Watertown, Connecticut – A UPS employee accused of fatally assaulting a colleague he helped deliver packages told police he stabbed the man before fleeing into the woods, according to a warrant released Thursday. His arrest came after a 15-hour manhunt, CBS Hartford partner WFSB-TV reports.
When he was taken into custody by state forces at a petrol station in Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon, Elijah David Bertrand, 19, of Bristol asked the officers, “Why did it take you so long to find me?” according to the order.
According to the document, Bertrand was found after using his debit card at the gas station, WFSB said.
Bertrand was charged Thursday on a charge of murder, charged with murdering UPS driver Nathan Burk, 28, from Waterbury. According to the arrest warrant, on Tuesday, the day of the attack, Bertrand worked as Burk’s “helper / agent”.
A motive remains unclear.
The bond for Bertrand was held at $ 2 million, WFSB said.
Connecticut State Police via AP
His attorney, Robert Pickering, asked that bond be diminished, arguing that Bertrand was not a flight risk and has a strong connection to the state. Betrand will appear in court again on January 6.
Pickering told The Associated Press that the case is “a terrible thing for all parties involved,” especially given that it happened just before Christmas and during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The empathy of my client’s family is incredible,” he said. “Whether my client is responsible for this or not, this young man’s death should never have happened during the holidays.”
Bertrand and Burk apparently drove the same vehicle, state soldier Joseu Dorelus said at a press conference on Wednesday. According to the arrest warrant, the couple stopped at the house of Burk’s girlfriend and ate, and stayed for about an hour before they had to return the UPS truck.
Burk’s girlfriend started calling her boyfriend about half an hour later, expecting he would have returned home by then as the house is located near the UPS warehouse. But the calls went unanswered, the order said.
WFSB-TV
Troopers initially responded to a call about a UPS truck accident in Watertown on Tuesday evening. They found the vehicle on the north shoulder of Route 8. Burk was unresponsive and fell over the wheel, with what appeared to be stab wounds.
A folding knife with blood on it, which Bertrand’s father later confirmed to police to be his son’s, was found on the spot, the order said. Waterbury State Attorney Maureen Platt said in court that Burk had been stabbed eight times.
Burk was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
Dozens of Burk’s loved ones and colleagues gathered outside the Watertown UPS facility on Wednesday. Many said they wanted answers.
‘We all want to know. We all want to know why, ”someone told WFSB.
“It’s just heartbreaking … He was such a good soul,” Kerry Langdeau of Waterbury told NBC Connecticut.
“I got up in the morning. I was about to deliver probably 200 packages and go home, but he never comes home,” said Sean O’Brien, treasurer of Teamsters Joint Council 10, a union. representing drivers across New England.