ELYRIA — The Avon woman accused of shooting her estranged husband four times while he slept was the beneficiary on his $500,000 life insurance plan, prosecutors said.

During the first day of Pamela Carrasquillo’s trial on an attempted murder charge, Assistant County Prosecutor Sherry Glass told the jury the defendant sought out her estranged husband two days before the shooting to ask whether she was still the policy’s beneficiary.

“She had almost half-a-million reasons why she wanted him dead,” Glass said during her opening argument.

On Jan. 4, 2007, the then-48-year-old Herminio Carrasquillo called police about 3 a.m. from his Livingston Drive home in Avon to report that he’d been shot four times in the chest, leg and arm while sleeping. He told the dispatcher he believed he had been shot by his wife, but when police arrived, he told them he hadn’t seen the shooter.

Glass said jealousy also played a factor in why the then-51-year-old defendant sought to kill her husband of 26 years.

Herminio Carrasquillo was dating a 30-year-old woman, she said, and they were in the process of buying a home together. She said her theory isn’t just without supporting evidence: Police interviewing Pamela Carrasquillo at her nearby Avon home found gunshot residue on her hand.

But attorney Raymond Froelich, representing Pamela Carrasquillo, said her estranged husband initially admitted seeing only a “shadowy figure’’ and questioned whether his promiscuity may have angered a former girlfriend or the boyfriend of one.

Froelich said it’s even possible that Herminio Carrasquillo turned a gun on himself to save what he could of his six-figure salary from the pending divorce proceedings.

“It was clear he was shot,” Froelich during his opening statement. “But there’s substantial doubt (of who did it).”

Avon police Sgt. Kevin Collins was Monday’s only witness, testifying that the outside door beside the garage was unlocked at Herminio Carasquillo’s home, as well as the door leading from the garage into the house.

As one of the first responding officers on scene, Collins said he located a wounded Herminio Carrasquillo talking on his cell phone when he entered his dark bedroom. Collins didn’t know who he was talking to, he testified.

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

 

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---