Michael Hartmann of Bohemia was killed 'in cold blood,' prosecutor in mistaken identity case says

A Bohemia man was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity by two men searching for stolen personal items, a Suffolk prosecutor alleged during opening statements Tuesday at the trial of one man accused in the November 2022 killing.

Christopher Fernandez, 30, of Sound Beach, told investigators he was the victim of two separate thefts before he ended up at a Bohemia home where he believed some of his belongings may have been, Assistant District Attorney Frank Schroeder told the jury seated before State Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski in Suffolk County.

The owner of the Smithtown Avenue home, Michael Hartmann, 49, was preparing to leave for work at 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2022, when he became a "totally innocent victim," shot and killed by the two men in his own backyard, the prosecutor said.

Schroeder called it a case of "wrong place, wrong time," saying Fernandez and associate Oliver Schor mistakenly attempted to burglarize the home of a family man with no connection to them.

"Michael Hartmann heard something, saw something and he goes over to the door and unlocks [it]," Schroeder said. "He walks out onto his rear deck and is gunned down in cold blood."

Fernandez is charged with second-degree murder, attempted burglary and gun charges in connection with the killing, and robbery for an incident at a Manorville gas station earlier that morning. Schor also is accused in the killing and will be tried at a later date, records show.

Schroeder said Suffolk homicide detectives went months with no suspects as they searched for a motive someone might have had to kill Hartmann, a carpenter who lived in the home with his wife and four daughters in their teens and early 20s.

The prosecutor said investigators explored if Hartmann owed money or if the killing was related to an affair. He said six months passed before detectives got a "big break" when a woman called to identify Fernandez and Schor, 24, also of Sound Beach, as suspects.

Police later found cell tower evidence that showed the two men were in the area at the time of the shooting and immediately fled, Schroeder said.

Fernandez told investigators the woman who reported him, who Schroeder said has since died, stole drugs and money from him out of a Medford hotel room they shared the night before Hartmann was killed. He then told police a cellphone and other personal belongings were stolen by a second woman who left him passed out on heroin in a parking lot, Schroeder said.

After calling his brother for a ride, Fernandez told police he was ultimately picked up in the early morning hours by Schor, who drove him around as he used a GPS app on a separate cellphone to track down his stolen items, the prosecutor said.

Schroeder told the jury that all of the details in Fernandez's version of events might not add up, but they should pay attention to the cell tower data and admissions in his videotaped interrogation that will show the men were looking to break into Hartmann's home when he was killed.

In his own opening statement, defense attorney Christopher Cassar, of Huntington, did not dispute that Fernandez was present at the house. But the attorney said most of his client's statements were made under duress two years later, during an interview in which he was baited into saying certain things by detectives who tricked him into believing the shooting and attempted burglary were captured on video.

"He was a drug addict, struggling, trying to remember the facts," Cassar said.

The defense attorney said his client never attempted to enter Hartmann's home and he was not armed with either of the weapons allegedly used in the shooting.

"The question is what was their intent," the defense attorney added. "Did he intend to burglarize? That makes no sense. Then after the shooting, why didn't they go into the house?"

Cassar said Schor was the actual killer.

Schroeder told the jury it doesn't matter who fired the bullets because both men attempted the burglary together and were accomplices in the killing. He said their actions that night shattered a family.

"Michael Hartmann was in the right place at the right time," Schroeder said. "He was in his house at 6:30 in the morning. He got up ... to support his family. And in a split instant, his wife becomes a widow and his four beautiful daughters lost their father."

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.