An Act Of Murder

by Linda Rosencrance

  “To lose your father, who would have protected you, is quite a thing,” she said.

  Mary Hricko told Judge Horne that her family didn’t want him to show Kim any leniency when he sentenced her.

  Jennifer Hricko, one of Steve’s three sisters, also spoke at Kim’s sentencing. Jennifer, a psychological-services specialist at a state prison in Pennsylvania, reminded the court that many people had been affected by Steve’s murder, and none of them deserved it.

  “There is no way in the world we deserve this,” Jenny said. “Nobody deserves this, no matter what, but we did not deserve this. Sarah, Kim and Steve’s daughter, is an intelligent, beautiful child who did not deserve this at all. Her life, whether she knows it or not, to this point, psychologically is ripped apart.”

  Jenny told the court that no matter how Sarah seemed to be doing on the outside, there was really no way to predict totally how the devastation of her father’s death would affect her future.

  “I know that people have suffered, perhaps including the perpetrator,” Jenny said. “But she needs to now go on and do what she can to help her daughter. And if she doesn’t, I will then be assured of the cold nature of this woman. I hope she can find it in her heart, and I think there is a spark in her heart that can come through with this, and face this honestly and with responsibility and help herself and her daughter.”

  Jenny told the court that although Steve had not been perfect, he was a gentle and good man.

  “He was a big, strong man and we all valued him and expected to have him in our lives,” Jenny said. “And I just pray that he can find peace where he is.”

  At the hearing Kim’s lawyers submitted letters to the judge from friends and family who asked him to be lenient when he sentenced Kim. Some of the letters sent in on Kim’s behalf came from relatives, including her paternal uncle and grandparents. But the Kim they described was a far cry from the Kim who had injected her husband with a drug to paralyze his muscles and then set him on fire.

  Kim’s paternal grandparents, Anna and Glenn Aungst Sr., asked Judge Horne to show compassion when he sentenced her. They told Horne that they were very close to Kim when she was growing up. Kim had always been a polite, caring, bright, and very religious person, who had never been mean to anyone, the Aungsts said.

  They told the judge that Kimberly was a very caring mother to her nine-year-old daughter, and that Sarah was very close to her mother and both mother and daughter really needed one another. They pleaded with the judge to show compassion and find it in his heart to return Kimberly to her family as soon as possible.

  Kim’s stepmother, Karen Pasquariello, told Judge Horne that throughout the twenty-six or so years she had known her she had always exhibited many wonderful qualities. Kim had always displayed an extreme love for God and for other people, she said in her letter.

  Pasquariello said Kim had always shown integrity, kindness, helpfulness, compassion and unselfishness toward others. She said Kim was sympathetic to others who were less fortunate or troubled, and Kim never appeared to be materialistic.

  “I have known her to be always focused on spiritual rather than material things. I trusted and believed in Kim. Kim has always extended kindness and respect to me,” Pasquariello said.

  Kim’s aunt, G.R. Matthews, said she had always been a very sweet, unselfish girl, whom she had enjoyed being around. She said when her mother passed away, Kim couldn’t take time off from work to be with her. But she did call to offer her condolences and also made arrangements for food to be available after the funeral.

  “This was a compassionate act that I shall always remember,” Matthews said.

  Matthews also said Kim had always demonstrated only positive characteristics in her life and in her interactions with others.

  Ronald Aungst, Kim’s uncle, also wrote to Judge Horne telling him about Kim’s life. He said Kim was a good little girl, happy and loving. He said Kim was a very good student in school and graduated from a private Christian high school in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Kim then attended two private Christian colleges, working her way through school as a waitress. Then she got married and had Sarah. He told Judge Horne that Kim graduated from Penn State University and was a registered nurse and a surgical nurse.

  Ronald Aungst explained that Kim had always been caring and concerned about helping sick people. He said Kim’s grandmother had had many mental and physical illnesses over the past twenty-five years and Kim had always been there for her in her time of need, caring for her, supporting her and helping her work through those difficult times.

