MERIDEN, Conn. — A woman has been arrested in connection to the death of 28-year-old Beth Ndwiga.
Meriden police said Ndwiga died after being shot near the Meriden Green Monday night, following an altercation with people she knew.
On Tuesday, 32-year-old Maryiah Farrar was arrested and charged with assault in the second degree and conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree.
Police confirmed a woman was “taken in for questioning” Tuesday after they shut down the street of her apartment on W Main Street and obtained a warrant to gain entry.
As Farrar appeared for an arraignment at Meriden Superior Court Wednesday, the judge said he “knew the case” because he was the one who signed that warrant, as he pointed across the street to the apartment Meriden officers entered Tuesday afternoon.
In court, Farrar’s public attorney argued the witnesses in the case can’t be trusted and there’s no probable cause to arrest his client. After prosecutors described Farrar’s alleged involvement in what they called an “execution-style murder,” the judge ruled there was enough probable cause to keep her behind bars.
The incident report from Monday night obtained by FOX61 describes the altercation near the Meriden Green just after 10 p.m., where a witness told police the victim was assaulted by at least two other people, including a man and a woman. When the witness tried to intervene, the papers say, the male suspect drew a gun and pointed it at him. Shortly after, the witness said the female suspect was stabbed in the right shoulder.
The papers said the victim then ran across the green, with both suspects running behind her. The witness told police the male suspect shot the victim, who fell to the ground. Seconds later, the papers said the man shot her again. Both suspects, the documents said, ran toward the train station.
The report explains how officers found video from the nearby train station, where a man in a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants was seen with an object in his hands.
At the same time, it states a woman is seen in, “A black hooded sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, holding the right side of her neck, running from the area in which Beth was located toward the train station.”
In court Wednesday, Farrar was wearing a hospital gown and gray sweatpants.
Officers later identified the woman in the surveillance video as someone living above the Downtown Coffee Shop on W Main Street. When officers got there, they found Farrar wearing a similar outfit to what was described to them, with a wound on the side of her neck.
In the police report, when Farrar was asked for her name, she said, “I have nothing to say.”
Farrar was taken into handcuffs and transported to the hospital.
That’s when officers closed the street off and went into her apartment above the coffee shop. Documents show officers found “a silver folded pocketknife, on which was a blood-like substance.”
The court documents said probable cause exists “that Myriah Farrar is the female suspect on this incident due to matching the physical appearance of the suspect from the surveillance videos and because she displayed a wound matching that which was described.”
Fararr’s bond was set at $250,000, and she’s expected back in court next month.
As of Tuesday night, Meriden police said they were looking for an unidentified male potentially involved in the case.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call Det. John Wagner at 203-630-6334.
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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