Catholic World News News Feature

Suspect Confesses To Killing Priest June 29, 1999

BRISTOL, Connecticut (CWNews.com) - The prime suspect in the murder of a 50-year-old Connecticut priest confessed to killing him with a candlestick after the priest refused to let him sleep in the church, according a police report on Monday.

Michael Ouellette, a 32-year-old drifter, disrupted court proceedings when he was arraigned on Monday. "I am not guilty," Ouellette screamed when Superior Court Judge Angela Robinson advised him of his rights. She ordered him held on $1 million bond on a murder charge.

Police said Ouellette told them he asked Father Robert Lysz to let him sleep in St. Matthew's Church on Thursday evening, but was told to go to a homeless shelter. According to the report, he then hid in some bushes and followed the priest into the church, struggled with him, and hit him with a candlestick several times. He then allegedly donned priestly vestments, went into the rectory, and went to sleep.

Father Lysz's body was discovered Friday morning when parishioners entered the church for morning Mass. Ouellette's father said his son behaved erratically when he didn't take his medication for manic-depression.