Editor’s note: This story includes some graphic descriptions of the crime scene.
It was a formal admission read into the court record this morning by assistant Crown attorney Kaely Whillans that first showed why accused murderer Felicity Altiman was near the apartment of the man she is alleged to have stabbed 103 times.
A formal admission is an agreement that an admitted fact is true and can’t be contradicted once made without applying to the court to withdraw it. This one came from a woman named Misty Assinewai, who previously lived with a man named Alvin Irving. Irving and Assinewai lived across the hall from 75-year-old Robert “Bob” Keskinen, the victim in this case, and in her admission, Assinewai said when she moved out, Felicity Alitman moved in with Irving.
Assinewai attested that Keskinen would put his wallet under the pillow on his bed when he was drunk, and that when Altiman would go over to Keskinen’s apartment “she would sit by the wallet, pretend she was doing something, and on occasion, take money from his wallet, or in other instances, when he was drunk, she would take empties from his room.”
Keskinen’s cousin, Richard Keller, testified there were empties missing from Keskinen’s room when he was found, but also, a pair of tan boots.
Over the course of two days of testimony, a Sudbury courtroom has also heard from the first responders who arrived at Keskinen’s apartment on Dec. 26, 2020, finding him covered in blood.
The post-mortem examination found Keskinen had been stabbed 103 times and had his genitals mutilated. Felicity Alitman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in January, 2021, and now faces a jury of six men and six women who will decide her fate.
GSPS Det-Const. Alex McDonald testified he arrived at the home of Keskinen and was the first officer on the scene. Paramedics had arrived and were preparing to enter the apartment, but it was McDonald’s job to ensure the victim’s safety and offer any life-saving measures immediately required.
He was met outside Keskinen's building by property manager James Stewart and Keskinen’s cousin, Richard Keller, who let the officer into the building and later Keskinen’s apartment.
“As soon as I walked into that apartment, I observed the victim to be seated on the floor to my right with his back to a cabinet, and he was sitting straight on the floor with his legs straight out in front of him, facing the rear wall of the apartment,” said McDonald. “The apartment itself was in complete disarray. It was dirty, messy, and also it … appeared to be some type of a struggle.”
He also noted a broken chair in the middle of the room.
“I immediately noticed significant swelling to the face of the victim and the entirety of his face,” said McDonald. “Above his forehead and above the eyebrows, there were lacerations on both sides. His cheeks were swollen. His entire face was swollen.
“The shirt he was wearing was pulled up showing about three inches of his stomach. There was a puncture wound to the right of the victim, there was a puddle of blood about one-and-a-half feet in diameter.”
McDonald said he checked for vital signs on Keskinen and for anyone else in the room. He told assistant Crown attorney Kaely Whillans that what stood out to him was the cleanliness of the bathroom, a small room he described as to the left of the victim. “It was inconsistently clean with the rest of the apartment,” he testified. “As I mentioned, the apartment: simply disarray. The bathroom was relatively clean in comparison to the rest of the apartment.”
McDonald said as soon as he realized that there was no one else in the apartment he immediately “stepped back over the victim and exited the apartment to let the paramedic in.”
That paramedic was Steve Mackie, who testified he approached Keskinen and confirmed he was dead. Mackie noted in his report of the incident that there were “copious amounts of blood.”
When cross-examined by Altiman’s attorney, Stephen Hinkson, Mackie testified he felt there was rigor mortis in the jaw, evidenced by his attempt to move it, finding it difficult to open and close.
Rigor mortis is a stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body and sets in a few hours after death and its presence can help estimate the time since death, as well to learn if the body was moved after death.
This afternoon, the jury was told about the crime scene, as well as the fingerprints found near Keskinen’s body. Sudbury.com will follow up on that testimony tomorrow. The Crown will have at least 16 more witnesses before they rest their case. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com.