HAMILTON - Using 19 different knives, a hacksaw and pliers, Timothy Bradford methodically dismembered the body of his live-in girlfriend after he killed her, a city police detective testified Thursday.
On June 4, 1996, Mr. Bradford, a self-employed flute-maker, buried one garbage bag of her bones and tissue near a Hamilton sewage plant on River Road and left another bag on the ground nearby, Detective James Nugent said in Hamilton Municipal Court.
Mr. Bradford returned to the house for Tina Mott's skull and threw it in Linden Lake in Hamilton, he said.
Detective Nugent said Mr. Bradford told him he took such gruesome steps to get rid of the body because "he was afraid he was going to jail for the rest of his life."
Mr. Bradford planned to tell everyone that Miss Mott, 22, went back to Buffalo, N.Y., where her family lives, the detective said. After listening to the officer's grim testimony, Judge John Rosmarin bound the case over to a Butler County grand jury. Mr. Bradford, 25, is being held without bond at the Butler County Jail.
He is charged with voluntary manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, felony theft and misuse of a credit card.
The last two charges involve Mr. Bradford's alleged use of Miss Mott's ATM card to rack up $460 in charges.
Last summer, two boys discovered the woman's skull while fishing at a lake in Hamilton. Mr. Bradford was arrested last week.
During Thursday's hearing, Mr. Bradford held a hand in front of his face to shield it from photographers and a TV camera. He said nothing and appeared to cry once.
"He's remorseful," his attorney, Drew Engel, said after the hearing. "It started out as an accident and just seemed to get worse with everything he did thereafter. This is one of the most bizarre cases I've ever encountered."
Mr. Bradford's parents declined to comment.
He was arrested last week, after DNA tests identified the skull as that of Miss Mott. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a genetic code contained in the nuclei of human cells. No two people, except identical twins, have the same DNA patterns. The DNA obtained from Miss Mott's skull matched the DNA from a blood sample taken from her son.
Mr. Bradford's mother, Elizabeth Bradford, filed a missing person report on Miss Mott on June 11, 1996. Mrs. Bradford said she had last seen the woman on June 4.
Mr. Bradford and Miss Mott lived with their 2-year-old son in a two-family house on Minor Avenue in Hamilton. Their apartment was about three blocks from Mrs. Bradford's house on Laurel Avenue. Mr. Nugent said Mr. Bradford gave this account of Miss Mott's death in a five-hour interview after his arrest:
On the evening of June 3, 1996, he and Miss Mott became embroiled in an argument in their apartment. Miss Mott moved toward Mr. Bradford. When he tried to push her away with his forearm, he unintentionally bloodied her nose, and she went into the bathroom.
He was putting away fishing gear when she came out of the bathroom. She rushed toward him as if she were going to claw his face.
"He had a filet knife in his hand and turned toward her," Mr. Nugent said. "He said he didn't realize she was that close and cut her throat."
Mr. Bradford left the apartment. When he returned, Miss Mott was lying in the bathtub, dead.
He told police he then cut up the body. "He would use a knife until it got dull and then he would throw it in the sink and start using another one," Mr. Nugent said.
Although Mr. Bradford cleaned the knives, police found human tissue on one of them. The tissue will be submitted for a DNA test. Police have found one of the two garbage bags containing tissue and bones.
Neighbors said Mr. Bradford moved in with his parents shortly after Miss Mott disappeared.
"I'd always see him walking his baby in a stroller," said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. "This is just so unbelievable." Mr. Engel declined to say who has custody of Mr. Bradford's son. "My client misses his son very dearly," he said. "It's a tragic situation that just mushroomed."
