Crime & Safety

Interrogation Tapes Shown to Jurors in Disa Murder Trial

Man accused of murder in Katie Gillihan case admitted to police he used a chokehold on the victim.

On Thursday, September 27, jurors in the Adam Disa murder trial watched a recording of Disa talking to police and admitting that he used a chokehold on . 

Jurors were provided with an unofficial transcript of the interview and could be seen reading along as a video of the interview was projected onto a screen in Judge Peter Foor’s courtroom.

After taking Disa into custody at the Taco Bell on Military West, detectives from the Benicia Police Department interviewed him at the Benicia Police Department.

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A video of that interview shows detectives talked to Disa for half an hour about his relationship with Gillihan before asking him to tell about her death. “We’ve been here for 30 minutes and you haven’t asked why you’re here,” a detective is heard saying to Disa.   “Get that weight off your chest dude.  I can see it in your eyes.”

At that point in the video, Disa began recounting how on the morning of  February 9, 2011 Gillihan woke him at 5:30 in the morning and told him he needed to leave the condominium the two shared in the 800 block of Military East.

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“I told her I wasn’t going anywhere and that’s when the insults started,” said Disa in the video.  “She took a swing at me and all I remember is I guess I had her in a chokehold. I thought she was sleeping.”

“After the chokehold I laid her down and went to the other room and had a couple of cigarettes.  I didn’t want to wake her,” said Disa.

Later in the video Disa said, “I didn’t think she was dead til I came back Wednesday night.  I listened for a heartbeat.  Then I remember crying.”

Disa then described his attempts to kill himself, first by ingesting rat poison and then standing on the Carquinez Bridge and considering jumping.

“Did you intend to kill her?” asked a detective.

“No,” sad Disa.  “I told her I would never hit her.”

The trial resumes today, Friday, September 28 at 10 a.m. in Department 17 of the Justice Center in Fairfield.

 

 

 

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