CROWN POINT | Hands trembling, Marianne Bobella showed a Lake County Criminal Court jury photos of the items stolen from her Hammond home the night her best friend was killed.
Gregory Grudzien's body was found in the street Nov. 29 outside Bobella's home on Olcott Street, his face disfigured beyond recognition. The 58-year-old Griffith man was beaten, stabbed with a knife and left to die, police said.
Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Mark Watson said 17-year-old Kenneth Zamarron and another Hammond teen, Victor Hernandez, embarked on a crime spree that day that victimized six people and resulted in Grudzien's death.
Zamarron is on trial this week for 10 criminal charges relating to the 2007 crimes.
He is accused of nine felonies: murder, murder in the perpetration of a robbery, murder in the perpetration of a burglary, robbery, burglary and two counts each of attempted carjacking and attempted confinement, Lake County Criminal Court records show. The Hammond teen also is charged with a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals for allegedly killing Bobella's dog.
In his opening argument, Watson told the jury the two teens tried to steal cars nearby after the murder and were caught by police after a perimeter was set up.
Their clothing was covered in blood, he said.
Defense attorney Herbert Shaps waived his right Monday to give an opening statement to the jury.
Zamarron and Hernandez drove aimlessly around Hammond last November when they had a minor accident outside Bobella's home, just blocks from the Purdue University Calumet campus, court records allege.
Hernandez was convicted earlier this year of multiple felonies for the 2007 crimes and sentenced to 95 years in prison.
Hernandez told police he and Zamarron broke out some glass at the home, entered and were ransacking it for jewelry and liquor when Grudzien, a father of three, entered to walk the absent owner's dog.
Bobella testified Monday that Grudzien called her, shaken, and asked that she leave work and come to her house.
Police said Hernandez admitted, "My friend stabbed him in the belly. I stabbed him one or two times. I punched him. My friend stabbed him more."
Hernandez claimed Grudzien tried to defend himself with a knife before he was killed.
