newsnviews2.jpg(panamanewsbriefs.com) Debra Ann Ridgley has a deep and penetrating stare. Sitting in a corner of the enclosure destined for recreation activities in the Women's Rehabilitation Center, she recounted briefly and with distrust how she has lived the past two years in Home Number 5 of the women's prison in Panama City."It has not been easy", she says. Ridgley's life changed drastically in 2007 when the American citizen was accused of murdering fellow American Toni Grossi-Abrams. Toni Grossi-Abram's body, who was 58 years old at the time of her murder, was found mutilated, stuffed into a suitcase, and burned in a vacant lot on Ninth Street in Rio Abajo in April 2007. Judicial authorities immediately began to investigate the murder and Ridgley, a native of Pennsylvania, was arrested. She was first held in the holding cell of the former Judicial Technical Police (PTJ) before being turned over to the Public Ministry as one of the three primary suspects in the murder. Then, in May 2007, she was transferred to the Women's Prison. So far she is the only person who has been arrested in this case.


"I was confused".

 

Ridgley says she arrived in Panama in 2007, the same year that the crime occurred. She was 56 years old. Since then, she has not stopped thinking about the events of that night. "At that moment I was confused," she said, "but I told them all of the truth that I knew." She said that until now she has not learned anything new about the investigations of the case. “Two years have passed, [and I have passed them] with patience.

 

Now, Ridgley is just waiting for the arrival of her trial date; Friday, 20 March 2009. She repeats the date and insists "I am innocent." She speaks slowly and carefully considers each question before giving answers, Ridgley prefers not to go into detail on her version of events of what happened. She says that "what I had to say, I already said it."

 

She says she wasn't even in the apartment (number 1C of the PH Atlantis near Via Veneto) when they killed Grossi, and that she was compelled and forced to cooperate with the Colombian defendants (Didier Osorio y Cueno Castro), according to her version of events as given in her statements to the Fourth Superior Prosecutor.

 

For her it is more important to remember her six grandchildren and her two children who are on the outside. She hopes to see them because, as she says, "I wait for freedom."

 

About The Homicide Investigation.

 

The murder of Toni Grossi-Abrams happened on 9 April 2007. According to the Office of the Fourth Superior Public Prosecutor, who is responsible for the case, the primary motive for this crime had to do with prior conflicts between the victim and Debra Ann Ridgley, who was renting one of the apartments owned by Toni Grossi-Abrams in the PH Atlantis.

 

Original Source: La Prensa