A Massachusetts man accused of attacking his girlfriend before her body was found by Tewksbury police over the weekend faced a judge Monday.
Eric Griffin pleaded not guilty to a charge a charge of domestic assault and battery at his arraignment in Lowell District Court. He has not been charged with murder.
The body of 39-year-old Jennifer Kalicki was found Sunday morning at her apartment on Archstone Avenue, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office. Police said Kalicki died after the couple had a fight.
"She had physical trauma to her face, to her neck and to her extremities," prosecutor Suzanne Wiseman said in court. "The defendant had slammed her on the ground and the defendant had strangled her."
Investigators say Griffin denies hurting his girlfriend but prosecutors say there's a lot that doesn't add up.
"The defendant provided a number of different and conflicting accounts of not only how the victim may have received injuries but also what happened," Wiseman said.
Kalicki frantically texted Griffin's sister for help the day before she was found dead, but her calls for help went unanswered, Wiseman said.
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In one exchange, the victim allegedly wrote: "He's ripped the door open. Choked me, slammed me to the ground."
Court records show that Kalicki had bailed Griffin out in an unrelated case last week.
Kalicki's mother, Kathy Gadd, said her daughter suffered from abuse at the hands of Griffin but just couldn't escape.
"I told him once, 'don't touch her, again,'" she recalled. "I told him once, but he didn't listen."
Gadd now wants justice for her daughter.
"I want him to get the most that they can give him," she said. "He's going to try to say he's sorry because that's the type of person he is, but he's not sorry. He's just sorry he got caught."
Griffin is being held without bail pending a hearing on Friday.