  “I know, Judge Horne, that you take into account the kind of life a person has lead when sentencing them and know what’s best to help each individual person,” he said. “I thank you, Judge Horne, for helping my dear niece, Kimberly, receive the treatment she needs to bring her back to health.”

  Although not at Kim’s sentencing, her mother remembered what her only daughter had been like growing up. She told the judge Kim was born in 1965 and she was four when the divorce from her father, Glenn Aungst, was final. The family lived in California for the first three years of Kim’s life—her dad was in the service—then he went to Vietnam and Lois moved back to Hollidaysburg. She said she married her current husband at the end of 1970.

  Lois said Kim had gone to Hollidaysburg Junior High School, and then she chose to go to Calvary Baptist Christian Academy. She had been valedictorian of her class in 1983. She had played basketball in high school and had been a cheerleader there, too. Matt, her half-brother, had been born in 1971, Lois said. Kim liked to roller skate and shop and she liked to have sleepovers with friends. She was a good student, always on the honor roll, her mother said. However, although Kim had many friends, she wasn’t allowed to date until she was sixteen, she said. Lois said when Kim started dating she had a lot of boyfriends.

  “She never caused a problem anywhere she went. She never got a traffic ticket and never had any problem with the law, ever,” Lois said.

  Lois said her second husband had difficulty accepting Kim, but he was never mean to her.

  “He wrote her a letter when she was first arrested saying he should have loved her more,” she said.

  Kim went to Messiah College where she took classes in communications and was also a cheerleader. However her father wanted her to go to Penn State. He didn’t want her at a Christian College so she ended up quitting and without telling Lois. Kim met the Millers at Penn State.

  “She sort of walked away from the Lord. But she didn’t start living for the Lord until she was inside that prison,” Lois said.

  At the sentencing hearing Prosecutor Bob Dean told the judge why the state didn’t want him to show her any leniency and why Kim should receive a life sentence for the murder conviction and a consecutive sentence for the arson conviction.

  Dean said on the outside Steve and Kim seemed to have captured the American dream. They were a young, healthy, successful suburban couple with a beautiful young daughter. They had it all—good jobs, a lovely home, family, friends. But appearances were deceiving, he said.

  “I’m not going to try to explain it. And I, quite frankly, think it would be impossible to understand it, but there were storm clouds in the heart of Kimberly Hricko and she kept that hidden for some time and it all poured forth about a year ago. And by doing so, Kimberly Hricko threw away her life as she knew it, and it was a life that many people can only hope for.”

  Dean said Kim had become a twisted, angry woman full of hate.

  “She had two months of virtual infatuation with a younger man,” Dean said. “And we saw how she gave her heart to that younger man, Brad Winkler.”

  Dean said even as the Hrickos were preparing to go on a romantic weekend getaway to Harbourtowne that fateful Valentine’s Day weekend, Kim was more interested in making sure she delivered some Valentine’s Day presents and a note to Winkler.

  “The ironies in this case are compelling,” Dean told the court. “She had two-and-a half-months
to figure out the course of her life back in late fall 1997 and early 1998. And, as it turns out, I think the evidence tragically shows she had two months to figure out how to get rid of her husband. And, again, why she felt she had to do what she had to do, in the way that she did it, is something I don’t think any of us will totally understand.”

  Dean told the judge that Steve was a decent, hardworking guy, whose young life was now over. And now a ten-year-old child was virtually orphaned because her mother killed her father. He said the Hrickos’ family and friends were left wondering if there was anything they could have done to prevent Steve’s death.

  “There probably wasn’t,” he said. “Suffice it to say, it’s clear that the defendant premeditated this murder for quite some period of time. And she was obviously propelled by a vision of some sort of a better life that she had created in her mind with this new young man and an insurance recovery of well over four hundred thousand dollars.”

