From the Topeka Capital-Journal
In seeking evidence of contact between slaying victim Stephen Matthew Snyder and defendant Anthony N. Darcy, police said they were seeking call logs from his cellphone to show phone traffic between the two men before Snyder was fatally shot May 1 outside Darcy’s southwest Topeka home, a case affidavit says.
A Shawnee County District Court judge made the affidavit public Tuesday.
Besides call logs, a Topeka police officer sought photos, video, text messages, a contact list and other data from the flip phone owned by Anthony N. Darcy, according to the affidavit application seeking a search warrant.
Darcy, 81, is charged with premeditated first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated endangering of a child younger than 18, according to court records.
During a homicide trial or hearing, a police officer specializing in gleaning evidence from cellphones often testifies about whether messages were recorded, who placed and received a call, the time the call was placed, and where the defendant was when he placed the call. Sometimes the number of calls made between a defendant and victim also may be important.
Snyder, 36, was shot May 1 outside Darcy’s house at 3031 S.W. 33rd.
On the day Snyder was shot, Darcy called Snyder saying it was OK for him to come over to the house about 6 p.m., according to the affidavit. Snyder had left a message a day earlier on Darcy’s phone saying he would like to drop by the house to look at it and take some measurements for changes.
The shooting of Snyder was reported by Darcy to a law enforcement dispatcher at 6:08 p.m. As Snyder and his 8-year-old son approached the house, the affidavit said, they were confronted by Darcy, who had a gun. Witnesses said they saw a man running from the residence, heard loud noises and saw him fall.
The caller told the dispatcher he had just shot someone because “he was tired of his (expletive,)” the affidavit said.
Darcy told the dispatcher the unloaded firearm was on a counter in the house. Snyder suffered multiple gunshot wounds, a statement issued by District Attorney Mike Kagay said.
Snyder and an unidentified person had closed April 27 on Darcy’s house, but Snyder had allowed Darcy to continue living in the house for two weeks with a move-out date by May 10. During that time, the buyers were to have access to the house as long as they contacted Darcy first.
On the day before the sale, Darcy presented a lease without the language allowing the buyers to visit the house. The buyers didn’t sign that lease, and Darcy, who wasn’t “happy about them wanting to paint some rooms in the house,” indicated he might back out of the deal, the affidavit said.
But during the sale, Darcy “had not complained” about the buyers visiting the house, the affidavit said.
“Mr. Darcy was not upset about those terms until after the sale,” the affidavit said, and Darcy told someone after the sale “that he was not going to let anyone in his house.”
On Wednesday, Darcy remained in Shawnee County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash or professional surety bond, a jail official said. Darcy’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 23.
At Darcy’s first appearance, a judge appointed the public defender’s officer to represent him after he said Social Security payments were his sole source of income.
Contact reporter Steve Fry at (785) 295-1206 or @TCJCourtsNCrime on Twitter.
