Spanos nods. The skin around his eyes relaxes. “I met your mother years ago, when I was separated from my wife. She used to come to Herron Mills on vacation with her husband. John never knew, I don’t think. Or maybe he did. Maybe that’s why he left your mother. The thing is, Anna, I didn’t know for certain until I saw you in July. Your mother never told me. When you were little, I had my suspicions, but Gloria swore you weren’t mine. I hadn’t seen you since you were three years old, and then, the resemblance was only starting to show. But when you stepped into my house, when you told me your name …”
“Why now?” I ask the man in front of me. My father. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? You could have … you could have saved me. Cleared up this mess!”
He frowns. “I wouldn’t go that far. I thought you were guilty, just like everyone else. And telling my wife, telling Aster … it would have torn my family apart for no reason. Not when we thought you would go to trial for Zoe’s murder.”
Second-degree manslaughter, I want to correct him, but I don’t.
“And now?” I ask instead.
“Now things have … changed.”
“Because you believe me? That I didn’t have anything to do with Zoe’s death?”
“I know you didn’t,” he says, and tears fill his eyes. “Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
“How?” I almost shout, and the guards snap to attention at the edges of the room. “We’re going to court soon, to argue the motion. If you know something that could help my case, you have to tell me. Mr. Spanos, please.”
But he’s already standing, chair scraping back against the cold concrete.
The next word hitches on my tongue. Then I spit it out. “Dad.”
He flinches. “I’m sorry, Anna. I’ve already said too much.”
He’s not going to tell me. He’s going to leave me here.
4 NEW YORK: CRIME AND COURTS
MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST BROOKLYN TEEN AS LONG ISLAND YOUTH CONFESSES TO ROLE IN COVERING UP SISTER’S ACCIDENTAL DEATH LAST NEW YEAR’S EVE
Published Oct. 11 at 12:56 p.m.
A Brooklyn teen awaiting trial in juvenile detention since her August confession to involvement in the death of Long Island resident Zoe Spanos, 19, was released on Saturday. Anna Cicconi, 17, was charged in August with second-degree manslaughter and concealment of a corpse. Cicconi’s release came on the heels of the arrest and confession of Aster Spanos, also 17, younger sister of Zoe, whose body was found submerged in a boat in Herron Mills’ Parrish Lake last August.
On Saturday, Judge Emanuella Castera announced that following Aster Spanos’s arrest, Anna Cicconi would be released from Pathways Juvenile Center into the immediate care of her mother, Gloria Cicconi of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Judge Castera had been previously considering a pretrial motion filed by Cicconi’s defense team to dismiss the charges against her on the grounds of police misconduct. The motion was expedited and granted on Saturday.
While full details of Aster Spanos’s confession have not been released, Spanos’s lawyer said in a statement this morning that “Miss Spanos has come forward, truthfully and willingly, to disclose information she knew regarding the tragic and entirely accidental death of her sister Zoe last New Year’s Eve. Miss Spanos did not cause her sister’s death, nor has she been charged as such. She is cooperating fully with police. The Spanos family requests the public’s respect for their privacy at this deeply difficult time.”
According to police, Aster Spanos was initially taken in for questioning late Thursday evening after a neighbor complained about Spanos and another teen trespassing on her property. In a follow-up interview on Friday, she disclosed information to police regarding her sister’s January first death and admitted to finding and concealing her body. The rationale for Spanos’s actions is not yet known.
Aster Spanos has been charged with concealment of a corpse, aka Amanda Lynn’s Law, a class E felony in New York State. The crime carries up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. As a minor without a previous criminal record, it is unlikely that Spanos will serve the maximum sentence, if convicted.
32 October
Herron Mills Village Police Department, Long Island, NY
DETECTIVE MIRA HOLLOWAY’S shift ended an hour ago, but she’s still in the interview room, reviewing the tape. It’s been over twenty-four hours since Aster Spanos’s arrest. This is the third time the detective has watched the interview from start to finish, pen in hand. They were overeager with the Cicconi