Woman Accused of Drowning Fiancé in Mysterious Kayaking Incident
A woman on trial for drowning her fiancé in a bizarre kayaking incident on the Hudson River allegedly told police officers it “felt good knowing he was going to die.”
Angelika Graswald was arrested last month after her fiancé, Vincent Viafore, mysteriously disappeared during a kayaking trip, the New York Times reports. According to reports, Graswald told police the couple had been visiting an abandoned castle on Bannerman Island when Viafore simply vanished.
His body has not yet been recovered, but he is reportedly presumed dead.
Initially cops indicated she became a suspect because of “conflicting statements” she made in the aftermath of Viafore’s disappearance.
After the kayak trip, Ms. Graswald created a flurry of Facebook posts that made her seem less grieving than liberated. There were initial photos of the couple together and inspirational bits of poetry, then selfies in which she is practically beaming, a video clip of her doing a cartwheel, a racy cartoon depicting an old married couple. Less than a week after he died, she turned up at a local pub with their friends and took the stage to sing “Hotel California.”
Perhaps the strongest hint of the case the authorities are building against her was revealed in an interview Ms. Graswald gave to News 12 Westchester, hours after her arrest on April 29.
According to the news report, Ms. Graswald said that the police found her diary, in which she had written that Mr. Viafore wanted to have a sexual threesome and that she wished he were dead. She said she had written that in a momentary flash of anger and did not mean it. She also said that the police thought she had tampered with Mr. Viafore’s kayak, which has been recovered.
The executive director of the Bannerman Castle also tells the Times he found it strange the couple would be out kayaking in 46 degree weather without life vests.
Now, prosecutors say, there’s also a confession in the mix, claiming at Graswald’s bail hearing Wednesday that she told the cops “it felt good knowing he was going to die.”
Julie Mohl, an assistant district attorney, said Ms. Graswald, 35, was aware that she was the beneficiary in two life insurance policies belonging to Mr. Viafore, who was 46. Ms. Mohl said that Ms. Graswald stood to gain $250,000 and “talked about what she could do with the money” after his death.
Graswald’s lawyer says anything she might have confessed to police was coerced or misunderstood as English is not her first language.
