Worcester trial: Case of woman whose body was found in burning car goes to jury

WORCESTER - Jurors began deliberations in the murder trial of Steven M. Foley Thursday afternoon in Worcester Superior Court.

Jurors ended the day without a verdict; deliberations are expected to continue Friday morning.

In closing arguments Thursday morning, prosecutors repeated their allegation that Foley violently murdered 59-year-old Cynthia L. Webb, while defense lawyers contended they had not proven their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Foley stands accused of murdering Webb, an exotic dancer, mother and grandmother who prosecutors said went with Foley to his then-fiancee’s Northborough home Dec. 11, 2017, after they spoke at her club.

Prosecutors allege Foley violently murdered Webb in a bedroom in the home — blood with her DNA was found underneath the floorboards — and then set her car on fire with her body in the trunk the following day at Hope Cemetery to cover his tracks.

Lawyers for Foley, a Level 3 Sex offender who served a 20-year prison term for rape, alleged a large quantity of cocaine in Webb’s system raised reasonable doubt about whether she died of an overdose.

In closing arguments, defense lawyer Sarah Hamilton charged that the possibility of an overdose, coupled with a lack of clear evidence as to how Webb died, required jurors to return a verdict of not guilty.

Assistant District Attorney Brett Dillon countered that the evidence — and common sense — proved beyond doubt that Foley murdered Webb violently and set her on fire to try and escape guilt.

Dillon noted that Foley never called an ambulance or took Webb to a hospital and that a story two witnesses recalled him telling in the aftermath of her death didn’t mention an overdose.

Instead, Dillon said, Foley took Webb to a cemetery, in the trunk of her own vehicle, and burned her body in order to cover up his crime.

“His actions scream murder,” said Dillon, noting that evidence also showed Foley fled the state before eventually being arrested at a Peabody hotel under a false name, with a passport and more than $30,000 in cash and money orders.

Dillon said a wealth of evidence links Foley to the killing and burning.

Multiple videos and cellphone data presented at trial appeared to indicate Foley and Webb traveled to Northborough, where multiple witnesses testified to seeing her car in his driveway.

Videos, witnesses and cab company records also appear to tie Foley to Hope Cemetery Dec. 12, 2017, including phone records indicating a man named “Steve” with his telephone called for a ride back to Northborough from Worcester.

Prosecutors Wednesday also presented testimony from two witnesses, including Foley’s ex-fiancee, who said he admitted to them that he disposed of the woman’s body at Hope Cemetery after she died in the home.

The fiancee said Foley told her two unidentified men killed Webb - who he falsely claimed not to know - and that he disposed of her body because of his criminal record.

Foley’s defense did not present any testimony regarding the two alleged men. Instead, it attempted to undermine the credibility of Foley’s ex-fiancee and his former friend, noting they initially did not tell police what they later said he told them.

Hamilton, the defense lawyer, alleged in closing arguments that Foley’s ex, Loretta Cole, had time to plan out a story implicating Foley and noted that Cole and the friend of Foley’s who testified similarly Wednesday had spoken following his arrest.

Dillon countered that it appeared the women did not like each other and that while they may have initially left things out in their accounts to police, their stories ultimately reflected the lies Foley told them.

Moreover, Dillon argued, a transcript of one of Cole’s interrogations with police shows she mentioned cleaning the bedroom where the crime allegedly occurred before they mentioned it to her.

“(Cole) is a participant (in the cleaning effort),” Dillon said, noting that she testified that she partially cleaned an area of the bed frame at Foley’s request.

Dillon noted that Cole testified she “snapped” to her senses and only partially cleaned one of two footings on the bed frame. Her testimony, he argued, was consistent with police testimony about chemical tests indicating more strongly for the presence of blood on one of the footings.

Cole testified Wednesday that Foley told her he used bleach to clean the floor after seeing it done on the TV show “Dexter.”

“Apparently 'Dexter' didn’t help him that much because he didn’t do a good enough job,” Dillon told jurors Friday, alluding to blood he said was found under a dozen floorboards.

Hamilton argued it was the police who weren’t thorough enough, calling into question the department’s “supposed” blood evidence by noting that several “confirmatory” tests officers took came back negative.

Hamilton noted police — who testified they stopped using the test out of reliability concerns — did not conduct other confirmatory tests and suggested they may not have proven the substance on the floor was blood.

Even if jurors found it to be blood, she argued, it could have come from something other than violence, like a person having a nosebleed after snorting cocaine. A finding from the medical examiner that Webb drew at least one breath containing blood, she alleged, could be similarly explained.

Hamilton asked jurors to disregard the medical examiner’s ruling that Webb died of violence of an unknown cause, criticizing the examiner as an unimpressive witness who conveniently could not answer questions she argued were relevant regarding toxicology.

Webb had to be identified using dental records, making it difficult, a medical examiner testified, to determine her manner of death.

The medical examiner ruled Webb died by violence of an unknown cause, testifying Wednesday that an autopsy showed she breathed in blood before she died.

That fact, coupled with the blood police reported finding in the floorboards, underpinned her finding, she said.

Hamilton called the finding a “guess” with no root in medical fact. She accused the examiner of improperly disregarding the possibility of overdose.

Hamilton told jurors that she believes jurors must acquit Foley because there is reasonable doubt about whether Webb the died by violence or by overdose.

She called two witnesses to the stand Thursday before closing arguments including a toxicologist who testified about how cocaine can be fatal.

The toxicologist confirmed the amount of cocaine found in Webb’s system is considered a lethal amount, but said without knowledge of a person’s tolerance, it’s impossible to say how an individual person would react to that amount.

The toxicologist agreed a large amount of cocaine was found in Webb’s stomach — indicating oral ingestion. On cross-examination, she agreed with prosecutors that she could not say whether ingestion of the cocaine was voluntary or involuntary.

A fellow dancer of Webb’s testified this week that Foley had offered her cocaine in the past and appeared to have been doing it himself.

The second witness the defense called Thursday was a Worcester police officer. Lawyers asked him questions that appeared designed to cast doubt on testimony a cab driver gave earlier this week and to establish that possible residue of cocaine was found at Webb’s Sterling home.

Defense lawyers did not ask Webb’s boyfriend, who also lived at her home, about possible cocaine use when he testified Wednesday.

The boyfriend, Ralph Burgoyne, testified Webb was “the most wonderful person I ever met in my life.”

Co-workers have described her to the T&G as the matriarch of Mario’s Showplace, where she looked out for and earned the respect of fellow dancers.

Her son, Brad Webb, said his mother struggled with multiple tragedies in her life including, before the age of 21, the death of both her father and her husband in the same week.

“She was a fighter,” Webb told the T&G in 2018. “I wish a lot of people would fight as hard as my mom did.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester trial: Case of woman whose body was found in burning car goes to jury