Janitor’s cleaning procedure may hold key to killer’s fate

Kim Smith

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

Two years after Jessica Heaney died in a condo clubhouse bathroom, the fate of her accused killer may rest on when the bathroom stall was last cleaned and whom it was used by.

Police believe Stephen Finnegan, 30, sodomized and strangled Heaney, 16, in March 1998 inside the clubhouse of the Arbor Court condominium complex where they both lived in Henderson.

According to police theory, after Finnegan was through, he placed her head in the toilet and stepped on her back to make sure she was through breathing. They believe he propped himself up by placing his hands on the bathroom stall walls.

Finnegan was arrested earlier this year after a police officer placed prints found in the stall into a database during a training seminar and Finnegan's prints matched.

Finnegan's prints were in the database because after Heaney was killed, he was convicted of gross lewdness in an unrelated case and forced to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors Michael O'Callaghan and Lisa Luzaich hope to persuade Henderson Justice of the Peace Rodney Burr that they have enough evidence to try Finnegan on a first-degree murder charge.

On Thursday, during the second day of Finnegan's preliminary hearing, attorneys for both sides grilled janitor Sabrina Pritchett about her cleaning schedule and practices.

Heaney's body was found March 7, 1998. Pritchett testified she and her daughter last cleaned the clubhouse 10 days earlier, on Feb. 27.

Pritchett said she is positive she and her daughter wiped the walls of the women's restroom's stalls down from top to bottom. Therefore, any prints found on March 7 must have been placed there afterward.

Defense attorney Bill Terry elicited testimony from Pritchett that the clubhouse wasn't particularly secure and there could be a legitimate reason for Finnegan's prints to be in the women's bathroom.

Pritchett said men often used the women's restroom in the clubhouse, because the men's room door would often become stuck.

Pritchett also testified that the restrooms had been vandalized several times in the weeks just prior to Heaney's death. Graffiti was found in the bathrooms and sauna, weightlifting equipment had been damaged and someone had sprayed a fire extinguisher in one of the restrooms.

Curtis Liquin, the homeowner's association president, testified Thursday that he found the body while checking the restrooms for more graffiti problems.

Liquin testified under cross examination that much of the graffiti contained messages about a girl named "Jessica." In both the sauna and restrooms, someone had written "Jessica loves..." followed by a handful of boys names. The messages were all surrounded by hearts.

None of the names were "Stephen," Liquin testified.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday and Thursday.