The Murder of Christine Belford

This case shows us several things. It shows us that it does not matter your profession, anyone can be evil. It shows us that sometimes that evil seems to be in your DNA. It also shows us that no matter how slick you think you are, the odds of you avoiding justice are slim.

Christine Belford and David Matusiewicz were divorced in 2006. David worked as an optometrist. They shared three daughters together and the divorce was ending in a very bitter custody dispute. David, and his family, would proclaim that Christine was abusive to the girls in his attempt for custody. It is unclear if custody had been officially settled in the summer of 2007 when David and his mother, Lenore, picked up the three girls from their Wilmington Delaware home allegedly headed to Disney World in Florida for two weeks. But, it is safe to say that keeping them for the next year and a half from their mother was not in the court papers.

Christine obviously filed a police report and authorities were quick to decide that they believed David's father, Tom and his sister, Amy Gonzalez knew more than they were telling but they could not prove anything. For the next year and a half there were tips here and there before the girls were finally found living with David and Lenore in Catalina, a village in Nicaragua.

David and Lenore were both charged with kidnapping the girls and were given prison sentences in 2009. It is not clear exactly how much time they received but it was said that Lenore spent a little more than a year in prison and David was released in late 2012. By the time he was released from prison David's parents had moved to Texas to be near his sister and he was released to them in that area.

Prison however had not stopped David, or his family from going forward with what investigators would call a “family campaign” against Christine. At some point, while still in prison David had reached out to his sister in a letter to recruit someone to contact the child abuse hotline and report that Christine was sexually abusing their oldest daughter. There was apparently an investigation but nothing was found and the case was closed. It is not clear but it is likely that this “campaign” was pivotal in the family courts deciding in 2011 to terminate David's parental rights. This was solely a termination of parental rights and not an adoption of the children so what that meant was while he had not right to see the children or have a say in their upbringing, he did still have the obligation to pay child support. The court record at that time called David “manipulative and deceitful” and those words would be brought up again nearly two years later.

From about 2010 until 2013 the Matusiewicz family seemingly made it their goal to not just smear Christine's name, but to harass her, stalk her and make attempts to have her children removed from her care. They wrote letters to authorities; they posted information on the Internet; they contacted anyone and everyone they could through email. Everything they spoke of discussed of the alleged sexual abuse by Christine to David's oldest daughter with her. Years later the daughter would say that she first heard of this alleged abuse when she got online and Google searched her own name. She found an essay written by her grandmother discussing the alleged treatment of her by her mother. Ultimately she has always denied the claims that they made.

A hearing was set at the New Castle County Delaware courthouse in Wilmington for February 11, 2013 to address child support that was owed to Christine. By now Christine openly feared for her life. The family had been harassing her both in person and online now for nearly three years. At some point Tom Matusiewicz showed up at her door with a private investigator. It was said that Christine abruptly quit her job and put her home on the market to sell. She deeply feared them. When the court date was said she inquired as to whether her presence was required as she did not want to attend the hearing. However, she was told that she would be required to attend so her friend, Laura “Beth” Mulford went with her for moral support.

For his part David was serving his probation in Texas and had to get permission to leave the state and attend the hearing. He did not go to Delaware alone. In fact, he did not even go to the courthouse alone. David and his father, Tom drove to the courthouse together. David would later tell authorities that while they both walked to the doors of the courthouse together that while he went inside his father had left. David would go through the metal detectors just inside the building and presumably go to the room in which his hearing was to be held.

In the meantime Christine and Laura showed up and entered the courthouse. Prior to reaching the area in which to pass through the metal detector themselves shots rang out in the courthouse lobby. Firing at them was none other than Tom Matusiewicz. Both Christine and Laura were shot and would later be pronounced dead at the scene. Courthouse police officers attempted to subdue Tom Matusiewicz and were injured in the exchange. Tom then went outside the courthouse doors, and shot himself. When additional law enforcement arrived one of the officers knew right away that one of the women laying dead in the lobby was Christine Belford and he knew her story. He would later say when he was told that the shooter was outside one of the doors he was certain that he would see David Matusiewicz laying there. He was someone surprised to see that it was not David, but his father, Tom, someone else he knew when he had investigated the kidnapping of the Matusiewicz's girls some years before.

