CT woman offered plea deal in killing of beloved paraprofessional. Victim’s family says it’s not enough

Kathy Daversa used to love the holidays because her daughter, Shelley Stamp, did. Now the season is another sorrowful reminder that her daughter is gone.

This year, just five days before Christmas, Daversa and her family will have to appear at Waterbury Superior Court and, again, face the woman charged with killing her.

Heather Anderson appeared in front of Stamp’s family members at Waterbury Superior Court on Wednesday morning wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with her wrists handcuffed behind her back. The Naugatuck woman who is charged with killing Stamp in a home invasion and robbery last year was offered a plea deal of 30 years in prison on Wednesday in connection with Stamp’s death.

She will return to court on Dec. 20 to decide whether she wants to take the deal or bring the case to trial.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2022, Anderson broke into Stamp’s apartment to borrow money from a friend who had previously lived there. Investigators allege that Anderson forced her way into Stamp’s apartment and shoved her into a microwave stand, causing her to hit her head and fall. She reportedly told investigators that she could tell that Stamp was dying but did not help her. Instead, she reportedly stole her shoes, credit card, car keys, cash and a container of homemade food she had in the refridgerator and left her to die, records show.

Stamp, a 34-year-old paraprofessional, waitress and active volunteer, was found lifeless on the floor of her apartment with her own jacket wrapped around her face.

Anderson and an accomplice, Shannon Gritzbach, were arrested after allegedly using Stamp’s credit cards to buy food at Burger King and spend $47 at a gas station. They tried to spend another $200 at the gas station, but the card was declined, court records show.

Police: Two women charged with killing Waterbury woman, stealing her credit cards

Daversa and her surviving daughter, Laura Tajildeen, both stood up in court on Wednesday and begged a judge to keep Anderson behind bars for more than 30 years.

“Her life was worth so much more than $75 in cash, a Burger King trip, a gas station shopping spree and the homemade meal in her fridge that I gave to her,” said Tajildeen in court, looking toward Anderson.

Anderson is charged with murder during the commission of a felony, conspiracy to commit home invasion, first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in connection with Stamp’s death.

The mother and sister both stood just feet from Anderson and described the pain and suffering they have endured in the year since Stamp’s murder.

“The horrendous pain when your child has been murdered, when another person didn’t value human life, is unbearable to endure,” Daversa said.

The grief stricken mother told the judge that Anderson killed her daughter “for absolutely no reason” and said she thinks Anderson should spend life in prison for hurting her daughter and never calling for help.

“It’s a choice she made,” said Daversa, “when she viciously killed Shelley with her bare hands and left her to die, left her to die on the floor.”

A CT woman was allegedly killed by a stranger in a home invasion. Her mother wants justice.

Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Daversa said that the plea deal Anderson has been offered is an insult to her daughter’s memory and the full life she would have continued to live had Anderson never entered her home. She hopes Anderson will be behind bars for at least 36 years, if not longer, to keep her family and the community at large safe.

“I’m furious,’ she said. ”It’s ridiculous. It’s an insult to my daughter.”

Daversa and Tajildeen said they worry about Anderson ever walking the streets again and suffer every day with imagining what Stamp went through that morning.

“She died alone on the floor in a puddle of blood with complete strangers ransacking her apartment,” said Daversa. “How horrifying. Who could do that to someone? We are all in danger if people who commit violent and despicable crimes like this are not kept in jail.”

Stamp’s family said their crimes not only ended Stamp’s life, but irrevocably changed theirs.

“I am destroyed,” Daversa said in court. “I have to live the rest of my life absolutely heartbroken. I am not a whole person anymore and I never will be again.”

She told the judge about memories of dressing Stamp up in dresses, bows and saddle shoes for holidays when she was a little girl. She recalled teaching her to ride a bike, then how to drive. Then, as adults, Daversa said she and her daughter were best friends. They went shopping together, watched shows together and took trips to New York City together for Christmas.

“The child was my best companion, and she is gone,” she said. “Now I have no one to share these special events with because these were our special times.”

Tajildeen, who has two children that Stamp loved to spend time with, said she could not leave her house for months after her sister’s murder.

“If this could happen to my sister,” she said, “I don’t feel safe anywhere.”

The relationship she had with her sister can never be replicated or replaced, she said, and her children now have to grow up without their devoted aunt.

Stamp, she said, was the most loving person in their family. She always made them laugh and kept them on their toes. She showed up to everything early and always stayed late. She had “the biggest heart” and made every moment special.

Tajildeen said she will never forget getting the call that Stamp had been found dead. Tajildeen‘s husband found Stamp’s lifeless body after going to her apartment to check on her when the family could not reach her after her waitressing shift the night before.

She said the family was shocked to learn Stamp’s death had been the result of a home invasion. Stamp was always a safe person, she said, who valued her alone time at home.

She hangs on to the memory of her sister at their last family Sunday dinner, eating macaroni and meatballs.

“It was just like any other Sunday dinner filled with love and laughs,” she said. “Little did we know one of the most important pieces of our puzzle would be stolen from us.”

Tajildeen and Daversa said that they hope Anderson will serve more than 30 years for what they took from their family.

“30 years for a 34-year-old woman who worked with special needs children, who was the light of our lives, the light of our family,” said Daversa. They said they chose to speak on Wednesday in hopes that she’ll be given a harsher sentence.

“I will miss her to the day I die and I will fight for her until the day I die,” Daversa said.

As they await the next court date, Daversa said she’s been listening to Christmas music, just like her daughter would have been at this time of year.

“That’s kind of bringing me into the holiday spirit more, because Shelley was so full of holiday spirit,” she said.