Update 4:52 p.m.: The victim has been identified as 40-year-old Michael Moore of Winsted, Conn.

 

Bushnell pleaded not guilty in District Court and his being held without right to bail and a no-contact order to witnesses. 

 

The witness who contacted police Monday said the defendant had shown him the body under a mattress in a greenhouse on the property. The witness was able to leave the property and immediately drove to a Connecticut State Police station near to his location.

 

According to the DA's Office, there were signs of blunt force trauma to Moore's head and a puncture wound in his back. Bushnell apparently returned to his property later that day because of reports his house was on fire; police believe that was prompted by the emergency dispatch calls. 

 

When the defendant returned to the house, "he was wearing clothes stained in reddish/brown consistent with blood," according to the DA's Office.

 

Bushnell, a local painting contractor, and the victim had a friendship and professional connection, including being friends on Facebook. Both men were painters and sometimes worked together, according to the DA's Office, and, prior to the murder, there was a conflict between the defendant and victim regarding a shared job.

 

"Additionally, leading up to the murder the defendant began to demonstrate paranoid behavior and also altered the position of and turned off other security cameras around his property,"  according to the DA's Office.