A Connecticut man charged with killing his girlfriend months after she was discovered dead at the foot of a staircase was already facing an unrelated domestic violence case, according to court records. In that pending matter, another woman told police he strangled, threatened and assaulted her after the two met through a dating app.
Connecticut State Police said Cole Theodore Werhan, 28, of Burlington, was arrested Tuesday on a murder charge in the death of Janina Brooke Murphy, 26, of Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Murphy, who was known as Brooke, was found in March at the bottom of a staircase in the Burlington home where she had been living. At the time, investigators classified the circumstances surrounding her death as suspicious.
Cole Theodore Werhan, 28, of Burlington, Connecticut, is accused of killing 26-year-old Janina Brooke Murphy after authorities said her death from a head injury was ruled a homicide. (Connecticut State Police)
The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner this week concluded that Murphy died from blunt force trauma to the head and officially ruled the case a homicide.
“Another detective got on the phone. He said, ‘I want you to know something. Your daughter didn’t just fall down the stairs. She had wounds all over her,’” Murphy’s mother, Beth Murphy, told WBZ-TV.
Beth Murphy said her daughter had been in a relationship with Werhan, adding that the medical examiner’s finding confirmed the family’s worst fears.
“It’s confirmed, it wasn’t an accident. So that part, really, that’s tough,” she told WBZ-TV.
Janina Brooke Murphy, 26, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, was remembered by her mother as a kind, artistic woman with “a heart of gold” after authorities ruled her death a homicide. (Cartmell-Davis Funeral Home)
Court records reviewed by News Agency show Werhan was already facing pending domestic violence charges in a separate case out of Torrington Superior Court. In that case, a woman told Connecticut State Police investigators she met Werhan on Hinge and that their communication initially seemed normal before he began “love bombing” her, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The woman told police that during their first in-person meeting at Werhan’s Burlington home, he was drinking and physically assaulted her, the warrant says.
She alleged that between May and August 2025, Werhan slapped her, pulled her hair, screamed in her face, held her down and, during one incident, ran up behind her as she tried to leave, grabbed her, threw her back into the house and held her down, according to the affidavit.
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In another alleged incident, the woman told police Werhan strangled her with his hands around her neck while he was on top of her, squeezing until she could not breathe, the warrant says. She told investigators she did not lose consciousness but had bruising on her neck for about a week.
The woman also told police Werhan threatened her and said he wanted to kill her, according to the warrant.
“Complainant #1 stated that Werhan would yell at her, insult her, and say that he hated her,” the affidavit says. “Complainant #1 explained that Werhan would tell her that he wanted to kill her.”
Cole Theodore Werhan, 28, of Burlington, Connecticut, is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Janina Brooke Murphy, and was already facing pending domestic violence charges in separate cases, court records show. (Connecticut State Police)
The woman told investigators she eventually left because she believed that if she went back to him, “she would end up dead,” according to the warrant.
Werhan was charged in that case with second-degree strangulation or suffocation, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct.
State judicial records also show Werhan had another pending case involving alleged domestic violence-related charges from November 2025, including breach of peace, third-degree assault, disorderly conduct, unlawful restraint and threatening. That case listed a $75,000 bond.
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Werhan is now being held on a $5 million cash bond in the murder case and was arraigned Wednesday in Torrington Superior Court, WBZ-TV reported. Prosecutors called Werhan an “extreme danger to the community,” according to CBS News.
Beth Murphy described her daughter as kind, artistic and deeply loved.
“So many people said she was my best friend. Like, pretty much everybody said Brooke was my best friend. She had a heart of gold,” she told WBZ-TV.
Murphy would have turned 27 on June 17.
Connecticut State Police said the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death remains active. News Agency reached out to Werhan’s attorney.
