On January 20, 2022, Kurt Lametta, 54, known to friends as Puff and described as a gentle giant with a contagious smile, was shot and killed in his rented home on Nelson Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut. The killing followed a long-simmering landlord-tenant dispute with his landlord, 61-year-old Ellen Wink, who had been arrested months earlier in September 2021 for locking Lametta out and discarding his belongings.

Witnessed only by the recording Lametta made on his cellphone, the final confrontation began when Wink entered the house to clean in advance of a planned sale. The phone’s audio captured the argument and the sound of shots; Lametta was struck multiple times and collapsed in the living room. Wink was arrested at the scene and charged with murder.

The recording from Lametta’s phone has been central to the prosecution’s account.