White House, where she was communications director from April 2015 through the end of Obama’s second term.
After that, Psaki worked as a political commentator on CNN from 2017 to 2020.
One of her goals in the job is to change the White House press strategy and restore public trust in the government, Psaki said. The first thing to return: the traditional exchanges with reporters that had disappeared under the Trump administration.
Two professors killed in flooding from Hurricane Ida
A husband and wife who were both college professors died in flooding from Hurricane Ida in Rye Brook, N.Y., about two miles from the Greenwich border.
The storm hit the area on Sept. 2, and Ken and Frances Bailie were killed when their car was trapped in the flood-swollen Blind Brook that runs through Rye Brook and Purchase, according to police in Harrison, N.Y.
Officers found the couple’s unoccupied car pinned against a utility pole at Lincoln Avenue and Brookside Way just off the Hutchinson River Parkway during the storm, police said.
His body was found on Sept. 2 about a quarter-mile from the car, and her body was discovered nearby on Sept. 6 after floodwaters had receded, police said.
Ken and Frances Bailie were professors in the computer science department at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. They had been married for over 50 years and lived in Rye Brook.
North Mianus saga: Flood, two campuses and repairs
It was a difficult year at North Minaus School, the town’s largest elementary school, when the building was damaged after part of the ceiling collapsed, breaking a pipe and causing extensive flooding, in February.
The damage occurred in the original part of the school building, which was built in 1925. The ceiling collapsed over a weekend when no one was in the building, and there were no injuries.
Administrators scrambled for a solution, first putting all the students on remote learning, and then returning some students to North Mianus and scattering other students to other buildings in the district for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. They assessed the extent of the damage and began working on repairs.
At the start of the new school year in September, the school’s third-, fourth- and fifth-graders were relocated to classrooms at the former Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford. The repairs and related costs were budgeted at $2.6 million.
After more than three months of commuting back and forth, the students were reunited with their classmates for the last week of classes in December.
Kasser’s surprise resignation from the Senate
Alex Kasser shocked other politicians and her constituents when she unexpectedly resigned June 22 from the state Senate.
A Democrat, Kasser had represented all of Greenwich, the northern part of Stamford and western New Canaan in the state Senate. Kasser cited her ongoing divorce litigation against her husband, Seth Bergstein, as the reason for stepping down, and said she was moving out of Greenwich.
“It is a shock,” said Joe Angland, chair of the Greenwich Town Committee. “She did a great job in Hartford, and I and the people in the state feel this is a great loss.”
The 36th District had been represented by Republicans for decades before Kasser, a political newcomer, was first elected in 2018. Her resignation came about six months after she was reelected to her second term. A special election to choose her replacement is set for Jan. 25.
In a second bid, Fazio wins Senate seat in special election
Ryan Fazio, a Republican from Greenwich, challenged incumbent Democratic state Sen. Alex Kasser in the 36th Senate District in the November 2020 election and lost.
But after Kasser’s unexpected resignation in June, Fazio ran again for the seat and scored a victory in the special election on Aug. 17.
He defeated Democrat Alexis Gevanter and petition candidate John Blankley in the race to finish Kasser’s term, which runs through the end of 2022.
In 2018, Kasser was the first Democrat elected to the seat since H. Allen Barton in 1930. Fazio’s victory put the seat back on the Republican side after three years.
Protests over masks, critical race theory and curriculum
The Greenwich Public Schools and the Board of Education faced protests from parents over a number of issues throughout the year.
Some parents spoke out at school board meetings, complaining about the alleged teaching of critical race theory, the district’s enforcement of a state mask mandate to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and some of the contents of the curriculum.
But at one meeting in June, the first to speak before the school board was Carol Sutton, outgoing president of the Greenwich Education Association.
“We can’t protect our students from ideas,” Sutton said. “We can only prepare them for ideas. And that’s what the teachers will continue to do.”
Curriculum has been a rallying point for some parents, including those in the Greenwich Patriots, a loosely affiliated group of residents. The group financed a “Truth Truck” with a rotating LED display of messages. As it made an appearance outside the meeting, its message was “Teach how to think/Not what to think” and “Stop using profanity-laced content.”
In March, an educational cartoon video about physical and emotional abuse was shown to a remote second grade class that contained a depiction of a man with an erect penis standing near a child.
The district investigated the incident and deemed the video was “not appropriate,” according to a statement from Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones. The two teachers involved did not finish out the year with their classes, according to the statement, although it’s not clear whether they were terminated, reassigned or some other arrangement was made.
Jackie Homan, a leader in the Greenwich Patriots, spoke out about critical race theory, an academic framework for viewing race and power in relation to American history. Its alleged presence in schools has been the source of debate in the past year and has polarized people in Greenwich as well as nationally. Jones has repeatedly denied that critical race theory is taught in Greenwich Schools.
Before the meeting, Greenwich Patriots placed signs throughout Greenwich that stated, “Unmask our children, ban critical race theory, protect medical freedom.”
The state Department of Education has repeatedly encouraged residents to wear masks, which are mandated inside school buildings. The COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory for children, according to the state, but district officials have been encouraged to share information with students about it.
Greenwich High grad charged with murdering his mother
On April 2, 50-year-old Denise McLaughlin was found dead in her South End apartment, killed by multiple stab wounds to her neck and stomach, police said.
