Glen Cove suspect arraigned on first-degree murder charges

BY ANN GIVENS | Newsday Staff Writer

11:13 AM EDT, September 14, 2006

Evan Marshall at the courthouse in Mineola on August 22, 2006. He is charged with killing and dismembering his neighbor Denice Fox. (Photo by Howard Schnapp)

Evan Marshall, the bedding salesman accused of killing and dismembering a retired teacher and his Glen Cove neighbor last month, was arraigned this morning on one court of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and a hit-and-run charge.

Marshall, 31, was charged with first-degree murder because he allegedly killed Denice Fox, 57, his neighbor, while committing another felony, burglary.

He continues to be held without bail.

Police who searched his home found trash cans containing the victim's headless torso, pornographic videos showing women being tortured and dismembered and drag marks from the victim's home to the defendant's, Nassau prosecutors said in court documents.

New details of the case, which come from a prosecution motion asking the defense to turn over a sample of Evan Marshall's DNA, were obtained by Newsday on the eve of his arraignment on what sources close to the case said were upgraded charges of first-degree murder.

Nassau police had already found large amounts of blood at Denice Fox's house in Glen Cove when three officers descended the stairs of the house owned by Marshall's mother to search the basement, where Marshall lived.

In a garbage can on the basement floor was the headless torso of a woman. Next to it, in another can, was the lower half of the body, the papers said.

It would be hours before Marshall returned with Fox's severed head in the trunk of a light blue Toyota and blood on his shoes, the papers said. In that time, police gathered several boxes of evidence from Marshall's mother's home. They found knives and blood. They found pornographic videos showing women being tortured and dismembered, the papers said.

A spokesman for the Nassau district attorney's office would not comment on the details contained in the motion. Marshall's lawyer, William Keahon of Islandia, said only, "I'll comment in court."

Despite the evidence prosecutors say they found, however, Nassau County Court Judge Richard LaPera for now has denied their request for Marshall's DNA. LaPera agreed with a legal argument made in a motion by Keahon that said Marshall is not required to turn over his DNA until prosecutors show that they have found unknown DNA at a crime scene.

Lab results of DNA found at the scene have not been returned yet, said district attorney spokesman Eric Phillips. If prosecutors do find unidentified DNA at Fox or Marshall's house, they will reapply for a DNA swab later, Phillips said.

Keahon said he's pleased with LaPera's decision.

"It's a serious case with serious consequences to all parties, so I was gratified when the court denied the prosecution's right to take away his DNA based on the legal arguments presented by my office," he said.

According to the prosecution's motion, police -- who had already found massive amounts of blood in Fox's house at 7 Willada Lane -- searched Marshall's house after Keahon called to tell them it was OK. When they went into the basement, they found the body parts in the trash cans, which were marked with the address of Fox's home, the motion said.

Police also found a trail of fresh drag marks through the grass leading from Fox's house to Marshall's house, two doors down the street. Bloodstains accompanied the drag marks, the papers said.

When Evan Marshall pulled up to his house on the morning of Aug. 18 with Fox's head in the trunk, he was wearing shorts, and police could see fresh scratches and abrasions on his legs, and blood on his shoes, the papers said. After he was arrested, police seized his clothes, swabbed his hands and took scrapings from under his fingernails, the papers said.