David was found in the courthouse and put on an air of surprise as to what had occurred downstairs. He was soon taken into custody because the vehicle in which he had ridden to the courthouse in had been searched and multiple weapons had been found. Considering he was on probation this was a blatant violation. Aside from the weapons found there was also several rounds of ammunition, three sets of plastic handcuffs, a bullet proof vest and a notebook. It was clear that the notebook had been used to keep notes and tabs on Christine and her whereabouts. There was also a page inside titled “HL” that the prosecutors would later say was a hit list. The names on that list included judges, lawyers and anyone else that seemed to have been on “the wrong side” of David and Christine's custody battle. Even the judge that had sentenced him in the kidnapping of the girls was on the list. Authorities would also learn that Lenore had come to the area from Texas as well. A search was made of her vehicle where more evidence was found including pictures of Christine's home with circles around areas in which cameras had been installed for home security.

It seemed clear to investigators that the murder of Christine Belford had been planned and organized by the entire family, including Amy Gonzalez. While they could not prosecute Tom they were determined to not allow his wife and two children to get away unscathed. Prosecutors would charge all three with a variety of charges including conspiracy to commit murder and a rarely used charge of cyber-stalking resulting in death.

The cyber-stalking law had been enacted more than twenty years before in what was The Violence Against Women Act and had been sponsored by then Senator Joe Biden. Even still by 2015 when Lenore, David and Amy all went on trial it had never been used in a prosecution in this manner. This really was a do or die situation for the prosecutors. It was said that if they were successful in their effort, and it survived likely years of appeals, it would bring a new era in the legal community. But, if they failed it would likely prevent prosecutors from bringing the charge against anyone in the future.

The key to this case was proving, or disproving, just what the three defendants knew about the actions that Tom Matusiewicz took on that February day. The defense attorney's for the defendants all argued that they had no idea that Tom had planned to kill Christine. They would maintain that if this was a plan of Tom's, that he had kept it a secret to himself. However, the prosecutors argued that all of the evidence found in the vehicle's as well as other evidence was so abundant that there seemed to be no way that the defendants were clueless as their attorney's would argue. They also pointed out that even if the defendants did not know the specifics of Tom's plan, they could have reasonably foreseen the outcome. Of course there was more evidence of this with both David and Lenore, than with Amy considering she was not in the state at the time of the murder. But, prosecutors argued that she had helped in the smear campaign against Christine and was just as involved as the others.

Once again the alleged sexual abuse of David and Christine's daughter was in the forefront. It was the alleged basis for all of their actions. It was said that Lenore and Amy had both taken lie detector tests and their lawyers had argued to allow the jury to see those results. There had already been at least two investigations done prior to this trial into those allegations and all reports stated that there was no evidence at all that pointed to this being even remotely true. In fact, David's daughter testified at the trial and once again denied any abuse or that she had ever alleged to anyone, especially her father's family, that it had occurred in any way, what so ever. But, to be fair, apparently the lie detector tests that Lenore and Amy took indicated that they truly believed the allegations. It was never completely made clear just how they each alleged learning of these allegations. I can only assume, although we know what they say about assuming, that David had told his mother, sister, and likely his father, the abuse was occurring. Regardless if Lenore and Amy really believed the allegations or not really did not absolve them or excuse their actions.

After a five week trial the jury took thirteen hours over three days to deliberate before reaching a verdict. Since this was the first time in U.S history that this charge had been brought to a jury, no matter the result, it would be the first of its kind. The jury decided that all three defendants were guilty on all charges in July of 2015. It was said that David and Lenore took the verdict in stride and only Amy Gonzalez had showed any reaction to the verdict.

It appears that there seemed to be several delays in their sentencing. It was initially schedule for October of 2015 but that did not happen. By early February 2016 Lenore was “terminally ill” although I found nothing specific on what her ailment was. An emergency hearing was held at her bedside where a judge imposed a life sentence. The following week both David and Amy were also given life sentences. They both filed a joint appeal in February of 2018. They still maintained that they “could not have foreseen their father's 'sinister plan'” and therefore were not guilty in relation to the murder of Christine and her friend, Laura, who was simply said to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no reason to believe that Tom Matusiewicz planned to murder anyone but Christine, however it was obvious that he did not have a issue harming anyone who got in his way, including the two police officers who would survive their injuries. On September 7, 2018 the appeals court not only denied all the claims made by the defense but upheld and confirmed both the convictions and the sentences.

