Tonight on Connecticut's News station,
the family of a homicide victim shares their emotional pleas
after coming face to face with their loved ones,
accused killer.
We hear what they're asking from prosecutors.
This committee may not be able to solve sexual assault,
but you can solve some of the barriers that we face.
Survivors of sexual assault and harassment. On Capitol Hill.
The emotional testimony they're sharing after a report shows
the Coast Guard Academy mishandled dozens of cases.
Plus tensions are running high for tenants in the capital
city who say they're forced to live in poor conditions.
Now they're putting the pressure on the city to do something about it.
Now at six, this is Fox 61 Connecticut's news station.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us here on the Fox 61 news at six. I'm Sarah Sanchez
and I'm Angelo Navarro.
It was a day of reckoning for a New Britain family who confronted their loved ones,
alleged killer for the first time.
Face to face. 46 year old Vincent Blair is charged with the killing of 27 year old
Monisha Collins.
Fox 60 one's Matt Karen talked with her
family after today's emotional day in court Matt.
And, uh, following the killing, Blair actually fled the state, he was
arrested a day later by a swat team at a motel in
Pennsylvania and brought back here to Connecticut to face a judge.
I'm hurting.
He took my little sister from me.
My best friend
just hours after burying 27 year old
Monisha Collins
of
her family and friends mustered the strength to face her accused killer in court.
They should not feed him,
they should let him suffer because the 10 year old
great grandchild of mine has gone without her mother.
We learned Tuesday
that 46 year old Vincent Blair of Hartford has an extensive criminal past.
He spent years in prison for violent crimes.
He was dating Monisha and allegedly shot her
dead December 1st inside her New Britain apartment.
A shocking but all too common case of domestic violence,
domestic violence is real and unless we start
showing that we don't give them no consideration,
we're gonna be the ones losing our daughters by gunshots.
Police say Blair pulled the trigger after Monish,
she's 10 year old daughter left for school.
The daughter came home at 4 p.m. and found her mother dead.
She just misses her mom.
I mean, she's a strong little girl and she's doing the best that she can.
But her mother was taken from her
and she in a tragic,
horrible way and she had to see it. She was the first one to see it.
Monisha remembered in her obituary as sassy but sweet, strong, yet gentle,
showing love in an extraordinary way.
She recently learned she was pregnant with Blair's child.
I think they should give him double homicide.
I don't know where they're going with one because
those were two people following an emotional arraignment.
The family hugged and prayed
God
we give you honor, glory and praise even in the midst of in
Jesus name,
amen.
Knowing their lives are forever altered.
Yeah, this is news but no, this is my life.
I'm living it every single day.
I have to live with the like knowing that
a monster took my sister away from me and my family and her daughter
and our life is forever changed by that.
A 13 page warrant detailed how police used location data from Blair's cell phone
to track him to Pennsylvania where he was arrested.
And according to the warrant confessed telling police he
was responsible for whatever they had him in there for
Blair was ordered held on $5 million bond.
But the judge also said that he had to pay 75% of that in cash.
If he wants to get out, he's going to be back in court on January 3rd. Moni's
family told me they're going to keep her memory alive and
are encouraging all other victims of domestic violence to speak out
and save a life pouring into Britain in front of the superior Court, Matt Karen Fox,
61 Connecticut's News station.
A shooting is under investigation in the capital city tonight,
police say a man in his forties was shot on Irving Street just after 1 p.m.
He was alert and conscious on scene and taken to the hospital.
No word yet on any suspects or arrests.
New details.
Tonight,
Middletown police have released the identity of the woman
killed in a crash on South main street.
Police say 23 year old Lindsay Pelletier was driving
north when she rear ended a tow truck.
She was pronounced dead on scene.
Her three year old son was in the car and he was taken to the hospital. He survived
the tow truck driver was not injured.
The owner of an Ansonia martial art studio is facing sexual assault charges.
Police say you 10,
the the owner of Casa
Jitsu
sexually assaulted a 14 year old girl,
she was one of his students and according to the
arrest warrant,
he sexually assaulted her at the martial art studio and
during one of his children's soccer games and see more.
The
is being held on $250,000 bond be
public schools have fired an assistant coach.
This coming after an investigation into
allegations of predatory and grooming behavior.
In a letter sent to parents and staff,
the school says they immediately contacted
the department of Children and families.
The identity of that coach has not been released yet.
The school says they are partnering with the center for empowerment
to conduct a series of assemblies in the
new Year to address warning signs with students
an emotional hearing on Capitol Hill. Today.
Lawmakers listen to survivors tell their stories of sexual harassment
and assault at the Coast Guard Academy in New London.
And this comes after reports that
academy mishandled sexual assault investigations.
Fox 60 one's political reporter, Emma
Wors was watching that hearing and spoke with Connecticut,
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who called for this investigation.
Emma
Angelo Sarah, Senator Blumenthal,
who chairs this committee and ranking member
Republican Senator Ron Johnson called today's testimony.
