Alleged killer asked: ‘What would you do if Grace wasn’t here anymore?’
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Version 0 of 1. Grace Mann had briefly stopped at home to fix her hair, but her roommates couldn’t find her. The two women later testified that they called her name and checked the back yard, before arriving at a bedroom with a closed door. When they knocked, another roommate, Steven Vander Briel, slid out. He was drenched in sweat, according to testimony, and his eyes darted side to side. He asked what, in retrospect, would be a chilling question: “What would you do if Grace wasn’t here anymore?” Moments later, the women would testify, they found the University of Mary Washington student from McLean, Va., lying near a bed, beneath a purple comforter. Mann’s hands were bound with a sweater and belt, and a plastic shopping bag was cinched over her head. They would find more bags shoved in her mouth as her body lay on the floor. The roommates — Holly Aleksonis and Katheryn Erwin — told a Fredericksburg, Va., courtroom that Vander Briel said he and Mann had an altercation. He said that he had slapped Mann, that she bit him and that then he strangled her, one roommate testified. He then left the house as they futilely attempted to save Mann. The gripping testimony came before a judge determined that there was enough evidence to send the first-degree murder case against Vander Briel to a grand jury in July. The preliminary hearing added details to what is known about the case, but it also deepened the mystery around why Vander Briel, 30, a fellow student, had allegedly targeted Mann, 20. Neither woman said she was aware of any problems between Vander Briel or Mann or knew the origin of the altercation on April 17. When asked whether she remembered any issues, Aleksonis seemed at a loss. “He had left a voice mail about needing a blanket back, and he had been kind of persistent,” Aleksonis testified about a message on Mann’s phone. Vander Briel, who wore an orange jumpsuit over his thin frame, did not speak during the hearing, and the defense offered no evidence. Afterward, defense attorney Mark S. Gardner said he knew of no “rational disagreement” between his client and Mann. He said Vander Briel’s family was baffled. “They are as confused as much as anyone else how someone of his background could be involved in such a thing,” Gardner said. Gardner said Vander Briel’s only connection to Mann was that he rented a room in the same house. Fredericksburg police have said Mann and Vander Briel had no personal relationship. He had returned to Mary Washington for his third stint there at the beginning of the spring semester, and was close to finishing his degree in political science. Aleksonis and Erwin testified that April 17 began as an ordinary day in the home the four shared off campus. Mann was at Mary Washington observing a Day of Silence to call attention to the bullying of gay men and lesbians. Her friends said she was openly gay and deeply involved in campus life as a member of the student senate, a sexual assault task force and the group Feminists United on Campus, among others. Her father, Thomas P. Mann, is a judge in Fairfax County. Vander Briel was cleaning the house in the early afternoon, and Aleksonis and Erwin took two dogs they were sitting for out for a walk. They met Mann, who told them that she was going to stop at home briefly, before heading to an event at 3 p.m. About 2:40 p.m., Erwin testified, she started getting text messages from Vander Briel asking when they would be home. “I went into Holly’s room and made a mess,” Erwin said that Vander Briel wrote. When the roommates arrived home shortly before 3 p.m., Erwin testified that they found dog bowls overturned, a picture askew on a wall and a vacuum cleaner abandoned on the floor. Mann’s personal items were on her bed. The roommates said they began searching for Mann, but found no sign of her before knocking on the door to Aleksonis’s room. Vander Briel came out and quickly shut the door behind him. Erwin testified that he seemed “neurotic, manic” and started making confusing statements. He asked what they would do if Grace wasn’t there anymore and if he needed to move out, according to her testimony. He allegedly said that something had happened and that Mann was gone. When Erwin asked where Mann was, he allegedly motioned toward Aleksonis’s room. Vander Briel told them he and Mann had a disagreement and she lunged at him, Erwin said. “I slapped her. She bit me and I strangled her,” Erwin quoted Vander Briel as saying. “She’s in there now.” The roommates testified he showed them what appeared to be a bite mark on his hand. Erwin ushered Vander Briel to his room and then heard a scream after Aleksonis entered the bedroom. Aleksonis testified that she removed the bag from Mann's head and her face was blue. Erwin ran down to the room and began performing CPR. Erwin called 911, but Mann could not be saved. [ Mary Washington student remembered as a ‘force of nature’ ] Meanwhile, Vander Briel had left the house and would be found and arrested two hours later by Fredericksburg police. Mann’s killing stirred a debate about how Mary Washington officials have dealt with the popular and controversial instant messaging app Yik Yak. Members of a feminist group that Mann helped lead filed a federal complaint, saying the school did little to stop threatening posts against its members after they took stands on hot-button campus issues this year. The school denies the charge. The group also asked police to probe whether the threats played any role in Mann’s killing, although members said they had no evidence that was the case. Soon after, police filed search warrants for Vander Briel’s e-mail and social media accounts. Mary Washington has said it received no reports about inappropriate behavior or threats by Vander Briel since he returned to campus. [Feminists at Mary Washington said they were threatened on Yik Yak] |