TDoR 1975 / 1974 / December / 14 / Leah Wilder


Leah Wilder

Age 33

14 Dec 1974
Rochester, New York (USA)
Stabbed

Leah Wilder

Leah was stabbed to death by her roommate. Peter G. Secore was subsequently convicted of first degree manslaughter.

Four Rochester police officers testified yesterday in Monroe County Court in the first day of the murder trial of Peter G. Secore, 20, of 54 Comfort St.

The officers identified photographs taken at the Comfort Street address on Dec. 14, 1974, when Secore's transsexual roommate was found stabbed to death.

Secore is accused of murdering [dadname] Boerman, 33, also known as Leah Wilder, in the living room of the Comfort Street home.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Charles E. Steinberg said he will try to prove city police improperly took a statement from Secore that resulted in the murder charge against him.

Steinburg indicated Secore would stand by his original story to policemen at the scene that he was gone the night of the stabbing and didn't find Boerman's body until the next afternoon. Secore called police to the house about 1 p.m. Dec. 14.

Officer John W Iamele, a police.technician who testified yesterday, said that during his investigation at the house he asked Secore how he found the body. Secore told him he had left the house about 8:40 a. m. for work and had noticed a light on in the living room but didn't think much about it, lamele testified. Secore said he returned home about 1 p.m. and had to kick down the door to get into the house and found Boerman's body, Iamele said.

Iamele said Secore was later taken to police headquarters by some detectives. It was there that Secore told police he killed Boerman, Assistant Dist. Atty.

James Boehler said in his opening statement. Boehler said he will show the murder "wasn't just a happenstance," but that Secore intended to kill his roommate.

Boehler said Secore told police he was upstairs in the house when Boerman came home and made advances toward him. Secore and Boerman went downstairs where they struggled over a knife that had been lying on the coffee table, Boehler said.

Judge Eugene W. Bergin is presiding at the trial.

http://lzigelyte.digitalscholar.rochester.edu/LGBTQexperiences/author/mh/

https://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/Databases/Attachments/Closet/1976/1976_JANUARY.pdf

https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-murder-of-transge/58108187/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-murder-of-transge/79900102/

Report added: 29 Apr 2024. Last updated: 30 Apr 2024

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