Schenectady County Man Killed In Standoff
Jackson
Link to Edinburg murders cited
By MIKE GOODWIN and MARILYN HIPP
Gazette Reporters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLENVILLE - A Washout Road man who police said was a suspect in the
knife slayings of a couple at a Sacandaga Lake cottage was shot and
killed by state troopers Thursday afternoon after they said he opened
fire on them with a shotgun.
The exchange of gunfire that killed murder suspect Jack Retta, 36,
climaxed a daylong police siege of Retta's fortified house at 1487
Washout Road.
Police said Retta emerged from the house at noon Thursday with a
12-gauge shotgun. Quickly retreating into the house, Retta did not use
the weapon until three hours later when he opened his front door and
fired two shots into a tree that was being used for cover by at least
one officer, according to state police. No officers were injured.
"State police returned fire and Retta fell into the house," said state
police Maj. Gerald Meyer, Troop G commander.
Minutes later, Retta called the Glenville police 911 Center and said he
was injured and needed an ambulance. But moments later, police said,
Retta reappeared in a window with the shotgun and police opened fire
again.
Retta fell to the floor and was found dead from gunshot wounds when the
state police Mobile Response team entered the house a short time later.
Police had been watching Retta's home since early Wednesday after they
said they developed evidence linking him to the Sunday murders of George
Kottke, 58, of 934 South Shore Road, Edinburg, and his girlfriend, Mary
Orchid, 44, who was visiting him from Brooklyn.
A state trooper sent to check on the welfare of Kottke found the dead
bodies Tuesday night.
"They were stabbed," said Meyer, who added that Kottke's body was found
in the kitchen of the cottage and Orchid's on an enclosed porch.
Autopsies indicated the two died Sunday night. Police said one of the
pair had made a purchase at a local grocery store after 4 p.m. Sunday.
According to Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III,
there was not enough forensic evidence to obtain an arrest warrant for
Retta. However sufficient witness and physical evidence allowed
authorities to get a search warrant for Retta's home and automobile.
Police said they knew that executing the warrant might be difficult.
Retta's home off Route 5 was guarded by nine German shepherds, which
were kept inside a split rail and wire fence surrounding the house. "The
house is within a pen," Meyer said Thursday.
Glenville and Schenectady animal control officers were brought in to
take the dogs which Meyer described as "very aggressive."
Investigators had also suspected that Retta might be armed and said they
knew he might have emotional problems. "He certainly wasn't a rational
person," Meyer said.
Over the years, Glenville police had been called to Washout Road for
multiple disputes Retta had with neighbors about the dogs and Retta's
property line, according to Glenville Deputy Chief Dominick Macherone.
During a 1998 arrest which led to Retta's felony conviction for
possession of marijuana, police found a number of loaded firearms in his
home.
At that time, Meyer said, Retta had "indicated to Glenville police
officers that the guns were there to keep himself from being taken by
police officers."
With the dogs and weapons preventing officers from storming Retta's home
Thursday, state police laid siege to it all day. They used commands from
a bullhorn to try to coax him outside for questioning about the Sunday
slayings, for which police said they have no motive.
"We are investigating that murder; we have evidence linking [Retta] to
that murder, and we were trying to execute a search warrant," said
Meyer. "At this point we don't have a solid motive. . . . The
investigation is still open. . . . We are also going to continue
investigating the homicide until we are 100 percent sure we have the
right person."
While police did not disclose a connection between Retta and Kottke,
sources said the two recently argued about a real estate deal that fell
through.
Friends said both men led solitary lives, but bonded over common
interests - the outdoors and the solitude of Kottke's camp in the town
of Edinburg, Saratoga County.
"He used to come up and what not. They both liked to hike and
cross-country ski," said Kottke's nephew, 37-year-old Curt Kling. Kling
introduced Kottke and Retta, his boyhood neighbor, on a visit to his
uncle's camp years ago.
"He used to still go up and see my uncle," Kling said.
Kottke was a gentle man who favored long hikes in the woods, Kling said.
Kling's wife, Lori, described Kottke as a naturalist who was content to
live alone at his camp.
"He was just a nice guy. Laid-back," Kling said. "He never hurt a soul
in his life."
Retta had been in trouble with the law before. In 1984 he was charged
with driving while intoxicated. It was in January 1998 when town police
charged Retta with felony marijuana possession after raiding his home
and discovering a half-pound of marijuana, five loaded rifles and more
than $15,000 cash. At the time, police said the marijuana was packed for
sale and the rifles, along with a .45-caliber handgun, were placed near
the front door.
Kling and other neighbors described Retta as a troubled man plagued by
delusions of alien invasions. Neighbors said they lived in fear of
Retta, whom they described as a volatile man prone to irrational
thoughts.
"He's a very paranoid person," said Michael Frederico, who lived across
the road from Retta. "I figured something like this was bound to
happen."
Frederico's mother said it wasn't unusual to hear her neighbor screaming
in his yard.
"He doesn't talk to anybody," Loretta Frederico said. Mostly, she said,
"[he was] screaming and yelling that the aliens were here."
Despite Retta's sometimes bizarre behavior, Kling said he maintained a
friendship with Retta until a bizarre incident last October.
"He came up to the house and started screaming at me," Kling said. "That
was the last time I talked to him."
Neighbors said Retta could sometimes be seen, his back turned, making
obscene gestures to passing motorists.
Kling remembered one such occasion.
"When I got home I called him. I said, `Did you give me the finger?' He
said `Were you driving by?' " Kling said.
Thursday morning after a full-fledged standoff was under way at Retta's
home, police evacuated many neighbors from their homes and closed
Washout Road to traffic.
By noon, a negotiator on a bullhorn could be heard trying to persuade
Retta to surrender.
"Jack, come out of the house," a negotiator could be heard saying, "Let
us help you."
Later Thursday night, as police searched Retta's home, they found what
Murphy described as an arsenal of long-barrel rifle weapons.
Police were expected to continue searching the home until at least this
morning.
Besides the murders in Edinburg, police will investigate Retta's
connection to an unsolved drive-by shooting that occurred on Washout
Road three weeks ago, according to Macherone.
On June 20, multiple gunshots were fired into an occupied home at 970
Washout Road around 9:25 p.m. One boy and four adults who were inside at
the time were shaken but not injured. Assisted by a K-9 dog, state and
local police searched the woods into the night and next morning but
found nothing.
Gazette reporters Daphne Stein and Lee Coleman contributed to this
article.
Contact Mike Goodwin at 395-3122 or goo...@dailygazette.com.
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