| 2ND MAN GUILTY IN KISS MURDER Connecticut Post Newspaper Thursday, September,20, 2007 By Daniel Tepfer - Reporter BRIDGEPORT - Eva Kiss could barely contain her emotions Wednesday as she watched a Superior Court jury convict a city man for killing her son. For nearly six years the Toronto woman had crusaded to bring her son's klillers to justice. "He took the life of my only son and now we have taken his life," she tearfully commented as the 12-person jury found Orema Taft -Guilty of Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder. Taft, 31, faces up to 80 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 9 by Judge Lawrence Hauser. "It was a very conscientious jury and they reached the appropriate verdict," Senior Assistant State's Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr. said later. Taft is the second person convicted of killing Zoltan Kiss. In May, Miguel Zapata was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the crime. Taft was convicted of joining Zapata to fatally shoot the 24-year-old Kiss during a robbery attempt on Sept. 28, 2001. The body of Kiss was found slumped in a car on Pembroke Street, where he had been shot at least 15 times. Police said Kiss was visiting his girlfriend in Bridgeport and had gone out to buy the drug ecstasy. But no witnesses to the murder immediately came forward and the case remained unsolved for five years. Eva Kiss worked tirelessly to help find her son's killer, and on each annniversary of his death, would put up posters and knock on doors in the East Side neighborhood, trying to persuade witnesses to come forward. Her quest was joined by Bridgeport Police Detective Heitor Texeira of the then-newly formed Cold Case Unit. Zapata's girlfriend and another woman eventually came forward, telling police that Zapata and Taft, both of Bridgeport, had killed Kiss. |
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