OSWEGO, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — “I hope your child comes out f**ked up,” Courtney Venditte heard from Anthony Waldron, the man she prosecuted for murder.
She wouldn’t have believed it, except Waldron’s niece had said something similar just hours earlier.
Prosecutors are used to threats and verbal assaults from defendants on trial, but the comments were particularly “vile,” as the judge said because Venditte is expecting a baby with her husband, Caleb Petzoldt, the other assistant district attorney handling the case.
Together, the co-prosecuters and spouses, sat down with NewsChannel 9 for an interview, to say what they couldn’t during the trial.
“We absolutely reflected on the comments,” said Venditte. “We never took them personally. It just reinforced what we thought about Anthony, to be honest.”
“It was really a window into how Anthony saw Jordan,” said Petzoldt. “Jordan was a great kid, a blessing. I would be thrilled to have a kid like Jordan, and in that moment, (Anthony) revealed who he really was and how he saw Jordan… that he viewed Jordan as disposable.”
The comments weren’t allowed to be shared with the jury, but the prosecutors showed NewsChannel 9 the evidence that was allowed.
A series of photos taken at different points between 2020 and 2021 show Jordan’s regression, from a healthy teen whose cerebral palsy was well-managed by teachers and therapists to a dying boy kept at home by his mom and dad.
Teachers, some of whom testified at the trial, remember how different their students looked in one of their final Zoom calls.
Petzoldt called it the darkest moment.
He said: “It was at that moment, that if Lisa and Anthony had the common decency and throw up their hands and say: ‘Hey, we’re overwhelmed. We can’t do this.’ There were so many witnesses who would have rushed over to save Jordan.”
Jordan died on May 9, 2021, from sepsis and malnutrition.
More than two years later, his mom, Lisa Waldron pleaded guilty. She then testified at her husband’s trial.
After seeing and hearing the evidence, the jury quickly found Waldron guilty of murder. He’ll be sentenced in December.
