GOSHEN – A former boyfriend of Megan McDonald testified Friday that he avoided her wake and funeral because “everybody…was blaming me for her death.”
Paul Simpson was the latest witness to testify in the trial of Edward Holley, 44, of Wawayanda, who was also a former boyfriend of McDonald and has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.
Holley was charged in 2023, 20 years after McDonald’s beaten body was found in a field off Bowser Road in the Town of Wallkill. He has pleaded not guilty.
Asked how he felt about missing McDonald’s wake and funeral, Simpson said, “Not good. I should have been there. But everybody thought it was me (who killed her) at that time. I didn’t want to cause her family more harm.”
“Were you ever arrested for that?” special prosecutor Julia Cornachio asked him.
“No,” he said simply.
Prosecutors argued in opening statements McDonald’s death was the result of Holley’s rage against his ex-girlfriend.
A cigar butt was found in the ashtray of McDonald’s blood-stained Mercury Sable, with a mixture of DNA from McDonald and Simpson. DNA from McDonald and Holley was found on her cellphone.
Defense attorney Paul Weber has argued investigators downplayed existing evidence when they became “laser-focused” on Holley as a suspect and cautioned jurors of a “smokescreen” of prosecution witnesses.
Simpson admitted his and McDonald’s relationship wasn’t perfect.
“It was good at times, but we had arguments and fights,” Simpson said. “I hit her, she hit me.”
Pressed by Cornachio, Simpson clarified that by hitting, he meant open-fisted smacks, but he said they did not leave marks. In the end, they decided to separate as boyfriend and girlfriend, but to remain friends.
“She was seeing other people, I was seeing other people.” Simpson said.
Simpson said he always cooperated with the police who were investigating McDonald’s death, even leaving a night club when he learned from his mother that a state police investigator was at their home looking for him.
“I had nothing to hide,” he said.
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But on cross-examination, Weber questioned Simpson about his alleged history of encounters with the police, and receiving phone calls from alleged drug dealers and users.
Simpson frequently either denied the allegations or said, “I don’t recall.”
Weber also asked Simpson about two calls McDonald made to him, once before and once just after visiting a bank the day before she died.
“How much money did Megan McDonald owe you on March 13, 2003?” Weber asked Simpson.
“Zero,” Simpson replied.
“Why did she call you again at 4:30?” Weber pressed him.
“No clue,” Simpson replied.
Weber had not concluded his cross-examination of Simpson when the trial adjourned for the week on Friday afternoon.
The trial will resume next week, and is expected to continue into April.
Holley faces up to 25 years to life in state prison if he is convicted.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Megan McDonald’s ex-boyfriend testifies in trial of her accused killer
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