| Connectict Post Newspaper Daniel Tepfer - Reporter April, 07/2006 Cold Case Cops Make Arrest in 5-Year-Old Murder Bridgeport - Police Thursday said they solved the nearly 5-year-old murder of a Canadian man, shot to death while visiting his father here. Orema Taft, 30, was taken into custody by members of the police department's Cold Case Unit Thursday morning at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, where he is serving a robbery sentence. He was charged with murder in the Sept. 28, 2001, death of 24-year-old Zoltan Kiss. Police said they are seeking a second suspect in the crime. "I am very happy that they made the arrest and I will be much happier when they catch the other person and they go to trial and get what they deserve," said the victim's mother, Eva Kiss. "This has been one of the biggest tragedies in our lives, people like this don't deserve to live on this planet." Later Thursday Taft was brought in shackles before Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis. Assistant State's Attorney Nicholas Bove urged the judge to hold Taft in lieu of $2 milllion because of the serious nature of the crime. The judge agreed and continued the case two weeks. Both the state's attorney and police agreed that stories about the case in the Connecticut Post, which revisited the case on it's fourth anniversary last September, may have encouraged witnesses to come forward. Kiss, of Toronto, was found slumped in a car on Jane Street. According to the autopsy report he had been shot 25 times. Kiss's wallet and gold chain were still on his body and police had no motive for the crime. His mother began an intensive campaign to find her son's killer, offering a $10,000 reward in addition to the $50,000 offered by the state. In September she and her mother came to the site of her son's murder and began walking the street, banging on doors in an effort to find witnesses. While police sources say they developed new information in the case in recent weeks, they declined to disclose it. They would not disclose any motive for the crime. Taft's warrant affidavit was ordered sealed by the judge. Taft was sentenced in June 2003 to eight and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit first degree-robbery. He was convicted, with a female accomplice, of luring a Wilton man to the East Side of Bridgeport, where they robbed him on July 8, 2002. Daniel Tepfer, who covers state courts and law enforcement issues, can be reached at 330- 6308 |
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