Overview
- The Connecticut state trial opened Monday in Stamford, where Judge John F. Blawie told jurors to expect about three weeks.
- Karun is charged with murder, murder with special circumstances, and first-degree kidnapping, which in Connecticut covers abduction with intent to sexually violate or abuse, and he faces life without parole if convicted.
- The first witnesses included Kathleen’s mother and former Norwalk officers, who described the search, a bookbag found in the woods, and 1980s evidence work done without gloves.
- The judge denied photo and video requests after the family opposed cameras, citing court rules for cases that include alleged sexual assault.
- Improved DNA methods and a 2017 warrant sample supported Karun’s 2019 arrest in Maine, and superseding federal weapons charges from that arrest then kept the state case on hold.