LOWVILLE, New York (WWNY) – Testimony resumed Monday morning in Shawn Exford’s murder-arson trial in Lewis County Court.
State police Investigator Jacob Byron was the only witness to take the stand.
He said he interviewed Exford twice in the weeks following the November 2019 fire that killed two people on South State Street in Lowville.
Exford is accused of setting that fire.
Byron testified that Exford maintained his innocence during both interviews.
Exford allegedly told investigators that he, Catherine Crego, Saratina Kilbourne and Brian Mushtare were all drinking the day of the fire. He said Crego, who was killed in the fire, had passed put on the couch.
Also killed in the fire was was Saratina Kilbourne. Mushtare was injured.
Byron testified that Exford told him that he left the home to get videos from his apartment. That’s when video surveillance shows the fire started.
Exford initially told investigators he didn’t hear, see, or smell fire when he left, but later admitted he may have forgotten. He first said he had a “steady buzz” throughout the day, then later during the interrogation, said he was drunk.
He maintained, though, that he did not accidentally, intentionally, or drunkenly start the fire.
He said he wished he had seen or smelled the fire before he left the apartment, because he would have run back in to help.
During the second interrogation, Exford said he felt almost mad that Crego was unable to help herself because she had drank so much.
During cross examination by Defense Attorney John Hallett, Byron confirmed there’s about 5-and-a-half hours of interrogation video, and that Exford was the only subject interrogated.
The defense then played a full 90-minutes of interrogation without interruption. It brought to light some of Exford’s past drug and mental health issues, as well as his childhood. It also showed him crying after seeing surveillance video from the night of the fire.
Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.
