BRIDGEPORT–Jury selection has begun in the retrial of a Bridgeport man accused of killing and dismembering his girlfriend.
The first attempt to prosecute Jermaine Richards ended in a mistrial last year after the jury deadlocked.
Richards is charged with murder in the April 2013 killing of 20-year-old Alyssiah Wiley, a student at Eastern Connecticut State University who was from West Haven. Her partial remains were found in a wooded area in Trumbull about a month after she was last seen with Richards outside her dorm.
Police say Wiley tried to break up with Richards, 32, via Facebook shortly before her death and he became upset.
Wiley was spotted on surveillance video that day getting into a car with Richards.
In Richards’ arrest warrant obtained by FOX 61, Richards told a friend in March 2013 that he would get rid of Wiley. When asked how, he replied, “Trust me. I’m a nurse.”
Richards denies killing Wiley and has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder.
The trial is tentatively expected to begin the first week of March.
