Son Faces Murder Charge In Connecticut After Parents' Remains Found Months After Disappearance

WESTON, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The 27-year-old son of a Connecticut couple whose remains were found in a yard months after they disappeared is facing murder charges in their deaths, state police said.

Kyle Navin, who is already in federal custody on a weapon charge, is charged with two counts of murder and murder with special circumstances, state police said.

His girlfriend, 31-year-old Jennifer Valiante, was arrested Friday night and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution.

Police said a month before his parents disappeared, Navin wrote that he had the "perfect plan" to get "$ for life."

Then, a few days before they vanished, Navin's mother confided in a friend that she and her husband planned to cut him out of their will.

State police said Navin, a heroin addict, killed his parents, Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin, in August.

Court documents describe how Navin and his girlfriend exchanged text messages before the murders, including how he "wanted to get some money out of them somehow to give us an amazing life," and how he had plans to "take them down," WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

The bodies of Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin, of Easton, were found Thursday in the yard of a vacant home in Weston, the medical examiner's office confirmed late Friday.

Earlier Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton said there was evidence, including the discovery of the remains, that "very strongly suggests'' that Kyle Navin killed his parents.

His lawyer, Eugene Riccio, declined to comment on Dayton's statements, the discovery of the remains or the gun charge.

Jeffrey and Jeannette Navin hadn't been seen since Aug. 4. Their pickup truck was found with a shattered window on Aug. 9 in a commuter lot off the Merritt Parkway in Westport.

Authorities said Kyle Navin told police conflicting versions of his actions on the day his parents disappeared. The day after his parents vanished, Kyle Navin bought germicidal bleach, drain opener, stain remover and contractor cleanup bags, police said.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Navin's girlfriend, Jennifer Valiante, police say Jeanette Navin had been distraught over the situation with her son in the days before she and her husband disappeared.

Jeanette Navin told a longtime acquaintance her relationship with her son had been "very tempestuous'' and that she suspected he was abusing drugs, according to the affidavit. She also confided that the couple had purchased a home for their son but he was failing to pay the mortgage and taxes.

Navin then told her friend the couple had planned to cut Navin out of their will, sell their trash-hauling business and leave their son without any financial support from the family, according to the affidavit.

Investigators also reviewed text messages sent between Valiante and Kyle Navin before his parents vanished.

In one July exchange, he mentioned a plan to "solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life.''

She replied: "I hear ya. It sounds very good I just don't know.''

After a few exchanges, he wrote, "Wipe out the infection and get $ for life. It's perfect plan.''

Kyle Navin was arrested on the federal weapon charge Sept. 8 after authorities say they searched his Bridgeport home and found two firearms, ammunition and evidence he was using heroin, oxycodone and other controlled substances. He has pleaded not guilty to possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

During the court hearing Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel ordered Navin to remain detained without bail on the gun charge. Navin's bond on the murder charges was set at $2.5 million, while Valiante was being held on $2 million bail. Valiante, of Westport, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

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