  But only one thing stood in the way of her goal, and that was her husband, Stephen, Dean said. So she eliminated him and nearly got away with it, he said. Kim used her special skills and knowledge and access to highly dangerous substances to get rid of her husband, Dean said. The irony was that as she planned Steve’s murder, he thought they were well on the way to fixing what was wrong in their marriage, Dean told the court.

  “And that screams out at you when you look at that journal that was presented in evidence about Stephen’s feelings, about how he felt and how he hoped. And how she literally abused that trust that weekend,” Dean told the judge. “The cold cruelty of this woman defies any further description, Your Honor. She stands convicted of the most serious of all crimes, first-degree, premeditated murder. The legislature here in Maryland has required a life sentence and I suggest that this woman richly deserves that sentence.”

  Dean said her conviction for arson was a felony that carried with it a sentence of thirty years. Dean asked the judge to impose consecutive, not concurrent, sentences, because she not only subjected her dead or dying husband to the horror of the fire she set, she also endangered other people in the same multiunit cottage.

  Next to address the court was Kim’s attorney William Brennan. Brennan told the judge that although the legislature mandated that the court must impose a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction, it also left it to the court’s discretion to decide if it should suspend any portion of that sentence. And, he said, the legislature also gave the court the discretion to determine whether or not the arson conviction should run concurrent or consecutive.

  “And in looking for aid and guidance in sentencing, the legislature has acknowledged that not all murders are the same and not all persons convicted of murder are the same. [The legislature has acknowledged] that people are different and crimes are different.”

  Brennan said although some murders were so heinous, so cruel, so beyond the pale, that the murderers, who were evil and vicious, deserved life sentences, Kimberly Hricko was not one of those people.

  “In this case, Your Honor, the record is before the court, the presentence investigation and the letters [that] have been sent to the court indicate this person, Kimberly Hricko, Your Honor, does not deserve a life sentence and nothing suspended,” Brennan argued.

  Brennan told the judge that it was no surprise that some people ended up before the court, because they had led a life of crime, but it was a complete shock in Kimberly’s case. He said Kim’s supporters still couldn’t believe that she killed her husband, because the Kimberly Hricko they knew was a good, honest, decent person. They knew her as a volunteer, a soccer mom, a wonderful person, not as a person who committed a crime, he said.

  “And by way of explanation, but not excuse, Your Honor, the presentencing investigation indicates that Ms. Hricko has suffered from depression for over six years,” Brennan said. “She was on Zoloft . . . and obviously, we all know, Your Honor, that depression can affect judgment. It can change personality.”

  Brennan told the judge that although some people didn’t deserve leniency when they were sentenced, because they had committed crimes that were so vicious and had always led lives of crime, Kimberly Hricko was not one of those people. Therefore, Brennan asked the judge to impose concurrent, not consecutive, sentences and to suspend a portion of the life sentence.

  Kimberly asked the court for leniency as well, but she never admitted she killed her husband.

  “Your Honor, on January [15], 1999, the jury returned its verdict and I have no choice at this point but to accept that verdict,” Kimberly said. “I understand the grief and pain expressed by the Hricko family. I feel love and compassion for them and I have prayed daily for their peace. I hope they can understand that I share a great deal of the loss and grief for the loss of Stephen. I feel so sorry for all the sorrow and loss they’ve endured. I also understand the impact that Stephen’s death has had on my daughter, Sarah. Her loss is double. She has neither parent now. Your Honor, please look beyond the simple one-dimensional version of me. Please look at my life with an open heart. A life that feels so disparate from all this. Thank you.”

  Now it was Judge Horne’s turn to speak. Horne said he had read all the letters submitted by the defense and the prosecution, as well as the presentencing investigation report and had listened to the attorneys’ statements and Kim’s statement.

  Horne said although the people involved viewed Kim differently, they were all united in one way—in the belief that it was a very sad occasion for everyone, not just one group or the other. Horne said he guessed they were also united in the hope that Kim’s sentencing would bring them some degree of closure so that they could all go on with their lives.

