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Kyle Kaspereen, 24, is accused of carrying out the Nov. 30 attack at 122 Wayne Street in Washington Borough, causing the death of Elaine Trachin and severely injuring her 53-year-old son, Bart, who was found taped to his wheelchair with a garbage over his head, Warren County Prosecutor James L. Pfeiffer said.
Kaspereen was first identified as a person of interest when investigators found that he had formerly lived in Washington and was previously at the home in regards to a motorcycle sale that didn’t end up happening, DailyVoice.com reported.
During questioning, Kaspereen was caught deleting text messages that contradicted the statements he made to detectives, and his cell phone was found to be pinging from “at or near” the attack scene as it was happening, authorities said.
Before the attack had been made public, a look into Kaspereen’s search history shows that he had researched information on murder investigation techniques and whether any murders had occurred in Washington, investigators say.
Kaspereen’s alleged search history also did him in when he looked into ways to use a credit or debit card without a PIN number, as both of the Trachins’ wallets were found missing from the scene.
Surveillance footage from hours after the attack shows Kaspereen dropping a cell phone into the Delaware River as he was walking across the Free Bridge from Phillipsburg to his current home on Butler Street in Easton, detectives say.
New Jersey State Police later found the phone in the Delaware River near the area where the surveillance footage was collected.
Finally, a search of Kaspereen’s home turned up a single unused and discarded trash bag — the same type that had been found over Bart Trachin’s head — as well as an empty box from a BB pistol that he had purchased within the last two weeks, investigators said.
Kaspereen — who remained in Warren County Jail after being charged with destruction of evidence for the text message deletion — faces additional first-degree charges for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery and burglary.
Assisting agencies include the Washington Township Police Department, Pohatcong Township Police Department, Greenwich Township Police Department, Phillipsburg Police Department, New Jersey State Police, FBI, Secret Service, Easton Police Department and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
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