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HomeMy WebLinkAboutkirchgesner greg_0007By LAUREN STANFORTH Jouma7.Sttrg ENFIELD — Mamie Kirchgessner got the message on her answering machine Wednesday afternoon while she was out in her yard on Enfield Main Road. She wouldn't have picked up the phone even if she was stand- ing right next to it. The nasal voic- es of telemarketers looking for husband Gregory — after he was killed in a hit-and-run accident in February — are still hard to han- dle. But this call was from Tompkins County Sheriff's Department Senior Investigator Mark Dresser. When Mamie came back inside, she called 3 Dresser at the Tompkins County District Attorney's office. He had news: They had arrested a suspect in connection with her husband's death. It didn't surprise Marnie that police arrested a suspect. It has been more than two months since Gregory was killed while engag- ing in part of his regular routine: Riding his bike to work on Route 79. What did catch her off guard was how it assuaged some of her anguish. I I have tried to prepare myself psychologically, and the kids, that they might never find anybody. So I really... today I didn't think I was going to feel that way, but I felt so much better." Mamie doesn't place all the blame on Ellithorpe, if he did in fact kill Gregory with his car. She j wonders how his parents could have raised him to engage in such reckle own u JIMSANCHEZ/Joui, Staff ACCIDENT SCENE: Police investigators examine the Gregory Kirchgessner, of Enfield was killed while scene of the hit-and-run accident on Feb. 4 where rioting his bicycle. GREGORY G. KIRCHGESSNER Vehicle Description: Corer: Bine 1986, 19F m f 9U Mwary Sable Sedan �lA.rr `Syracu 81 ANYONE WITH INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT. TOMPKINS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT 607.272-2444 or r-mail:aMresser:.�tampkrds-co.orq 13 79 Ithaca ■ Feb. 4 : Kirchgessner struck and killed in the Town of Enfield U on Route 79 approximately 1.5 miles from his home while riding his 10 -speed bicycle. The Tompkins County Sheriffs Department begins a manhunt for the driver and car described as a light -blue 1986, 1987 or 1988 Mercury Sable with front damage. ■ Feb. 13: Enfield Volunteer Fire Co. and the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department announce a reward of $2,000 for informa- tion leading to the drivers arrest. ss behavior and then not 0 April 17: The Kirchgessner family and p to it. Mark Dresser, senior investigator of the sher- See REACTION, 3A iffs department, plead for the public's help to identify the driver of the car that struck Gregory Kirchgessner. Dresser also announces a reward fund that will augment the one begun by Enfield firefighters. ■ Monday: A person from Burdett d who said he was with Ellithorpe during the early hours of Feb. 4 contacts an Ithaca attorney and says Ellithrope told him he hit something on Route 79 as he headed for home early Feb. 4. ■ Tuesday: The witness's attorney contacts the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office. Sheriff's investigators are contacted and a meeting between the parties is held that evening. ■ Wednesday: 1 p.m.: Daniel 1. Ellithorpe, 22, is arrested PAUUNA GAROS III his Town of Clay El home by investiga- tors from the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department and state police. While there, investigators contact the current owner of the car allegedly driven in the accident and confiscate it. 3:30 p.m.: Ellithorpe arrives in Tompkins County. 7:30-8 p.m.: Ellithorpe is arraigned in Enfield Town Court on charges of leaving the scene of a personal injury incident without reporting, a Class E felony. ■ Thursday: Dresser and the Kirchgessner family hold a news conference announcing Ellithorpe's arrest and details. The car is headed to the state police crime laboratory in Olean for processing. when a Schuyler County r resident of the Village of Burdett contacted authorities to say Ellithorpe was the dri- �4, ver. '�' The reason given for the 11 -week delay in the information was the wit- IGrchgessner ness "hoped Ellithorpe would come forward on his own volition to police," Tompkins County Sheriff's Department Senior Investigator Mark Dresser said in an interview. "When this did not happen, he took it upon himself to talk to police." During a news conference Thursday at the sher- iff's department in Lansing, Dresser told Central New York media that the witness's account put a team of investigators from the sheriff's department and state police Major Crimes Unit on the fast track to wrapping up the case. According to the felony complaint filed from the witness's account, Ellithorpe had been in Burdett and "admitted to him that on the morning of Feb. 4 he was traveling eastbound on Route 79 when he hit something that he later realized was a bicyclist, and he did not report the incident for fear of the conse- quences." Ellithorpe was charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury incident without reporting it, a Class E felony. The investigation is continuing and a grand jury may hear the case within a few days. Dresser said investigators were trying to deter- mine if alcohol was a factor and would not disclose Ellithorpe's activities in Burdett prior to his depar- ture at approximately 5:35 a.m. from a home about seven miles away from the collision site. He did say, however, that a lack of sleep may have contributed to the accident. Informant declines reward The Burdett informant declined to accept any reward money in exchange for the information, Dresser said. The Enfield Fire Co. posted a $2,000 reward Feb. 13 for information leading to the arrest of the driver in the hit-and-run incident. Enfield Fire Chief Rich Nene, present at T'hursday's news conference with the Kirchgessner family, said the volunteer firefighters' unit would give the money to the educational fund for Kirchgessner's two daughters.