By Kathryn Marchoki
New Hampshire Union Leader
NASHUA, N.H. — Accused Mont Vernon killer Steven Spader basked in the attention he received in jail for his alleged crimes and described them in graphic detail in a series of handwritten letters he called “bedtime stories” and sent another inmate.
“So begins the tale of the Mont Vernon murder by Steven A. Spader,” inmate Chad Landry read out loud -- one of four letters he said Spader slipped him beneath his cell door when the two were housed beside each other at Hillsborough County jail in Manchester.
Spader wrote that he hacked Kimberly L. Cates, 42, to death with a machete while Christopher A. Gribble slashed and stabbed her daughter, Jaimie, 11, with a knife, nearly killing her.
He also detailed the planning that went into the Oct. 4, 2009, home invasion and steps the attackers took afterward, including disposing of evidence, cleaning and burying the murder weapons in Brookline and pawning jewelry they stole in Nashua.
Landry testified he encouraged Spader, 18, to write him the letters, then turned them over to prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence on a first-degree assault and probation violation he committed last November.
The letters corroborate accounts three co-defendants turned state’s witnesses already told jurors when they testified in Spader’s Hillsborough County Superior Court trial.
Spader, however, did not claim responsibility for attacking Jaimie in the letters.
“If I hit the little girl, it wasn’t intentional ...and it was not planned. Gribs did her in,” Spader wrote.
Landry said other inmates were harassing Spader at the time for harming a child.
Spader and Gribble, 21, both of Brookline, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder and related charges. Gribble stands trial Feb. 22.
In none of the letters did Spader indicate accomplices Quinn Glover, 18, or William Marks, 19, joined in the attack, though he said “they stood at the entrance to the room and watched” as Gribble dealt Kimberly Cates the fatal blow.
Landry said Spader talked about turning his notoriety “into a legacy” and making money off it.
Envious that Gribble got two pieces of “fan mail” in jail, Spader bought a subscription to the Nashua Telegraph so he could read about the crimes in the newspaper, only to discover his first name misspelled.
“He was pretty upset about his name being spelled wrong,” Landry said.
In other testimony, Kimberly Cates’ mother took the stand to identify one of the pieces of jewelry stolen from her daughter’s bedroom.
“This is a bracelet that Kim bought me several years ago. I sent it home with her last summer to save it for Jaimie,” an emotional Lynette Piasecki told jurors.
Walking back to her seat, Piasecki stopped and stared at Spader and made a slight move toward him. Two prosecutors quickly and gently guided her back to her seat as tears filled her eyes.
Christy Michaud said she was working at the Cash 4 Gold kiosk in Nashua when Gribble and Spader brought in a bag of jewelry to sell on the day after the murder.
Gribble said “he got it at a yard sale and spent $20 on it,” Michaud testified. She said she paid Gribble $130.62 for the jewelry, which Spader’s former girlfriend, Jillian Baptiste, said Gribble and Spader split between them.
Baptiste, 18, of Amherst said she and several friends were riding back to Amherst with Gribble and Spader when Spader “pulled out a machete and said, “Hey, look at this.’ And I saw what looked like dried blood on the sheath and said ‘What is that?’”
She said the two friends explained it away by saying it “must be from World War I.” Baptiste said she refused to see Spader again after a friend told her Spader was involved in the murder.
Spader exhibited a rare show of emotion when Baptiste read aloud a letter he wrote her from jail.
“By the time you get this letter the news will probably have hyped the end and you shall hear and see some pretty unflattering things about me,” Spader wrote, adding he “really felt connected” to her and “hope to hear back from you.”
Calling Marks a serial liar who would say anything to dodge a murder rap, Spader’s defense attorney accused Marks of attacking the mother and daughter.
Jonathan Cohen said Marks had the motive, weapon and opportunity to commit the crimes during the half-hour he was alone in the house before the others found another way to break in.
“You were lying when you said you didn’t attack Kimberly Cates?” Cohen pressed during cross-examination.
“No,” Marks replied. He also denied harming Jaimie Cates.
The trial resumes today.
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