LOCKPORT, N.Y. — A pre-trial hearing in Niagara County Court provided new insight into what may have happened in the 1993 murder of 17-year-old Mandy Steingasser of North Tonawanda.
It came in the form of testimony from two men who were behind bars with Joseph Belstadt, when he was serving time on charges unrelated to Steingasser’s murder.
Police had long suspected Belstadt, now 43, of killing Steingasser.
However, he wasn’t charged until last April, some 25 years after the crime occurred.
Carlos Rodriguez testified that he met Belstadt while both were inmates at the Niagara County jail in 1995.
While on the stand Wednesday, he recalled that his girlfriend at the time had been friends with Steingasser, and that when she learned the two were locked up together, she asked him to beat up Belstadt.
Instead, Rodriguez said the two became friendly.
It was during a conversation in the jail that Rodriguez claims Belstadt told him that when the North Tonawanda teen's body was found near Bond Lake Park she had been strangled, and that her bra was still around her neck.
"I thought, how would he know that? I knew someone's daughter had been killed. I felt bad and wanted to help," Rodriguez testified.
Rodriguez says he shared that information with police, who he said asked him to try and find out more.
Christopher Grassi, who lives in the Binghamton area, testified that he became acquainted with Belstadt while both were doing time in state prison for arson related charges.
Both were housed at the Cayuga Correctional Facility in Moravia.
Grassi claimed that Belstadt told him Steingasser had been partying with him and a buddy, and that the buddy (who has never been identified) ended up having sex with Steingasser in the back seat of Belstadt's car.
Recalling one alleged conversation while referring to Belstadt by his prison nickname, Squirrely, Grassi testified, “Squirrelly wanted to join in. She wanted no part of that. One thing led to another, and they ended up strangling her. ... They took her out of the car and put her in some woods someplace."
Grassi claimed this was at around the time North Tonawanda police showed up at the prison where Belstadt was being held, seeking information about a murder case. He ended up speaking to them three times according to an exhibit placed before the court.
When cross examining the witnesses, Belstadt’s lawyers sought to establish that neither was credible while suggesting that they said what they did in order to make things better for themselves.
At one point, Grassi acknowledged that he spoke with police, “probably to help myself … I wouldn't talk to anyone without a benefit."
Both men insisted they got nothing for their cooperation.
Rodriguez, who said he has had a clean record since the early 1990s, ended up serving eight years on a drug charge.
Belstadt’s lawyers noted, however, that after talking to police Rodriguez – who prior to being sent to state prison had been accused of having his girlfriend smuggle marijuana to him in the county jail – was never charged with promoting prison contraband.
They also noted that not long after sharing information with police, Grassi was released by a parole board which received a letter from the Niagara County District Attorney's office informing it of his cooperation.
“I never knew of that letter before today,” Grassi insisted.
Both witnesses had trouble recalling the timeline surrounding their conversations with police all those years ago.
But it may be crucial to the case going forward.
If they went to the police with the information that's one thing.
However, if the police approached them first and asked them to try and solicit that information from Belstadt, then the defense may claim they were acting as agents of the police, and move that their testimony be ruled inadmissible at Belstadt's trial which is currently schedule for September.
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