Convicted sex offender charged with
Burlington murder
By Jill Fahy
Free Press Staff
Writer
A 33-year-old convicted sex offender from the
Old North End of Burlington was charged Tuesday in the rape,
beating and strangulation of Laura Winterbottom, a Burlington
woman who was killed March 8.
Gerald Tyrone Montgomery
was questioned Monday night at his home on Manhattan Drive and
taken to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in
South Burlington. He has been charged with first-degree murder
and aggravated sexual assault. He faces up to life in prison
if convicted.
Montgomery pleaded not guilty Tuesday
morning at Vermont District Court in Burlington to both
charges. Judge Edward Cashman set a bail hearing for early
next week.
Winterbottom had no known connection to
Montgomery, according to court papers filed Tuesday. But in
the nearly two weeks since Winterbottom's body was found in
her 2001 Ford Focus, police consistently said they had no
information to conclude the killing was a random act,
emphasizing that their investigation was focused on
interviewing those who knew Winterbottom.
Police
continued that tack Tuesday during a news conference in which
Montgomery's arrest was announced. Later, Burlington Police
Chief Thomas Tremblay clarified the department's investigative
approach.
"We're still investigating the circumstances
of how their two paths may have crossed," Tremblay said. "We
have no specific information they were acquainted or dating.
Is it possible it was a random act? Absolutely."
On the
police department's investigation, Tremblay continued, "We
never closed the door to any possibility, but if we had felt
the need to release information to the public regarding a
risk, we would have released it."
Neighbors in the Old
North End, already shaken by the nearby killing, said they
wish they had known police had a suspect in mind who
apparently had no real connection to Winterbottom. A random
crime, many said, is even more scary because it just as easily
could have been one of them.
Montgomery came to the
attention of police when he phoned in a tip the day after
Winterbottom's body was found, telling investigators that an
acquaintance of his might have been involved. Montgomery told
police the acquaintance had "jacked" someone and that the
person was hurt. Police later determined the tip to be
unfounded.
Eleven days later, investigators matched
Montgomery's DNA -- which was stored in a database of
convicted sex offenders -- to that of semen found in
Winterbottom's body, on her clothes and in her
car.
Court information Tuesday painted a picture of
Montgomery as a habitual criminal whose arrests dating back to
1996 include simple assault, domestic assault, lewd and
lascivious conduct, failing to register as a sex offender and
driving under the influence. In 1996, he went to jail for
nearly a year after being charged with raping a female
acquaintance in an unoccupied garage in the Old North End. The
trial in 1997 ended in a hung jury, and the case was pleaded
down to lewd and lascivious conduct in 1998. Montgomery
received probation.
Montgomery also allegedly committed
numerous probation violations during the past nine years. He
served nearly three years in prison after failing to comply
with the sex-offender registry in 1999, required as part of
his 1998 conviction.
Police have declined to say how
Montgomery, a part-time employee at J.P.'s Pub on Main Street,
came into contact with Winterbottom the night she was slain,
noting only that the investigation is continuing.
What
happened
According to court papers, Laura
Winterbottom, 31, was last seen leaving Church Street Tavern
about 9:15 p.m. Winterbottom's sister Leigh said she saw the
victim walking toward her car, which was parked on College
Street, facing east near the intersection with Church
Street.
Montgomery went downtown to the "clubs" at
about 9 p.m., Montgomery's wife, Leona, stated in court
papers. She told police her husband came home drunk at about
1:30 a.m., and had a red stain on his arm. She said he threw
$40 in cash on the bed and told her that he "jacked"
someone.
According to court papers, Leona Montgomery
said she then followed Gerald Montgomery into the basement,
where he removed his clothes and put them into the washing
machine. She characterized her husband as "very nervous" and
said he spent the following days looking out the apartment
windows "as if he was waiting for something or
someone."
Leona Montgomery said she didn't want to
comment when reached by phone Tuesday.
Winterbottom was
repeatedly sexually assaulted, beaten with a blunt object and
strangled between 9:29 and 10:45 p.m., according to court
papers. Records indicate she was assaulted in the parking lot
of Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center on Pearl
Street and taken in her car to an unoccupied residence on Hyde
Street -- about four blocks from Montgomery's house. Her
bloodied body was found, naked from the waist down, in the
back seat of her car about 7 a.m. the next day.
An
investigation of the car that morning yielded copious blood
evidence, court papers said. Blood was found on Winterbottom's
face, and on the seats and floor of her car. A shoe print on
the inside of the rear window indicated a struggle, court
records said. Investigators later found a 3-foot-long 2-by-4
piece of lumber with blood on it lying in a trash bin in the
lot where Winterbottom's car was parked.
A day later, a
woman who works at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation
Center told police she had seen a small, dark car parked near
her truck in the center's parking lot at about 10:45 the night
of the killing. The tipster, according to court papers, said
she had noticed the windows of the car were "fogged up," and
thought it odd because none of the other cars had foggy
windows.
Police investigating the tip later found a
winter hat, blood-smeared glasses, a car owner's manual and a
compact disc case -- all belonging to Laura Winterbottom -- at
the Pearl Street parking lot.
During the investigation,
police received information from tips, one of which was
Montgomery's. Police said Montgomery drew police scrutiny once
he phoned in the tip. But it was the DNA evidence against
Montgomery, investigators acknowledged, that cracked the case.
The evidence
Monday, a forensic chemist with
the Vermont Department of Public Safety Forensic Laboratory
told police that DNA collected from the crime scene matched
Montgomery's, whose DNA profile is kept in the state Combined
DNA Index System database.
Police questioned Montgomery
at his home Monday night. They asked him whether he knew
Winterbottom and showed him pictures of the woman, who lived
in the New North End. Montgomery told them he didn't know
Winterbottom and had never seen her car.
Montgomery
also had several alibis for where he was on the night of
Winterbottom's killing. According to court papers, he first
told police he was working, then he was home with his family.
When police asked Montgomery to provide them with
fingerprints, he refused, became upset and asked officers to
leave. He was then arrested without incident and taken to the
police station.
More evidence possibly linked to the
crime was found behind Montgomery's house early Tuesday
morning, hours after his arrest. According to court papers,
police found a pair of recently bleached jeans lying in brush
about 60 feet behind the residence. At the bottom of an
embankment behind the house, police found a plastic shopping
bag containing Nike sneakers, a brown hat and a green
sweatshirt. These clothes also "reeked" of bleach, according
to court papers, and the sneakers appeared to be stained with
blood.
The arraignment
At his arraignment
Tuesday, the 5-foot-5-inch Montgomery was led into a packed
courtroom in shackles. The only time he opened his mouth was
to confer briefly with his attorney, public defender Jerry
Schwarz.
During the hearing, Prosecutor Robert Simpson
argued against bail for Montgomery. Simpson read off some of
the evidence against Montgomery, including the DNA match and
blood evidence found on the washing machine, a laundry hamper
and the basement door of Montgomery's residence. Simpson also
described Montgomery's familiarity with the Old North End and
Hyde Street, noting that Montgomery used to live across the
street from where Winterbottom's body was
found.
Schwarz told the judge he needed time to digest
the state's evidence and Simpson's motion to withhold bail.
Judge Cashman set the bail hearing for 2 p.m.
Monday.
Winterbottom's family was notified of
Montgomery's arrest Monday night, Burlington Police Deputy
Chief Walt Decker said. Police, Decker said, have been in
constant contact with the family, who have requested that
people respect their privacy.
Contact Jill Fahy at
660-1898 or jfahy@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
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