Court Records Say Online Chat Led Quickly To Visit, Killing

Courant

Marcos Mercado was ordered held on $2 million bail when he was arraigned Wednesday in Superior Court on charges that he murdered a man whom he met in an online chat room on Christmas Eve.

Mercado, 21, is accused of killing Thomas Szadkowski, 41, of Southington in Szadkowski’s apartment. The two met online the evening of Dec. 24. Within a few hours, Szadkowski was dead, according to an account of the killing included in court documents.

In court on Wednesday, Mercado said nothing and did not enter a plea. A judge set Mercado’s bail, then transferred the case to Superior Court in New Britain, where Mercado is due on Jan. 9.

Mercado was arrested on Monday, after a quick police investigation that started when Szadkowski’s partly burned body was found on Dec. 26.

Southington police were led to Mercado when they found evidence of the online chat between him and Szadkowski on Szadkowski’s computer.

Court documents state the two men met in a chat room for gay men and that shortly after meeting they talked about getting together to have sex. Szadkowski gave Mercado directions to his home and invited him to come over.

They had a brief sexual encounter in Szadkowski’s apartment. After they were done, Mercado went out to his car, got an assault rifle out of the trunk, went back inside and shot Szadkowski once in the face, the documents state. Mercado admitted killing Szadkowski when police questioned him, saying he shot Szadkowski because he was disgusted and upset by what they had done, documents state.

Before leaving the apartment, Mercado stole an XBox computer game console to make it look as though the killing happened during a robbery, according to court documents.

It is not clear from court documents why Mercado allegedly burned Szadkowski’s body. When police found the corpse, it was covered with detergent. Police said Mercado told them he poured it on the body in an attempt to clean up.

Szadkowski worked in a call center in Farmington run by the Bank of America and had lived in Southington about four years. During Mercado’s arraignment, court officials said he has lived in Connecticut for 10 years and was a Web designer.

Mercado has also been arrested by police in New Britain. Police searched his home at 141 Hillhurst Ave., New Britain, on Dec. 30. While officers went through the house, he reached for an assault rifle but was subdued, police said. He is charged with interfering with a search warrant and illegal possession of an assault weapon. Police said that gun was the same one used to kill Szadkowski.

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