Graswald appeared in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit to listen to the testimony at Orange County Court in Goshen. But 10 days following Viafore's disappearance — his kayak capsized during an April 19, 2015 trip to Bannerman Island and his body had not yet been found — Graswald told a police investigator that she had "pulled a plug" on his kayak and "manipulated" a ring on his paddle. She was in court today for a Huntley hearing — a court proceeding about statements that prosecutors claim an accused made — during which Aniello Moscato, a senior investigator with the New York State Police, was on the stand. Graswald, 36, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Viafore. GOSHEN - The Poughkeepsie woman accused of killing her fiance on the Hudson River was at a pretrial hearing Monday to determine whether statements she made to police could be used by prosecutors. Prosecutors allege that Graswald tampered with Viafore's kayak to kill him and collect on his life insurance policy. Graswald's defense team maintains that the death of Viafore, who wasn't wearing a life vest and had a blood alcohol content of .06, was a tragic accident, according to Journal archives. Viafore's mother and other family members were present Monday in court, but declined to speak about the ordeal. Lawyers for both sides dispute the validity of a confession police obtained while interviewing Angelika Graswald. Also on the stand today was Officer Stephen Pedetti, who told Graswald's defense attorney Richard Portale that Graswald was calm and showed no emotion after she was rescued. Bedetti said he heard a cell phone ring when Graswald was laying on a gurney, before she was transferred to the Newburgh branch of St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital. The first witness to take the stand, Cornwall Officer Stephen Bedetti, who met Graswald at the scene of the alleged crime, said she had an "oddly calm demeanor" when she told him she witnessed Viafore drown in the Hudson River. On April 29, an investigative team arrived on Bannermann's Island — where Graswald was found by rescuers 10 days earlier — and Graswald said she would also be at the island that day to lay a memorial wreath for Viafore. Moscato said that as the investigators were taking her back to the state police barracks, they had engine trouble on the boat and as Moscato held on to Graswald, she joked about jumping overboard. While they were on the island, Moscato said, he and two other investigators asked her if she would be more comfortable talking to one of them instead of all three, and Graswald said yes. Moscato, who had responded to the scene, said he didn't speak with Graswald that day but did speak with her over the next nine days, during which the two became friendly and he "felt for her." When DeQuarto returned from the private talk, he told Moscato that Graswald had confessed to pulling a plug out of the kayak and manipulating the ring of Viafore's paddle. She was arrested and charged with second-degree murder a few weeks later, and Viafore's body was recovered a few weeks after that.
– The New York woman accused of murder in her fiance's kayaking death confessed to sabotage even before the body of Vincent Viafore was found, a police investigator testified at a pretrial hearing. Senior investigator Aniello Moscato told the hearing Monday that during a trip to lay a wreath for the missing man last April, Angelika Graswald told another investigator that she had pulled out a plug on Viafore's kayak, which capsized in the Hudson River, ABC News reports. Moscato testified that on a boat ride back to police barracks, Graswald seemed "happy-go-lucky" and joked about jumping off the boat. Viafore's body was found in the river more than a month after he disappeared. At Monday's hearing, one of the first police officers to respond to the scene said he found Graswald, whose kayak had also capsized, oddly calm and "matter-of-fact" when describing events, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports. He said he heard her cellphone ring at the scene, though she had claimed it had fallen in the water. Prosecutors say Graswald, 36, sabotaged Viafore's kayak so she could collect his life insurance policy and confessed to the killing during a police interview last year, News 12 reports. Her defense argues that the confession was coerced and police faced a language barrier when dealing with Graswald, who's from Latvia. Pretrial testimony on what statements can be admitted in court will continue this week, but her trial is not expected until next spring.