May 16--A long series of lies, exposed by massive amounts of investigative work and time itself, led state police Tuesday to the home of the man who was subsequently charged with criminal homicide and arson in the 2002 beating and burning of Hope Babel.
Ryan J. Stufflet, 28, had just gotten out of bed when Trooper Robert Hess and others showed up at his Tilden Township home to make the arrest, Hess said Wednesday.
"Stufflet's always lied," said Hess, the cold case investigator for Reading-based state police Troop L. "He was brought in front of the grand jury numerous times and continued to lie."
Stufflet's mother, 51-year-old Tina Stufflet, was charged with perjury in the case.
Babel was killed Sept. 6, 2002, inside her Shoemakersville apartment after an evening of drinking with Stufflet and one of her sons.
Ryan and Tina Stufflet live together in the 700 block of Hex Highway. The charge against Tina Stufflet was tied to testimony she gave Feb. 14 before a Berks County grand jury investigating the Babel killing, state police said.
"When people are lying, they can't tell you the same story twice because they can't keep it straight," Lt. Raymond Guth, Hess' supervisor, said Wednesday.
Hess said Ryan Stufflet did not seem emotional when he was arrested.
"I would characterize his demeanor as, he didn't seem surprised," Hess said.
Guth and Hess declined to discuss the motive for the killing.
Many contradictions
But documents generated by a grand jury -- an investigative body reintroduced in the county after the 2008 election of District Attorney John T. Adams -- outline many contradictions to Stufflet's claim that he could not remember anything about the night of the killing.
Witnesses also testified that Stufflet liked older women like Babel, who was 47 when she was killed. Her son, Isaiah Babel, said Stufflet flirted with his mother and that his mother told him Stufflet had "hit" on her in the past, according to the grand jury documents.
The decision by a district attorney to seek a grand jury is significant, Guth said, because they take time and manpower.
"It is one of the best things John has done since he has been in office," Guth said. "It is a great tool."
The grand jury documents in the Babel case said, "Ryan Stufflet testified that he does not remember any of the year 2002, including the night of the homicide."
Stufflet said he had memory loss because of auto accidents he was involved in since 2002. Police records show Stufflet was arrested four times for drunken driving and three times for burglary between 2003 and 2012.
Several grand jury witnesses said they had seen no evidence of memory loss in Stufflet.
Hess said recordings of phone calls made by Stufflet while he was in Berks County Prison in 2012 on charges unrelated to the murder revealed no memory problems.
In one call, he mentioned a Reading Eagle newspaper article published Aug. 20, 2012, that focused on the unsolved Hope Babel case.
Article 'making him nervous'
On Wednesday, Hess said Stufflet talked about the article when Hess interviewed him in prison in September.
According to Hess, Stufflet said: "It wasn't in the paper too long ago. I knew this was coming."
The story was part of an eight-day Reading Eagle series called "Unsolved Murders, Unresolved Agony" that documented more than 100 unsolved murders in Berks County. It focused on eight cases in particular, including the Hope Babel killing.
Guth said such media attention to the details on long-unsolved cases is the last thing an uncaught killer wants.
"It gives him a shot. It gives him a jab. It is making him nervous," Guth said.
Bringing case home
Shoemakersville Borough Police handled the original investigation of Babel's killing. In 2006, when the department disbanded, state police took over.
They assembled a task force of many investigators who spent at least five months working the case.
Among them was now-retired state police Cpl. Bill Moyer, who was Hess' predecessor in the Troop L cold case post and spent many hours on the Babel case.
In the days leading up to the Stufflet arrests, some members of the task force, including Moyer, were called in to assist, Guth said.
"We came up with a game plan. Everybody had their assignments," Guth said. "There were a lot of people to be interviewed."
At least two different witnesses who testified before the grand jury said Tina Stufflet told them that she had lied to police about whether or not Ryan Stufflet was home at a particular time on the night of the murder, according to the court documents.
Tina Stufflet was released on bail from prison after her Tuesday arrest. Ryan Stufflet is being held without bail.
The grand jury was the second impaneled during Adams' tenure. Its work on the Babel case was led by Assistant District Attorney Catherine J. Nadirov.
It voted last week to issue a presentment -- the equivalent of an indictment -- against the Stufflets, according to Adams. The same grand jury issued two previous presentments, and each led to an arrest in a child abuse case.
Adams said his office has not closed the books on any cold case homicides.
Contact Ford Turner: 610-371-5037 or fturner@readingeagle.com.
Copyright 2013 - Reading Eagle, Pa.
