On Mother’s Day, according to People magazine, an individual visiting another jail inmate was disturbed by Angelika’s attitude. “She doesn’t look like she’s mourning the death of someone she loved. To me, she’s not well up there,” she said, tapping a finger on her temple. She added that Angelika had flitted around wishing “Happy Mother’s Day” to all visiting moms.
She talked about the tastiness of the food in jail and laughed uproariously with visiting friends. Was she making the best of a bad situation? Or did she actually like the place—and the media attention that accompanied her situation?
Portale came out swinging with his defense strategy, alleging that his client might be in jail illegally because of the state’s inconsistency: he’d heard that she was indicted on May 5, then that she had not on May 8. He claimed the district attorney had first said murder in the second degree, then said it wasn’t.
He demanded disclosure from the prosecution and filed a request for a bail hearing with Judge Robert Freehill. On Wednesday, May 13, the parties gathered before the judge. Angelika stood at the defense table with three men: her lead attorney, Richard Portale; the balding, paler second attorney, Jeffrey Chartier; and the tall, beefy, brush-cut-topped forensic scientist Michael Archer, who loomed over the tiny defendant.
Chartier had worked in Westchester County as an assistant district attorney for ten years, before switching to private practice at the Law Offices of Murray Richman in 2007. He was best known for his defense of William Rockefeller, an engineer who fell asleep on a Metro-North Railroad train on December 1, 2013, causing it to jump the tracks. The resulting accident resulted in four deaths and more than seventy injuries. With Chartier’s defense, focusing on the engineer’s sleep apnea and a lack of proper track maintenance, no charges were brought against Rockefeller.
But Michael Archer appeared to be the defense’s best weapon. His credentials included degrees in psychology, biology, forensic science, religious studies, and systemic theology. He also had teaching experience at Marist College in Poughkeepsie and at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh.
In the forensic science field, he’d worked on cases with well-known experts Dr. Henry Lee and Dr. Michael Baden. The case that brought him to prominence in his field was his role as lead forensic scientist for the defense team in the trial of Joran van der Sloot, charged with the murder of Natalee Holloway. During the case, Archer said, “There is no DNA or forensic evidence, there are no confessions, and there is no body. In the time Joran was with Natalee, it would be impossible for him to have killed her and disposed of her without leaving a trace. I am certain Joran did not kill Natalee Holloway.” The judge agreed with Archer, and Archer was there for Joran’s release from jail. Unfortunately, he was now free to kill again, and he did. His murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez in 2010 resulted in a twenty-eight-year sentence in the prisons of Peru.
Now, at the prosecution’s table, Assistant District Attorney Julie Mohl presented the state’s case to the judge. She said that Angelika had told the detectives that “it felt good knowing … [Vince] would die.” Her actions, Mohl said, proved this when she waited until Vince was underwater—a full twenty minutes after he capsized—before calling nine-one-one. “She stated that she tampered with the victim’s kayak … she knew it would contribute to his death,” Mohl added. “She felt trapped and it was her only way out.” Mohl argued that Angelika was also motivated by greed, pointing to the life insurances policies. “She spoke to people about what she would do with the money,” Mohl claimed.
Judge Freehill set bail at a staggering $3 million cash—an impossible amount for Angelika to raise. Between an online defense fund and her family and friends in Latvia scraping together all they could, she’d raised $120,000. A bail that high was too far a goal.
Alarm bells blared for Portale. He could not believe that he was hearing of this so-called confession two weeks after his client’s arrest. “I’m skeptical of the statements,” he said in a press conference after the hearing. He alleged that the language barrier was an issue in her interview with detectives and questioned whether her comments were voluntary. “She’s very confident sounding and so even if she doesn’t know what you’re saying, she’ll answer in an affirmative tone,” Portale told reporters. As for her actions after the incident, he insisted that cultural differences had caused her to behave in a manner that appeared bizarre to Americans.
That same day, at 11:00 am, police recovered a male body from the Hudson River near a boathouse owned by Marist College. Vince’s family and friends were torn between hope and dread. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday morning.
However, authorities soon released the news that it was not Vince’s body. They did not release the identity of the dead man, nor would they give reporters any information about his age or ethnicity.
In Vince’s circle, hope died another death and prayers went heavenwards to plead for the recovery of his body.
Ten long days later, their prayers were answered.