Dangled girlfriend out window as both called for help: witnesses
A Winnipeg man accused of dangling his girlfriend out an 11-storey window and letting her plunge to her death has been denied bail.
Mario Trunzo, 47, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Alinda Lahteenmaki.
Trunzo has remained in custody since his Jan. 30, 2009 arrest.
“The facts as alleged by the Crown are horrific,” said Justice Brenda Keyser Friday.
Keyser said Trunzo has a “long and unresolved problem with drugs” and has taken no steps to address it while in custody.
“There is a serious risk of re-involvement if he was to be released on bail,” she said.
At a bail hearing earlier this month, the Crown argued Trunzo deliberately dropped Lahteenmaki out the window. Darren Sawchuk, Trunzo’s lawyer, told court there was evidence to suggest she committed suicide, including a suicide note later found among her personal effects.
Court heard Trunzo and Lahteenmaki had been drinking and doing drugs at a Manitoba Housing apartment block located at 375 Assiniboine Ave. when they got into an argument that turned physical.
According to a police interview with the man who lived in the apartment, Trunzo grabbed Lahteenmaki and pushed her toward an open floor-to-ceiling window.
“He picked her up so she had both feet out the window,” the man said.
“She was half in and half out and he says ‘You want to die b----, go ahead and die.’ She kept saying ‘no, no’ and I didn’t see her head anymore.”
The man said Trunzo was holding the woman by her wrists when he yelled out for help because she was slipping from his grasp.
“By the time I got there he just let go, I don’t know why,” he said.
“He said “Die b----” and let go.”
A female witness told police “everything started getting out of hand after everyone got high.” The woman said Trunzo dangled Lahteenmaki out the window and then called for help to pull her back in.
“All I heard was this scream and her saying ‘Don’t let go,’ ” she said. “That was it and she was gone.”
Sawchuk argued the court could not rely on witnesses who were highly intoxicated and provided inconsistent statements to police.
A preliminary hearing is set for next fall.
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