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KINGSTON — Investigators found smudges of blood inside a Wayne County house where Linda Frick resided soon after her body was found in a vehicle behind her boyfriend’s residence in Kingston on Saturday, court records say.
Kingston police and Luzerne County detectives allege Dana Ganjeh, 39, fatally beat Frick, 56, sometime Friday night into Saturday morning.
Detectives said Frick’s relatives and friends reported she had a violent relationship with Ganjeh.
Ganjeh was arraigned Wednesday by District Judge James Haggerty in Kingston on an open count of criminal homicide. He was jailed at the county correctional facility without bail.
During the arraignment, Haggerty quizzed Ganjeh about his life, learning he lived in Chicago, Illinois, and Wayne County before relocating to Kingston about 18 months ago.
After Haggerty reviewed the criminal homicide charge, Ganjeh asked, “Why am I being charged for her death?”
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Hogans advised Haggerty that Ganjeh was involved in domestic abuse incidents with Frick, including an open burglary and an assault case in Wayne County. Court records say Ganjeh was free on $35,000 bail in Wayne County for an incident involving Frick at her brother’s residence in Dreher Township on April 13.
Domestic abuse charges against Ganjeh filed by Kingston police after an incident with Frick in September were withdrawn.
Frick’s body was found under a blanket on the passenger seat of a Toyota Rav4 behind Ganjeh’s residence at 71 Price St. at about 7 a.m. An officer unlocked the door and pulled the blanket down, exposing Frick’s badly bruised face, court records say.
Ganjeh was initially detained Saturday on aggravated assault charges, which were withdrawn at Wednesday’s criminal homicide arraignment.
Detectives said a surveillance camera from another house recorded the Toyota being driven several times in an alley behind Price Street throughout the early morning hours on Saturday. A surveillance camera at a Kingston convenient store recorded Ganjeh in the parking lot from 6:23 a.m. to 6:26 a.m., authorities say.
Soon after Frick’s body was found, detectives learned she resided with her brother, Larry Frick, on Huckleberry Road in Dreher Township, Wayne County.
During an interview, Larry Frick and his girlfriend, Anna Marie Davis, claimed they last saw Linda Frick just inside a sliding glass patio door at the Huckleberry Road house at about 6:15 p.m. Friday. When they returned two hours later, Linda Frick was not at the house and they found smudges of blood near the patio door, which was knocked off the bottom rail, court records say.
Police responded to Ganjeh’s residence when his brother, Danesh Ganjeh, called 911 saying his brother had suicidal tendencies.
Danesh Ganjeh told detectives his brother called him crying and saying he did something “bad.” When Danesh Ganjeh asked his brother what he was talking about, Ganjeh replied, “you’ll find out” and “take care of mom,” court records say.
Detectives allege they also found blood spatter inside the Toyota.