3 years later, an arrest in slaying

More than three years after local actress Pasinetta Fitzgerald was found slain, Omaha police arrested the man Fitzgerald's friends suspected from the beginning:

Her former fiance.

Patrick B. Bauldwin, 45, of Omaha, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder in the February 2006 death of Fitzgerald, an actress in several local theater productions.

Fitzgerald, 40, had been beaten and strangled — both her blood and Bauldwin's was found on her pajama top — a day or two after she tried to break off her tumultuous relationship with him, authorities say.

Bauldwin was in the Douglas County Jail Tuesday night and could not be reached for comment. He is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine credited Omaha police's cold-case unit — Sgt. Ken Kanger and lead detective Todd Kozelichki — for their persistence on the case.

“They didn't give up,” Kleine said. “They kept going through the evidence and working the case. There was a tremendous amount of effort to get this case solved.”

John Beasley, founder of the John Beasley Theater where Fitzgerald learned her craft, was “elated” about the arrest.

Beasley said he spoke to an Omaha police homicide detective a few weeks ago about the case.

“I was glad to see the Omaha Police Department was still on it and that it wasn't a cold case,” he said. “He assured me they were working on it, and I think they did an outstanding job.”

According to the affidavit for Bauldwin's arrest:

Fitzgerald's former landlord, Gregory Johnson, told police that Fitzgerald and Bauldwin had been dating for a few years before her death.

Fitzgerald, who formerly went by the name Prince, did not complain about her relationship with Bauldwin until July 4, 2005 — when she told Johnson that Bauldwin “laid his hands on me.” Johnson and other former friends of Fitzgerald's told police they remembered seeing some bruising along her upper arms, forearms and face after the July 4th holiday.

Friends said Fitzgerald had told them Bauldwin, her “ex-fiance,” was becoming more jealous of and obsessed with Fitzgerald.

“He acts like a stalker,” she told one friend.

Fitzgerald told another friend that Bauldwin “would hide in the alleyway behind some boards and would sneak up on her.”

About three weeks before her death, Fitzgerald asked Johnson how much it would cost to change the locks because of “problems she was having with Bauldwin,” the court affidavit says.

Fitzgerald told Johnson that she wanted to break up with Bauldwin and move away. She also talked of getting a protection order against him.

Two other friends told police that Fitzgerald had talked of kicking Bauldwin out of her house and finally did so on Feb. 24, 2006 — two days before she was found dead.

Bauldwin was last seen at Fitzgerald's house in the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 2006. A friend said Fitzgerald had told her by phone that Bauldwin was at the house just after noon on Feb. 25.

Fitzgerald's mom, Beverly Frazier, told police that she “got a very bad feeling” when Fitzgerald didn't show up for church on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Frazier called police after both she and Fitzgerald's then-13-year-old son couldn't reach her throughout the day.

Police broke down the door and found Fitzgerald dead. She had “linear style bruising” along her neck, consistent with a strangulation, along with several abrasions and bruises on her body.

Later that night, Bauldwin's brothers brought him to Central Police Headquarters.

Investigators found scrapes on both of Bauldwin's hands, right ear, right forearm, forehead, upper chest and both knees.

Back at the scene, investigators found a pair of men's Polo jeans with two tears in the right pants leg.

The tears “were consistent with abrasions” found on Bauldwin's right leg.

Eventually, DNA testing confirmed that Bauldwin's blood was found inside the jeans, police allege in court documents. Fitzgerald's blood was found on two areas along the outside right knee of the jeans.

Meanwhile, detectives noticed five areas of blood on Fitzgerald's pajama top.

DNA tests on three areas came back as matches to Fitzgerald's DNA.

One area, mid-chest, came back as a match to Bauldwin's DNA. The fifth area, near the neck line, came back as a mixture of Bauldwin's and Fitzgerald's DNA.

Bauldwin has no felony convictions in Douglas County. Court records indicate he has been divorced and has five children.

An Omaha woman took out a protection order against him and accused him of stalking her in 1993. The girlfriend said Bauldwin came into her house, destroyed her clothes, ripped out her cable lines, followed her and “sits and watches my house.”

Beasley remembered when Bauldwin had dated Fitzgerald.

“I never particularly cared for him,” Beasley said. “She just didn't seem to be happy with this guy.”

Kanger said Omaha detectives had to sort through numerous pieces of physical evidence and interview several people who knew both Fitzgerald and Bauldwin. He said he was relieved to make an arrest.

“It was one of those cases where there was a lot of potential for physical evidence to develop over time,” he said. “It's hard for us to have to tell victims' families to hang on and keep waiting ... So it's nice when we can finally call with good news.”

Over the years, Beasley had feared Fitzgerald's slaying might go unsolved. He remembered her as “one of our brightest stars.”

“She did such a great job, and she loved the stage and the audiences always loved her.”

World-Herald staff writer Andrew J. Nelson contributed to this story.