Missing Connecticut Couple's Remains Found, Adult Son Will be Charged With Their Murder
The remains of an affluent Connecticut couple who went missing in August were found Thursday in Weston and authorities will charge their adult son with their murders, reports the New York Times.
Let’s take it from the top: Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin went missing in August under suspicious circumstances. Jeffrey Navin owned a trash hauling business for 30 years, and his adult son, 27-year-old Kyle Navin, was the company’s operations manager. According to the report, Kyle also had something of a drug problem:
Both Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin had confided in friends that they were worried about their son’s drug use. The couple planned to sell their trash-hauling business and cut him out of their will, Ms. Navin told a friend in late July.
An NBC Connecticut report says something similar:
Jeanette Navin told a longtime acquaintance her relationship with her son had been “very tempestuous” and that she suspected he was abusing drugs, according to the affidavit. She also confided that the couple had purchased a home for their son but he was failing to pay the mortgage and taxes.
Published texts between the accused and his girlfriend, 31-year-old Jennifer Valiante, would seem to indicate that Kyle Navin may have had some sense of the writing on the wall with respect to his cash faucet:
In May, Kyle Navin sent a text message to Ms. Valiante about plans to “take them down,” referring to his parents, and “get some money out of them somehow.”
In July, he sent a text message to her about a plan to “solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life.”
According to the affidavit, she replied: “I hear ya. It sounds very good I just don’t know.”
After a few exchanges, he wrote, “Wipe out the infection and get $ for life. ... It’s perfect plan.”
The story gets dark and very weird on August 4th—the day the Navins disappeared—when Jeffrey Navin apparently got some idea that his and his wife’s lives were in danger. From the NBC Connecticut report:
According to the arrest warrant affidavit for Valiante, Jeffrey Navin texted his son on Aug. 4 — the day he disappeared — saying he would not go home until he knew his wife was OK. The father also asked his son if he hurt his mother.
“No absolutely not. Why would you think,” Kyle Navin responded, according to the affidavit.
“I go home and get framed for murder,” Jeffrey Navin then texted.
“Oh stop,” Kyle Navin texted back.
On August 9 the Navin’s pickup truck was found with a shattered window in a parking lot in Westport. Police also discovered evidence in Kyle Navin’s pickup: a bullet hole in the front passenger seat and blood that was eventually shown to belong to Jeanette Navin.
In the basement of Kyle Navin’s home—purchased for him by his parents—police reportedly discovered stains on a rug that eventually tested positive for Jeffrey Navin’s blood.
In addition to that physical evidence, Kyle Navin had apparently been shifty during the police investigation of his parents’ disappearance:
In the days after they disappeared, their elder son’s account of when and where he last saw his parents, and what he discussed with them, changed over several days during interviews with the local and State Police, according to an affidavit written last month by Michael Zuk, an F.B.I. agent.
Police searched Kyle Navin’s home during the investigation and discovered drug paraphernalia, two guns, and other circumstantial evidence: a Home Depot receipt “dated the day after the Navins disappeared, for germicidal bleach, drain opener, stain remover and contractor cleanup bags.” Kyle was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to heroin (which is a real charge, I looked it up).
Then, on Thursday, a property owner in Weston was clearing brush on his land when he discovered human remains that have since been identified as those of Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin. Police say the accumulated evidence “‘very strongly suggests’ that Navin killed his parents,” according to NBC Connecticut. It is alleged that Kyle Navin killed his parents separately and then dumped their bodies on the lot of the then-vacant home.
Police have charged Valiante, Kyle Navin’s girlfriend, with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution. Kyle younger brother, when interviewed by police, reportedly said his first thought was that his parents“either went on vacation, or my brother did something to them.”