Marcus Fisher told police that it was time for his grandparents to die, so he stabbed them to death in their Montville home on a winter night two years ago.

That was the testimony Monday from state police homicide detective Frank Cuoco during the first day of the accused killer’s trial, which is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

Cuoco told a three-judge panel that just hours after Fisher's maternal grandparents, Gertrude and John Piscezek, were found stabbed to death in their home, Fisher told him that they were good people and that he got along with them “but they knew what had to be done and it was their time.”

Fisher, who was 18 at the time of the murders, had moved from Minnesota to Connecticut to live with his grandparents. He allegedly told police that he had come to live with his grandparents because he got along with them and “wanted to turn his life around.”

But on Jan. 28, 2019, Fisher called 911 and told a dispatcher that they were dead.

Police responded to the couple's 26 Morgan St. home, where they found 77-year-old Gertrude Piscezek and 76-year-old John Piscezek stabbed to death on their kitchen floor. Medical examiners testified in court Monday that John Piscezek had suffered 18 wounds from a sharp object, including a stab wound that pierced his heart and one of his lungs. Gertrude Piscezek had also been stabbed multiple times — once in the back of the neck — and had contusions on her face and chest.

John Piscezek, according to testimony, had multiple cuts on his hands that indicated he fought back as he was attacked. 

Two medical examiners, two homicide detectives, two Montville police officers and a 911 dispatcher testified in court on Monday before the three-judge panel. Fisher sat quietly beside his lawyer, public defender Kevin Barrs, as prosecutor Theresa Ferryman laid out the details of the crime, showing gruesome crime scene photos to the witnesses and judges.

Family members sat scattered throughout the courtroom, some sobbing through the court proceedings and others murmuring angry comments toward Fisher, who is now 20. One man pounded his face into his hands as Ferryman brought forth photos of Gertrude Piscezek slain on the floor. He berated Fisher under his breath for beating Gertrude Piscezek, who he said was his mother, and stabbing her in the back. He commended John Piscezek, who he said was his father, for allegedly “putting up a fight” as he was killed.

Fisher, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, was brought into the New London Superior Court Monday from Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, where he has been held in lieu of a $1 million bond since 2019. His trial is the first to be held in New London since trials were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Jason Moran, a 911 dispatcher, was the first person to be called before the court on Monday. He testified that Fisher called 911 just before 5 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2019, and said he wanted to report two dead bodies. A recording of the 911 call was played for the court, in which Fisher told Moran that his grandparents had been stabbed and that he had been there at the time of the stabbing.

Two Montville police officers who responded to the scene took the stand next.

Vincent Weyel and Matthew Shepard said that as they approached the Piscezeks' house, Fisher appeared in the dark night and “startled” them. They said Fisher was wearing camouflage pants, a dark hoodie and no shoes and had what appeared to be blood on his hands. He told them he had been having a bonfire in the backyard, was locked out of the house and had left the gas stove on, the officers said.

Weyel and Shepard both said that Fisher first denied hurting his grandparents, then admitted to stabbing them. He was placed under arrest and brought to a squad car as officers kicked in the front door to enter the home, where they found the couple dead in the kitchen. They said Fisher told them the bloody knife he used was in the kitchen sink.

Officer Shepard said that when he later got into his squad car with Fisher, Fisher asked if both of his grandparents were dead. When Shepard answered “it looks that way,” he said Fisher didn’t respond.

Detective David Bennet and Frank Cuoco, who interviewed Fisher later that day, also testified.

Bennet told the court that based on his experience, Fisher had a wound on his hand that appeared to be a “slippage wound” — the result of a knife slipping and cutting him while he was attacking another person.

Cuoco said Fisher told detectives during an interview later that day that something had been taken from him so it was his grandparents’ time to die. He said Fisher kept making statements that “they knew what had to be done and it was their time” and that something had been stolen from him. Cuoco said Fisher could not explain what he meant by that.

Barrs, with his hand on his client’s shoulder, asked Cuoco whether Fisher ever mentioned that he thought his memories had been taken from him. The detective said no. He also told Barrs that the interview did not provide any evidence of a motive for the killings.

Fisher is charged with two counts of murder, one count of murder with special circumstances and a count of arson. He allegedly attempted to set his grandparents’ home on fire following the stabbings.

Cuoco testified that Fisher said he attempted to start a fire to “finish what he had started.” Police officers told the court that they found a propane tank and burned objects in the backyard and burned glass bottles and a sharp object inside the oven.

Fisher allegedly told officers he wanted to “see the top blow off” of their home.

If found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Fisher could be sentenced to up to 140 years at the Whiting Forensic Hospital, the state's institution for the criminally insane. If found guilty and sane, he faces the same amount of time in prison.

Fisher’s case is being heard by judges Hillary B. Strackbein, Shari Murphy and Harry Calmar. Strackbein said Monday that the panel will rule on the murder charges and she alone will rule on the arson charge Fisher faces.

t.hartz@theday.com