A written confession is at the center of a 25-year-old murder case, as the latest twist in a horrific crime that has polarized a New York county brings the question: Did the defendant really write it, or was he coerced?
Andrew Krivak wants his retrial stopped before it begins in the Putnam County courthouse in Carmel. At issue is a so-called "confession" he signed in 1996 after cops charged Krivak and his best friend, Anthony DiPippo, with the horrific rape and murder of a local little girl named Josette Wright
"The confession is the entire case," said Krivak's attorney, Oscar Michelin. "All of that was entirely scripted and crafted by the Putnam County Sheriffs."
Investigators found Josette’s body bound and gagged in the woods in 1995 — 13 months after she was first reported missing. Krivak, now 45, signed a statement after seven hours of interrogation by Putnam County Sheriff’s officers: A confession that helped convict him. In court testimony over the years, the two lead Investigators have always maintained the words were Krivak’s alone.
When asked if the only words that were spoken in the interrogation room were by Krivak, one of the investigators, William Quick, said "During the statement, yes. It just flowed out of him." The other investigator, Patrick Castaldo, said that the written confession constituted a verbatim account of Krivak's statement.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Investigators primarily relied on a teen named Denise Rose, who testified she was in a van with DiPippo and Krivak when they assaulted and then killed Josette. Over the years, Rose has changed some details of her story — several times in written statements and in sworn testimony.
Attorney Mark Baker, who later joined DiPippo’s defense team, said investigators pressured Rose.
"They fed a witness, the only one who could implicate them, a full story. And, they had her testifying to it at pains of doing 25 years to life," he said.
DiPippo won freedom after a jury acquitted him in a third trial in 2016. His defense team uncovered evidence that pointed to another suspect in Josette’s murder: Robert Gombert, who now serving time in Connecticut for a child sex crime there. He has denied any criminal wrongdoing, but that potential link helped Krivak get his conviction overturned in 2019.
Krivak has remained under house arrest while District Attorney Robert Tendy prepares for a retrial. Tendy stands by the confession, saying "it was a good one."
In pre-trial hearings, a defense expert testified the confession was full of police speak — even a prosecution expert witness seemed to agree that the statement was in fact, co-authored.
"Co-authored is a term of art-I can’t say more than that," said Tendy.
"We are asking the judge to throw out the case based on the new evidence we found and the forensic evidence that supports it — the fact that the words were not those of Mr. Krivak," said Michelin.
Josette’s uncle, Scott Allen, who said he doesn’t speak for the family, previously told the I-Team he still believes Krivak and DiPippo committed the crime.
“They absolutely did it,” he said.
“I feel badly for Josette’s family," Krivak said. "They were lied to like so many others."
The judge said he wouldn't make a decision Tuesday on the defense’s request. At this point, Krivak’s trial is scheduled to start the first week in January, where he is expected to testify. For the first time, his version of the circumstances surrounding the confession may be heard for the first time.
