Rochester woman's testimony in kidnap, sex case under scrutiny

Thomas Minichiello follows Strafford County Deputy Attorney Alysia Cassotis out of the courtoom after a recess was called on Friday. (Lebanon Voice photo)

DOVER, N.H. - The wife of the pastor at the Advent Christian Church in Farmington spent several hours on the witness stand Friday recounting her relationship with a young Rochester woman and the events that occurred before and after the 26-year-old's alleged kidnapping and sexual assault at a Dover motel in 2013.

Thomas Minichiello, 63, of 285 Main St., Groveland, Mass., is alleged to have lured the young woman to his hotel room where she thought she was going as part of a job application, but instead ended up being forced to take a shower, change into skimpy clothes and strike specific poses while Minichiello used medical equipment to measure her heart rate and blood pressure back on Sept 17, 2013.

The young woman, who now lives in Somersworth, told police she felt compelled to stay in the room and perform the requested tasks because Minichiello - who had identified himself to her as Tom Kennedy - locked the motel room door as they entered and told her to comply if she ever wanted to see her kids again. He also had syringes on the dresser, which she took as a threat, she has testified.

The trial began earlier this week and is expected to finish sometime next week, with several witnesses still to be heard.

Beverly Downing, whose husband is the pastor at Advent Christian Church, said the alleged victim first told her about the man she knew as Tom Kennedy in respect to a job interview for an exercise company he owned that would pay her a great salary as a secretary.

The company was called Patriot Strength and would be located in Rochester.

Downing said on the day of the job interview the victim received several phone calls from Kennedy changing the interview location, from Portsmouth, to a McDonald's in Rochester and finally the 99 restaurant in Somersworth, a short distance from the Comfort Inn in Dover.

Downing said when they got to the 99 around 3 p.m. Minichiello wasn't there yet but showed up a few minutes later after which he and the alleged victim spent a few minutes at the restaurant before she returned and very excitedly told her she'd gotten the job and her boss wanted her to start right away.

Downing said she asked the young woman if she felt comfortable with the situation, and she said she was, so she drove home.

A few hours later she got a phone call saying she needn't come back to Dover to pick up the young woman, that her boss would be bringing her home.

"How did she sound?" asked Strafford County Deputy Attorney Alysia Cassotis.

"Excited and nervous," Downing replied.

Sometime later, Downing wasn't sure when, the young woman called her, both hysterical and crying.

"It wasn't a job, it was a trick," Downing said the alleged victim told her.

When Downing got the call she said she drove over to the victim's downtown Rochester apartment and found her on a couch, crying and inconsolable, however defense attorney Thomas Gleason of Haverhill questioned whether she was hysterical because of her husband's reported insensitivity to her plight or the alleged kidnapping, itself.

Downing also spent much time on the witness stand recounting her relationship with the young woman, saying she first met her when she approached her and the pastor to help get her some Christmas gifts for her three children several years ago.

She said the young mom began to approach her regularly regarding help with various things and she became a sort of mentor often pointing her toward a more spiritual and religious life, adding they often prayed together.

After the alleged kidnapping incident, they met even more for a few months but then the young woman just disappeared.

During earlier testimony, the alleged victim told the jury that she'd gone into hiding in May 2014 and finally came out of hiding last October. She said she was living alone in a trailer and that she didn't want to see anyone.

Asked by defense attorney Thomas Gleason if she had formed an opinion of the young woman, Downing said, "I have not always trusted her."

Earlier in the day Dover Patrol Officer Brynn Dunne told of her initial interview with the alleged victim the night of the incident.

She testified that the young woman never mentioned being touched in a sexual way by the suspect.

However, in earlier testimony, the woman said Minichiello had "brushed" his fingers against her vagina and breasts while asking her to stand and kneel in various poses.

The victim also later told police she thought sexual touching meant intercourse.

The context of prior statements induced a lengthy sidebar during which the jury was excused.

Soon after their return Strafford County Superior Court Judge Brian Tucker told them a prior statement does not invalidate a later statement, but should be weighed together.

Dunne testified that as the victim and a person with her, Downing, spoke with her the night of the incident the victim also never mentioned anything about threats with syringes or sexual touching or penetration or assault.

"She seemed very calm," Dunne said.

Dover Police Det. Patrick Kilbreth, who headed the investigation, was the last to testify on Friday, saying when he first contacted the alleged victim over the phone she appeared very upset.

They later did what is known as "forensic" interview which lasted several hours and was performed by a female officer who specializes in such cases.

Kilbreth also said when he initially talked to Minichiello he asked him what he was doing in Dover the night of the incident.

"He said it was interviewing with testing but I never held her against her will and I didn't do anything wrong," Kilbreth said.

Kilbreth also said he told Minichiello he doubted there really was an exercise company called Patriot Strength and when he asked him again if there was such a company, Minichiello answered, "No."

It wasn't until December of 2014 that he formally interviewed Minichiello with defense attorney Scott Gleason at the Haverhill Police Department where he asked Minichiello about equipment he allegedly had in his motel room the night of the incident: a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, a thermometer, and possibly some syringes.

Minichiello admitted he had brought all the items, except the syringes the victim claims he threatened her with.

He also admitted at that meeting he had touched the young woman's legs and arms but nothing sexual.

A week later Minichiello stopped by the Dover Police Department to see Kilbreth and dropped off some papers purported to be pay stubs for the alleged victim showing she had been paid $90.

At that meeting Kilbreth told the court Minichiello said he knew what he did was wrong, but "could we avoid an indictment?" Minichiello was indicted last February.

The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m.