Conn. man accused of killing, dismembering woman and leaving her remains by cemetery

UPDATE (5/13/2025) -- The Register Citizen reports the Connecticut Department of Correction announced that Donald Coffel, the suspect in Suzanne Wormser's death, died May 9 at the Corrigan Correctional Center. The statement said Coffel's death is "is not considered suspicious."

Coffel's arrest affidavit noted that he was dying of pancreatic cancer, but the Department of Correction said the medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine his cause and manner of death."

GROTON, Conn. (TCN) -- A 68-year-old man was arrested last week for allegedly killing and dismembering his female housemate, then disposing of her remains near a cemetery.

According to an affidavit, on March 19, a passerby contacted the City of Groton Police Department because he noticed a black suitcase had been left next to two trash cans in front of the cemetery for "several weeks." The caller became "curious," so he looked inside and smelled a rotten odor. A responding officer determined the smell resembled a deceased animal. Officers opened the suitcase and discovered a female torso wrapped in a trash bag.

Major Crimes detectives and other law enforcement officers went to the cemetery and found a trash bag next to the victim’s neck area. Detectives reviewed license plate readers and surveillance video from the area near the cemetery and determined the suitcase had been left there sometime between Feb. 13 and Feb. 18.

On April 9, a forensic anthropologist at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told detectives a toxicology report showed the victim had crack cocaine, marijuana, nicotine, and caffeine in her system when she died, though this was not an overdose-related death. Her manner of death was ruled a homicide.

City of Groton Police said in an April 11 statement that they were still working to identify the victim, but they knew she was an adult female between 40 and 60 years old with light pigmented skin. Investigators believe the victim had Turner syndrome, due to her "short stature, broad chest, short wide neck, and small chin." The victim’s DNA was sent to a lab, but there were no positive results. However, a swab from the upper arm and shoulder area showed a mixture of male and female DNA.

On April 16, the FBI received a call from someone who said they believed the victim could be her sister because she had not spoken to her since the beginning of the year. The caller reportedly told the FBI that her sister did not wish her a happy birthday, "which is unlike her." She also noted that the victim’s description matched her sister. An officer went to the victim’s home on Allen Street and spoke with a neighbor, who said they last saw the victim smoking crack and that she "took off with someone on a motorcycle."

The next day, a detective searched the caller’s sister’s name and learned police made contact with her on Oct. 17, 2024, for a welfare check and that she was in good health. The victim, who police identified in a press conference as 58-year-old Suzanne Wormser, reportedly lived with the suspect, Donald Coffel.

City of Groton officers went to Coffel and Wormser’s home in December for a medical assist call, which is the last time police noted them both residing there. On Feb. 2, police responded to Coffel’s home for suicide ideation because he was "in a lot of pain from cancer and he couldn’t take it anymore and was contemplating suicide." About three weeks later, on Feb. 22, he made similar comments. Coffel was admitted to the hospital, where he remains because he is reportedly dying from cancer.

The detective went to Coffel and Wormser’s home on Allen Street, which the affidavit says is "approximately 800 feet and within sight to where the suitcase was found with a female torso inside it on March 19, 2025." The detective entered Coffel and Wormser’s apartment with the property manager and "noticed the odor of decomposition." The detective reportedly located knives on the kitchen counter, cleaning products, and a bloody bat.

City of Groton Police Chief David Burton said in the press conference that on April 18, detectives connected evidence at the cemetery and the apartment. On April 22, a witness came forward and shared details about the crime that they claimed Coffel told them. The next day, detectives interviewed Coffel for a third time, and he reportedly confessed to the killing.

According to the affidavit, Coffel allegedly said, "All right, man, I did it. I hit her in the head with a f--king baseball bat and it cracked her f--king head open." After hitting her three times, he reportedly kept her body in the apartment for a week and a half before dismembering her. He put her remains in two trash bags and disposed of them in dumpsters, then wheeled her torso in a suitcase to the cemetery.

Coffel was arrested and is charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and improper disposal of a body. His bond was set at $1 million.

Burton said, "The police department wishes to express sincere condolences to the family of Suzanne Wormser, who was a victim of this heinous incident who did not deserve to lose her life at the hands of the suspect."

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