PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the months before her death, Holly Maddux was happier than she had been in years and had left a stormy relationship with the man later accused of bludgeoning her to death, family and friends testified.
Buffy Hall, a sister of Maddux, testified Monday that the last time she saw Maddux alive — during a July 1977 trip to London where Ira Einhorn and Maddux also were traveling — her sister seemed excited and upbeat, and said she was about to leave Einhorn.
Einhorn, 62, a former counterculture guru, is on trial for murder, accused of killing Maddux in 1977 in their West Philadelphia apartment. Her mummified remains were found 18 months later in a locked steamer trunk in his closet. She was 30.
Stephen F. Einhorn, 58, the only sibling of the accused, said his brother was innocent of the crime and called the accused killer "the most gentle person in the world" who protected him from bullies during their boyhood.
Assistant District Attorney Joel Rosen said evidence was strong of Einhorn's guilt and his history of violence against women, even a quarter-century after Maddux's death.