Double-slay suspect's extradition hearing postponed

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An Ohio extradition hearing for a former Brewster man charged in the 1995 murders of his wife and daughter was postponed Monday after his legal-aid lawyer said he needed more time to review documents in the case.

Robert Honsch, 70, allegedly killed his daughter, Elizabeth Honsch, 17, and his wife, Marcia Honsch, 53, in the fall of 1995. They were living in Brewster at the time. Authorities arrested him July 22 in Dalton, Ohio, where he had started a new life as Robert Tyree with a new wife and family. He is being held at the Wayne County jail.

The hearing will now be held Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Court records also show a subpoena filed Monday ordering Honsch's current wife, Sheryl Tyree, to appear at Wednesday's hearing. She reportedly left Ohio with their children after his arrest.

Elizabeth Honsch's still-warm body was found Sept. 28, 1995, behind a strip mall in New Britain, Conn. She had been shot in the head and was wrapped in trash bags and a sleeping bag. Then on Oct. 6, 1995, hikers found Marcia's decomposing body about 40 miles away near the entrance to the Tolland State Forest in Massachusetts.

Authorities long suspected the cases were related, but it wasn't until 2011 that DNA testing confirmed they were mother and daughter. Evidence also indicated the victims had ties to the Albany, N.Y., area so New York state police were called in.

Still, the pair weren't positively identified until June, after a relative contacted New York state police to file missing-persons report.

Investigators found Robert Honsch in Ohio, living as Robert Tyree but using his own birth date and Social Security number. He faces extradition to Massachusetts and, later, Connecticut.

For nearly two decades, Marcia Honsch's family had searched in vain for her and her daughter. They were told they couldn't file missing-persons reports because it appeared they left on their own. Before his wife and daughter disappeared, Robert Honsch told people they were moving to Australia.

Honsch was living in a rented house and working a minimum-wage factory job when authorities arrested him. They said they found evidence in his home linking him to Elizabeth's death. He is being represented by a legal aid lawyer because he said he's destitute.