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Denny pleads innocent to murder

Affidavit says CSC instructor died from blows to head

A cryptic comment made to a friend of a man facing a murder charge is the only explanation on record for the beating death of Linda Wiggin, according to a police affidavit released Wednesday.

"I guess she pushed my button one too many times, yup that was her," Joey Ladd recalled David Denny saying as the pair watched news reports of a police investigation into Wiggin's death on Tuesday morning — hours before police tracked Denny down, the affidavit stated.

Although authorities have not identified a murder weapon, another friend said Denny told him he hit Wiggin with a frying pan. The medical examiner's report concluded that Wiggin died from four blunt impacts to the left side of her head.

Denny, 41, pleaded innocent to a charge of second-degree murder in Rutland District Court on Wednesday afternoon. After a brief arraignment, Denny was taken to the Rutland jail where he is being held without bail for violating probation for four previous convictions. Judge Thomas Zonay also set bail at $750,000 for Denny on the murder charge.

Denny was arrested Tuesday, eight days after police say an argument with Wiggin, 49, proved fatal. Police said the Poultney woman's body spent at least part of the week buried in a storage area in the basement of the home at 186 College St.

Denny's arrest represented the conclusion of an investigation that started as a missing person report to police on Sunday. By Monday, crime scene investigators were swarming over the house searching for clues. A day later, Denny, who police said at that time was a "person of interest" was arrested on a probation violation.

The cause of the argument on Nov. 10 that led to Wiggin's death isn't clear in the affidavit. However, the ferocity of the fight was clear to the four Green Mountain College students living on the second floor of the house, who told police they overheard the confrontation.

Blair Schutt, one of the four students living upstairs, said Wiggin could be heard calling for help before falling silent.

"(Schutt) heard muffled arguing from the downstairs apartment which became increasingly louder as time went on," State Police Sgt. Daniel Elliot wrote in an affidavit. "She heard crashing and Linda Wiggin screaming."

Then, according to the affidavit, Schutt told police she heard Wiggin yelling "help please" or "help police."

"Linda continued to scream 'help police' or 'help please' and then it just stopped," Schutt reportedly told police. "After the screaming stopped they could just hear him moving around."

A medical examiner's report found that Wiggin died after an extended struggle. The Castleton State College instructor had five defensive wounds on her hands that were inflicted by a sharp, knife-like object.

Denny refused to talk to investigators after he was arrested Tuesday for violating his probation — which police say he did by vacating his residence in Rutland.

But from statements given by the four college students, Denny's friends and others, it appears that Denny spent the week after Wiggin's death cleaning up evidence of the crime and trying to cash checks and sell collectibles belonging to Wiggin.

On Nov. 11, the day after police believe Wiggin was killed, Denny asked student Nicole Pfeiffer to move her car so he could park Wiggin's green sport-utility vehicle in a garage on the property so he could "detail it."

Last Thursday, Schutt told police that Denny came out of Wiggin's apartment to talk to her and her mother. When Schutt asked him where Wiggin was, Denny told her he got into a fight with Wiggin on Monday, Nov. 10 "because he was an alcoholic and she caught him drinking." He allegedly told Schutt that Wiggin had left the house to stay with a friend until he was gone.

Denny, who was listed as a transient in court records, occasionally lived with Wiggin.

Schutt also told police that she had seen Denny inside Wiggin's apartment cleaning the floors and working, shirt off, with tools. When police did an initial cursory investigation of the home, they found "numerous" cleaning items on a kitchen counter. Later searches by a crime-scene team found positive tests for blood throughout the house and basement, according to the affidavit.

Denny also allegedly tried to delay any alarm about Wiggin's whereabouts by postponing her appointments.

Wiggin, who was recovering from breast cancer, had daily appointments at Rutland Regional Medical Center last week.

During Wiggin's appointment at the hospital on Monday, Nov. 10, she told staff she felt ill, Elliot wrote.

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Denny called the hospital to say that Wiggin was still sick — a message he reportedly relayed again Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week.

Denny, who is unemployed, also allegedly tried to make some money last week using checks and toy cars belonging to Wiggin.

Kim Brown, an employee at Shaw's Supermarket in Poultney, told police that on Tuesday, Nov. 11, Denny tried to cash a $450 check that was made out to Wiggin.

Around that same time, collector Robert Cassidy told police Denny called him to appraise some toys and other collectibles at Wiggin's home. Cassidy told police he went to the house on Sunday and paid Denny $40 for some of the items.

On Monday, Cassidy said Denny left him a message saying he had been in a fight with his girlfriend and was interested in selling all the matchbox cars he had "then and there."

By Monday, State Police had obtained a search warrant for Wiggin's home, but it wasn't until later that night investigators said they located her body.

Denny allegedly left the house before police arrived Sunday. His movements after meeting with Cassidy on Sunday are unclear until Monday when Ladd told police he received a call from Denny, who asked him to pick him up at the Rodeway Inn in Rutland.

Ladd said he brought Denny and a "large amount" of personal belongings back to his house in Brandon where Denny allegedly planned to stay until Sunday.

On Tuesday morning, Denny, Ladd and several other people at the residence watched a news report about a body discovered in Wiggin's house. It was after seeing the broadcast that Ladd said Denny made his remark about being pushed too far.

Juanita Desabrais, who was at Ladd's house when police arrived, said Denny tried to hide behind a fake plywood wall in the house before he was found and taken into custody.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Denny faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in jail and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.