  And, he said, they were all united in something else—their compassion for Sarah.

  “There’s no one in here that does not feel great compassion for this little girl,” Horne said. “And that’s wonderful, but I would urge you to remember that in the years to come that she will continue to need your help and your thoughts and your compassion and your love and your assistance and your support. This won’t end for her and she will continue to need all of you.”

  Horne said that no matter how they felt about Kimberly, they all must make sure Sarah had all the family support that they could provide.

  “With respect to Kimberly Hricko and her supporters, I understand Mrs. Hricko that your position throughout this incident has been that you were not guilty of this crime,” Horne said. “And you have just acknowledged that you understand, and I hope your supporters understand, that I must proceed today on the basis of the jury’s finding that you are guilty. . . . Given that fact, what I am presented with is a planned, premeditated destruction of another human being’s life. And a destruction of that life in such a manner that . . . jeopardized the lives of other innocent people, who could easily have perished in the fire that occurred on the evening in question.”

  Horne told Kimberly her crime was not one of “hot blood,” nor a reaction to any stimulus that had just occurred. Instead, he said, it was a deliberate crime that had been planned for a considerable period of time.

  “And . . . if you were able to commit such a heinous crime against someone you had once felt so strongly for that you married that person, you had a child by that person, then I would submit that would make you a very dangerous person to everyone else in society, because you would be capable of doing the same thing to anyone else who caused you difficulty or stood in your way or incurred your wrath,” Horne told Kimberly.

  “You will be incarcerated, and in the reality of the world in which we live, there is every reason to believe that the day will come when you will be released from incarceration,” he said.

  Therefore, Horne told Kimberly, her life would be divided into three parts—the life she led before she went to jail, the life she would lead in jail, and the life she would lead when she was released from jail.

  “And it is the hope of this court that when that occurs, you will be prepared to act
right and be the person that all of your supporters know,” Horne said. “I hope you will be the fine person that they know and that they expect you to be.”

  Horne then sentenced Kimberly to state prison for life on the murder charge and sentenced her to thirty years on the arson charge. The sentences were to run concurrently, he said. After explaining Kim’s postconviction rights of appeal, court was adjourned.

  Chapter 20

  One of Kim’s strongest supporters, Laurel real estate agent Cathy Rosenberger, was at Kim’s sentencing hearing. She wanted to speak on Kim’s behalf at the hearing, but Kim’s defense attorneys decided against it.

  Rosenberger, who put up $40,000 of her own money for Kim’s defense, helped Kim after her trial by presenting her postconviction attorneys with information that she and Kim thought would be useful in developing alternative theories to explain Steve’s death. And she provided them with her insights into Steve’s personality and health. She also supplied this information to Kim’s trial lawyers. Although she has stopped contributing money to Kim’s postconviction relief efforts, Rosenberger said she still believes in her innocence. Rosenberger said she was the person who asked Kim’s family and friends to write letters to Judge Horne on Kim’s behalf.

  “Kim’s attorneys told [Kim and me] it would be beneficial for Kim if all her friends and family wrote letters to Judge Horne describing how they knew her and a story or two about something Kim had done for them,” Rosenberger said. “I was instructed by Brennan and Trainor to contact all the people and ask if they would write on Kim’s behalf. The lists of names came from Kim, her mother, and friends. I did not have much time, so I wrote to everybody and told them if they had any questions to call me.”

  Rosenberger wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

  “Lots of people called to find out how Kim was doing and to say how concerned they were. Before I wrote to them, they didn’t really know who to talk to,” Rosenberger said. “I talked to [one woman] who had many kind things to say about Kim being a volunteer for children in the courts. Sarah’s teacher talked for a very long time. She had been a dinner guest at Kim’s and they went shopping together. One time she was sick and Kim sent her a get-well card and called to see if she could bring her some food. One soccer mom told me about how Kim was very involved in Sarah’s soccer team. Kim was a coach and also gave an end-of-season party at her house for the kids and coaches.”