Some of the most powerful they've ever heard.
I was in fear
because he was my next door neighbor.
First class cadet, Kira Holms
TRUP is a senior at the US Coast Guard Academy.
She was sexually assaulted during her second week there by a fellow classmate.
What I thought was an innocent ice cream date on campus
turned into a sexual assault that has haunted me ever since
we are always told
that you just have to say no
but no to him was an invitation to try again.
Holmstrom was one of five women who spoke
Tuesday at the Senate's permanent subcomittee on investigations hearing
over the course of three days. He repeatedly raped me in that room.
When I returned to the academy. I told no one
I feared that if I reported this incident, I would be the one to face discipline
I was assaulted, I was groped in a group,
uh, in a room with 30 of my peers
and they watched and they laughed.
This hearing is the first step in
one of multiple congressional investigations now underway.
After reports,
the Coast Guard Academy failed to disclose the results of
an internal probe into sexual misconduct called operation Fouled Anchor.
It is an abject failure of integrity that senior leaders have concealed
Condoned and otherwise enabled this behavior to thrive fod.
Anker found dozens of sexual assault cases at
the academy were mishandled from 1988 to 2006.
Tuesday survivors described an environment of harassment retaliation
and fear.
My main perpetrator is currently a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard.
He is thriving
in a career that I had hoped for.
This committee may not be able to solve sexual assault,
but you can solve some of the barriers that we face.
And the Coast Guard did admit these failings and
an accountability and transparency review report released last week.
But lawmakers and some survivors say that didn't go far enough.
They want to see what they call real accountability.
Senator Blumenthal says there will be more hearings and if
Coast Guard leadership does not comply with this investigation,
he will issue subpoenas
Angelo
Sarah.
All right. Thank you
really hard to listen to.
Well, uh overall today, pretty mild out there,
a little of sunshine and thankfully dry out across the state.
Yeah, not too bad. Let's keep it going.
Meteorologist Ryan Bright here with a check on the forecast. Hi, Angelo.
And Sarah temperature is pretty much where they should
be for this time of the year too.
43 degrees in Hartford, 44 degrees in New Haven and with lots of sun,
it was a pretty nice Tuesday out there.
We're still clear right now.
But looking off to the northwest,
you can see the snow showers around the Great
Lakes and then into parts of southern Quebec.
This is with some colder air which is going to
be moving south over these next couple of days,
uh, especially Thursday,
that's going to be the coolest day of this upcoming week before tomorrow.
We'll start out with temperatures around freezing at six in the morning.
A clear chilly morning
sunshine giving way to some partial cloud in this during the afternoon.
High temperatures getting into the low forties and there could
actually be a couple of flurries around tomorrow evening,
especially in northern and northwestern Connecticut.
And that's as the cooler air begins building in and look at where we go for Thursday.
We're down to 37 despite a lot of sunshine,
but it's really just a one day cool down.
We're back up to 52 on Friday which is nearly
10 degrees above average for this time of the year.
So despite the chill that comes in for the midweek, it does turn milder for Friday.
How lo how long will that last?
And how long will this dry stretch without any storms last too?
We'll talk about it coming up in just a little while.
People living at two Hartford apartment buildings say they
have had enough of their poor living conditions.
They told the Pack city council meeting last night,
there's no heat and other issues they deal with daily.
Tonight,
we spoke with the owner of the buildings and city officials to see what is being done,
to address those issues.
The pictures tell the story, moldy spaces where roaches come in
heating pipes in bad shape.
Neighbors at 271 Weathersfield Avenue who do not want to be identified,
make a list of the issues they say they encounter daily.
This door doesn't even lock properly anymore because it's been
kicked in multiple times and sometimes there's no heat,
sometimes the heat is on, but the heat is on like 1000.
So it's kind of dangerous, you know, have a child.
I actually slipped down these stairs. As you can see,
um, when it rains, these stairs become soaked and rotted with water.
Now the city is stepping in
our department of housing inspection, sent an inspector out an emergency on call.
Inspector,
the result the city ordered the owner to make heating and ventilation repairs
and issued orders for other violations.
We need a call to 311 so that we can respond to these complaints.
Last night's information was new to the city.
These management companies need to be regulated.
We called the owner of the buildings for comment, New Jersey based all is good LLC.
So you have not heard of these other issues,
that company claiming they only got a notice today about fixing the heat issues,
directing us to the building's management group.
So we called them to New Jersey based Arlington Management Group
which also oversees the building next door.
No answer. This is just
passive income for them. They definitely just
wanna rake in on the money.
Kind of been like the same thing that goes on in Harvard, Connecticut. Honestly,
when it comes to the housing,
it's kind of like the same thing. Some lords,
they don't think about the tenants, they don't make sure we're ok.
Now some neighbors did tell us they've had runaround experiences
with that 311 number at that meeting last night,
the city council president told attendees to also reach out
to their council members if they have trouble with that.
311 number.