Murder Suspect Compares Alleged Handiwork to 'CSI'
March 15, 2011— -- The New Hampshire man who has confessed to a home invasion and deadly machete attack is a self-described social outcast who turned to a darker side of himself after his girlfriend ended their relationship, he testified in court today.
Christopher Gribble, 21, has admitted to the random stabbing death of Kimberly Cates of Mount Vernon and the attempt to kill her 11-year-old daughter in early October 2009.
Gribble today described the alleged attack in calm detail, saying that unlike co-defendant Steven Spader, he was controlled and precise during the alleged killing. Gribble described stabbing the mother with a long knife several times from one side of the bed, while Spader allegedly swung a machete and stabbed uncontrollably from the other side.
He said the daughter, who was asleep in the same bed, soon jumped out of bed and bumped into him.
"I immediately wrapped my left arm around her," he said in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua.
"I went for some sort of shot, I'm pretty sure it was a neck shot because I remember it being high. But I missed," he added, his eyes widening in surprise.
At one point, Gribble said, the lights were turned on, and he looked at Spader "panting" and "completely out of control."
"The only thought that really entered my head at that point [was], 'Wow, this looks just like a CSI scene,'" Gribble said in reference to the popular television show.
Gribble, who did not know the victims and has claimed he was insane at the time of the attack, at times calmly described the events, and at other times seemed surprised at his memories of that night. He said it was interesting to see his co-defendant allegedly stab the mother, 42, so deeply that Gribble could see bone.
"It was a curiosity," Gribble said, cocking his head to one side, "like, oh, that's what bones look like."
Speaking in a level voice, Gribble testified that although Spader had allegedly repeatedly stabbed the victim, she was still alive. Spader, Gribble said, threw a pillow over her head because she was making "raspy" noises. Gribble described going back to his side of bed, and taking action.
"Very carefully from the carotid artery, I cut. I had to adjust at one point because I got the angle wrong. I hit the spine, I remember that," he said.
During the alleged murder and subsequent robbery, he said, he "knew instinctively" what to do. He said repeatedly that it is difficult to describe what he felt that night: especially afterward, when he was in the car leaving the scene of the alleged crime.