On April 6, her 25-year-old son Winston Weathers was taken into custody in New York and charged with murder in her death. Police said she was killed March 27, nearly a week before her body was discovered.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Maureen Ornousky said Weathers had checked himself into New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was later found by police.
Weathers was a 2013 graduate of Greenwich High School, where he played lacrosse. He had been living with his mother at the Manor Street apartment at the time of the murder.
In June, he pleaded not guilty to murder. His pretrial hearing is set for Feb. 9.
Camillo leads GOP sweep in fall election
Fred Camillo, who faced the challenges of COVID-19 in his first term as first selectman, was reelected in a landslide to a second term Nov. 2 as part of a Republican sweep in the local election.
Selectwoman Lauren Rabin was also reelected to the Board of Selectmen as the GOP made a strong showing down the ticket. Democratic selectman candidate Janet Stone McGuigan won the third seat on the board.
The Republican Party scored victories down the ticket, with Heather Smeriglio reelected as tax collector and the GOP winning majority control of the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
The position of town clerk was open for the first time in 30 years as Carmella Budkins, a Republican, decided not to seek reelection after serving for 15 terms. Her daughter Jackie Budkins scored a win to succeed her mother in the position.
The final seat on the Board of Education wasn’t decided until Nov. 10, when a recount was completed and Republican candidate Cody Kittle was declared the victor over fellow Republican Megan Galletta.
Kittle joined Republican newcomer Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony on the school board, along with newly elected Democrat Laura Kostin and Kathleen Stowe, a Democrat elected to a second term.
Disney shutters Greenwich’s Blue Sky Studios
Disney closed down the Blue Sky Studios animation house in Greenwich that had spawned the “Ice Age” series among other hits.
The closure this past spring came nearly two years after Disney took over the studio in its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets.
Blue Sky was among the crown jewels of Connecticut’s efforts more than a decade ago to build a reputation as a destination for the film, TV and digital entertainment industry, as the company cashed in millions of dollars of tax credits since moving from White Plains in early 2009.
Blue Sky had offices in the Greenwich American Center business park off Interstate 684 near Westchester Airport. The company spent $65 million to relocate there, and maintained a workforce averaging nearly 500 employees since then. Three years ago, the studio extended its lease to 2025.
Since the July 2009 release of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” Blue Sky has produced two more “Ice Age” sequels in Greenwich and seven other movies, including “The Peanuts Movie” in 2015 and “Spies in Disguise” in December 2019.
Cohen gets involved in GameStop investment
Point72, the Stamford hedge fund founded by billionaire investor Steven Cohen of Greenwich, decided to invest $750 million in January in a hedge fund run by a former colleague that was rocked by a Reddit move to shore up the stock of video game retailer GameStop.
The local investment in Manhattan-based Melvin Capital Management, and a $2 billion investment by Chicago-headquartered hedge fund Citadel, meant both firms took a “non-controlling revenue share” in Melvin.
Melvin was affected by some of its “short” investments, which had anticipated declining prices in the likes of GameStop. Undermining the short sellers’ strategy, investors from Reddit’s WallStreetBets began focusing on GameStop shares and drove up the stock, so Cohen came to Melvin’s rescue.
Purdue Pharma gets judge’s approval for bankruptcy plan
Nearly two years after it filed for bankruptcy to resolve thousands of lawsuits, OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma finally secured a judge’s approval for its settlement plan in September.
The Stamford-based company, accused of using deceptive marketing practices to fuel the opioid critics, would disband, pay $4.325 billion to states that had joined in the class-action lawsuit and contribute $175 million held in Sackler family charities to help tackle the opioid crisis. It valued the package at more than $10 billion.
The Sacklers already had agreed to a $225 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve allegations of marketing and financial misconduct, although they did not admit any wrongdoing as part of that agreement.
The judge approved to the bankruptcy agreement and its stipulations, including that the Sackler family, who owned the company, be given personal immunity from any opioid claims or lawsuits.
Connecticut and several other states refused to sign on to the agreement, in part because of the stipulation. Their concern was not frivolous. A federal judge in Manhattan overturned the agreement Dec. 17 because of the stipulation.
Former police sergeant gets prison term for gun case
Joseph Ryan, a former Greenwich police sergeant, said, “I’ve disgraced myself and my family” as he was sentenced to six months in federal prison on a gun-related offense.
Judge Jeffrey Meyer imposed the sentence July 22, saying Ryan had carried out an “abuse” of his position.
In April, Ryan, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of firearms by a prohibited person. Prosecutors said he had acquired guns and then transferred them to a known felon, who was his heroin dealer.
Defense lawyer Phil Russell said Ryan had been a heroin addict for years while serving as a police sergeant in Greenwich, saying that Ryan “was introduced to opiates after a shoulder surgery in 2012.” He had been an alcoholic for many years before that, Russell said.
The case began in April 2019, when Ryan went to the police department in Ansonia to acquire a number of guns which he later transferred to his heroin dealer, according to court papers. The guns were later found in the possession of Malique Martin, who was arrested in October 2019 in Ansonia and later sentenced to a year in prison for dealing firearms and ammunition, prosecutors said.
Ryan retired from the Greenwich Police Department in July 2019 after a 33-year career.
This year-end roundup includes reporting and writing from Staff Writers Paul Schott, Robert Marchant, Ken Borsuk, Pat Tomlinson, Brianna Gurciullo, Alexander Soule and Tara O’Neill, Photographer Tyler Sizemore and former Staff Writers Emilie Munson and Justin Papp.