Court documents released Monday detail the killing of insurance executive Melissa Millan along a jogging path in Simsbury in 2014.
Police arrested William Winters Leverett on Sunday, four days after he walked into the Simsbury Police Department and confessed to the crime, according to the arrest warrant application.
Leverett, 27, of Windsor Locks, who is a registered sex offender, was charged with one count of murder.
Millan was found dead along Iron Horse Boulevard in Simsbury, about 11 miles northwest of Hartford, on Nov. 21, 2014. She had gone out for a run around 8 p.m. the night before. She was stabbed once in the chest.
According to the arrest warrant application, Leverett told police that on the night of Millan’s death, he returned home from a sex offenders therapy group and felt lonely. He went to walk along the path near Iron Horse Boulevard in hopes of finding someone to talk with. Leverett saw Millan on the running path and said he was immediately attracted to her physical features.
Leverett told police he did not know Millan and had never seen her prior to the moment she jogged by him.
After seeing her run past him, Leverett got into his vehicle and drove further down the boulevard with the intention of parking his vehicle so he could walk onto the running path to be next to her. He said when he began thinking about a possible interaction with her, he became anxious and realized, “I (Leverett) can’t have her” and “she’s way out of my league,” according to the court documents.
Leverett told police that he “was angry” and that his “anger escalated rapidly” then he “went into a frenzy.” He said it was at that moment that he decided to confront and attack Millan with the knife he had in his vehicle.
After he drove from Iron Horse Boulevard, Leverett told officers that he parked in an adjacent business lot, grabbed the knife and ran eastbound across the street to the running path.
As he saw Millan approaching, Leverett said he intentionally ran into her and caused her to stop. He said he immediately stabbed her once in the chest, according to the arrest warrant application. When Millan pushed him away, she caused the knife to be pulled from her chest while he was still holding it. During the push, she fell backwards, over the guardrail and onto the road, the documents said.
After she fell into the roadway, Leverett told officers that he ran across the street back to his vehicle and turned around to look at her. He said he could hear her say, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” before she went silent. Leverett told police that he thought, “Oh my God, what have I done?” and then said he was “shaking and crying.” He told police he had assumed she died but did not know for sure until he saw the news the following day.
According to police documents, Leverett fled the area with the knife and later threw it out of his car window onto a side street in Simsbury. Leverett told police that he retrieved the knife a few days later and discarded it in a trash compactor at his job.
Among evidence collected by police were alleged confession letters that Leverett told police he wrote on the night of the crime.
They also retrieved a glove from a barn that Leverett told detectives he was wearing when he allegedly committed the crime, the court documents show. He told them it fell in a crevice in the barn and he left it there.
DNA testing of the glove showed DNA that likely came from Millan, Leverett and a third unknown person, according to the police arrest warrant application.
Millan, who was 54 when she died, was an executive with the MassMutual insurance company in Hartford. The company released the following statement on Friday:
“Melissa Millan was an incredible person and outstanding leader, and we were fortunate to have her as a part of our MassMutual family for more than a decade. We are encouraged to learn that there are developments in her case, and continue to keep Melissa and her family in our thoughts.”
Leverett appeared in Enfield Superior Court on Monday but did not enter a plea. He was held on $2 million bond. The public defender asked that Leverett be put on a mental health watch.
Millan’s family released the following statement in response to the arrest:
“The family, friends and coworkers of Melissa Millan are thankful for the outpouring of love and support we’ve received since Melissa’s death in November 2014. Melissa was a loving mother, a devoted daughter, a witty and compassionate sister, a loyal friend, an intelligent, successful businesswoman and mentor to many. The arrest and arraignment of the suspect brings renewed grief, heartache and the knowledge that justice can never be served for the senseless act that robbed us of Melissa’s beautiful presence.
“We extend our gratitude to the Simsbury Police Department and other participating law enforcement agencies for all of their work. Now as we confront our individual and collective grief and sorrow, we humbly request respect for our privacy during this difficult and emotional time.”