Lenore Matusiewicz would die in a Texas federal prison in May of 2016. Her son, David is serving his sentence in a prison in Florida while her daughter, Amy is in Texas. Only time will tell if their remaining appeals will end as their resent one has.

This case but in a way saddens me and excites me. The verdict shows that we may finally be getting to the point in which people are going to be held accountable for their actions on the Internet. It saddens me that it has taken this long to do so. We have all seen the cases where someone has been stalked and bullied online. I think of the case in which the mother of a teenager created an online profile to stalk and harass another teenage girl who would ultimately commit suicide. Where was this cyber-stalking law then?? One has to wonder if this case did not get the treatment that it did because it happened not just out in the public but at a government building. Were these prosecutions and verdicts really about the victims in this case or were they about showing the public that while they did not protect the citizens inside the building they were going to do what they had to in order to show the community they were in charge?

There is also a part of me that almost feels bad for Amy Gonzalez. Not completely seeing as she made her bed and now has to lay in it but in a small way. The family court in 2011 that terminated David's parental rights called him deceitful and manipulative and they certainly seemed to be right, but was Amy Gonzalez possibly one of his victims too? Of course this does not excuse the actions that she took or the fact that she apparently did not do enough research into the situation and just simply took someone's word as to what was going on. But, if the lie detector test results are correct, she did believe her niece was being abused and she helped her brother in the harassment of her former sister in law. She is paying the price with her freedom.

Now, one could argue that the same could be said for Lenore, who also allegedly passed a lie detector test, but I have different feelings towards her. I am not saying that she could not have been manipulated into believing whatever David told her, but she had a year and a half with the girls to question them and get the story from them. We know that David was not with them all of the time because at the time of their arrests David was taking one of the girls to school while the other two remained at the RV they were living in with Lenore. She obviously did not have to like Christine as that is always a difficult task for a mother, but she was very visible and active in the campaign against her. Maybe she really did believe the allegations in the beginning but she had plenty of time to determine if they were true.

Whether Amy or Lenore believed the allegations or not it does not excuse their behavior and the actions that they took. When it comes to Lenore and David I believe there is absolutely no way that they did not know what Tom had planned. There was plenty of evidence in both vehicles that led to this conclusion. Although it appears that they had taken two cars to Delaware from Texas and the three of them did not likely all converse at the same time it is unlikely that it was not discussed by at least two of them at a time in one car. I admit that I am on the fence as far as Amy goes as to what she knew, when. No one will ever know if the entire plan was discussed before the family left their home and headed to Delaware. The courts ruled however that regardless if the defendants knew of the exact plan that it was reasonable to believe that the actions they had all taken would have led to the results. This was obviously a deep, deep hate for Christine. They did not even seemingly attempt to cover their tracks in any way since the murder occurred in a very, very public place that already had law enforcement officers in place.

As far as the allegations of abuse went the appeal ruled upon in September of 2018 clearly stated that this was the third court that had dismissed the allegations. First, the court involved in kidnapping of the children dismissed the allegations when they sentenced both David and Lenore to prison. Next, the family court dismissed the allegations when they terminated David's parental rights and gave Christine full custody. Lastly, the trial court had dismissed them after Christine's murder. This does not count any other organization such as DFS or law enforcement who had also been forced to investigate the allegations. Prosecutors have said they believe that the allegations were made up to avoid stiffer penalties for kidnapping the girls in 2007. I would tend to agree, but I also believe that the allegations were first made in the initial divorce hearing a year earlier. That does not mean that they were still not made up in anticipation of a kidnapping if things did not go their way.

In the end the three daughters that David and Christine shared lost both their parents, two grandparents and an aunt to this tragedy. Christine had also had another daughter prior to her marriage to David and she too lost her mother, all because someone did not get their way.