LaShawn "Bi" Cecil was looking to collect a drug debt from the brother of Jaclyn Wirth's boyfriend when he shot and killed the 26-year-old mother of two at her Norwich apartment in December 2011, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday in New London Superior Court.

Cecil, 33, was charged with Wirth's murder in February as he made plans from prison, where he was being held for an unrelated shooting, to flee to Myrtle Beach, S.C., according to the affidavit. He is being held in lieu of $2.1 million and has requested through his attorney, William T. Koch Jr., that the state prove it has enough evidence to prosecute him at a June 29 probable cause hearing.

The 10-page warrant affidavit, prepared by Norwich Police investigator Kyle Besse, outlines a case built on statements from unnamed witnesses who repeatedly told police they fear for their lives.

The police allege Cecil worked as a "runner" for drug dealer Harold K. "Haas" Butler, and that he shot Wirth while trying to collect money owed to Butler by Ezekiel "Juney" Boyce. Michael Boyce, who was Wirth's boyfriend, was incarcerated at the time, but told police that at one time his brother had sold crack cocaine from Wirth's apartment at 6D East Baltic St in the Mohegan Park Apartment complex. 

Called to the apartment at 1:42 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2011, Patrolman Scott DuPointe found Wirth lying on the floor bleeding and speaking on the phone with a 911 operator. Her 7-year-old son was crying and holding onto her. Her 2-year-old son was in a bedroom.

With her face turning blue, Wirth was able to tell DuPointe in a faint voice that she heard a loud noise, so she got out of bed to check on it. She said when she entered the hallway area, she "kept getting hit." She said she had no problems with anyone and told DuPointe, "Please tell them to hurry. I can't breath and I'm going to die." Wirth was pronounced dead at 2:50 a.m. at The William W. Backus Hospital.

The wooden door leading to Wirth's apartment had nine bullet holes, and inside the apartment, bullets penetrated the walls, floor and bathroom door and the frame to the door of the children's bedroom. The police found nine spent shell casings and one live bullet in the hallway. One officer on the way to the scene noticed a dark colored Chrysler sedan that would later be tied to the crime.

An unidentified witness provided Cecil's name to police the day after the shooting, and Cecil, questioned when he was arrested on unrelated charges, provided information about the crime that was not known to the public or police, according to the affidavit. Asked about the homicide, he denied involvement but told Detective James Curtis, "That's (expletive) up! You go knock on the door, hear that girl say, 'Who is it' and you still do what you do."

"It should be noted that investigators never developed any information indicating that the assailant knocked on the apartment door or that the victim asked, 'Who is it?'" the affidavit says.

Later, another witness told police that Cecil said the day after the shooting that Wirth, answering his knock, asked who it was and refused to open the door all the way. Motioning as if he were shooting a gun, Cecil allegedly told the witness he "dumped through the door to get Shorty away, then he bounced."  "Shorty" is slang for a female.

Cecil's girlfriend, Evette Nieves, told police that she cooked dinner that night and Cecil stayed home. Butler said Cecil had used his car to sell drugs that night and that Butler spent the night at the Mai Thai restaurant before a friend, William Collelo, drove him home around 1 a.m. Butler, who has not been charged in connection with the Wirth case, is currently serving a 64-month prison sentence for selling narcotics.

One witness told police that Ezekiel Boyce owed Butler money for drugs, saying, "It was not a lot of money. Maybe a couple hundred." Another told police Butler wrote her a letter from prison saying he sent Cecil to collect money from Boyce that night. The woman never turned over the letter as promised, and police did not locate it when they searched her residence.

Arrested in September 2014 on an unrelated charge, Boyce said he owed $50 or $100 to Butler from a drug sale and denied having any problems the night Wirth was killed, according to the affidavit.

In November 2014, the police interviewed a witness who said he overheard Cecil's girlfriend talking the day after the homicide about Cecil not being able to sleep because he was having nightmares about killing a girl, according to the affidavit.

Also in November 2014, the police interviewed an unnamed man, identified in the affidavit as "Witness 1," who said he drove Cecil and Butler to the Mohegan Park Apartments in his rented Chrysler 300, where Butler instructed Cecil to "go see Juney and collect that money he owes me." Cecil got out of the car and walked toward Wirth's apartment, the witness said. He came running back, breathless, about five minutes later, without any money and said, "I handled it. We need to get out of here," the witness said. After driving from the scene, Cecil told Butler that things had gone "crazy" and he shot off his gun, according to the affidavit.

In December 2014, a female described as "Witness 2" told police that she was arguing with Cecil and he told her, "I will kill you like I killed that girl in Norwich if you leave me." The woman said she thought he was joking. She asked Cecil if he killed the girl and he said, "I didn't know that girl."

One witness who was re-interviewed after the New London County Cold Case Task Force got involved in the investigation told investigators about a conversation in which she heard one man tell another that Cecil had bragged about killing Wirth. She said she was "scared to death" to provide their names, and that shortly after she spoke to police the first time, Cecil had called her husband after she returned to their house with her son.

"I see your wife right now," Cecil allegedly told the husband. "I could take her out."

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN