2 S. Jersey cops say chief told them to lie in slaying case

If Catherine McGowan had had a police escort when she returned to her home on Oct. 8, 2009, the bloody confrontation with her mentally disturbed neighbor might have ended differently.

But there were no cops around when McGowan, who had left her condo at the Village at Linwood in Atlantic County out of fear, returned with her daughter that morning to retrieve some clothes. Anthony Milano, a former South Philadelphia resident whose family claimed to have invented the pizza cheesesteak, attacked the 89-year-old woman when she arrived.

Minutes later, McGowan was dead while her daughter and a neighbor who tried to stop the brutal attack were bleeding from multiple stab wounds.

Now, two Linwood police officers claim that Chief James Baker told them to lie during civil depositions and say that McGowan and her family had been instructed to call the department before she tried to go home, so an officer could accompany her.

"That is categorically untrue," said James Maggs, an attorney who represents McGowan's family in a civil lawsuit against the department and others. "Not only is it a lie, it's an insult to the family."

The allegations came to light in a separate lawsuit filed against Baker by two of his officers over working conditions. As a result of that lawsuit, Maggs is now asking the state Attorney General's Office to investigate Baker for witness tampering and providing false information.

"Chief Baker's tortious actions may indeed be criminal," Maggs wrote in a letter to the attorney general.

Neither Baker nor an attorney who represents Linwood in the civil case could be reached for comment yesterday.

Earlier this month, Milano was found not guilty by insanity for McGowan's murder and sent to a psychiatric facility. According to neighbors and a family member, Milano was a terrifying force in the quiet, well-manicured retirement community and he seemed to focus his torment toward McGowan. He would scream obscenities through her windows or bang on his floor in the apartment above her.

McGowan called the police multiple times and was scheduled to appear in court the day she died for complaints she and neighbors had filed against him.

"They knew this man had psychological issues," Maggs said of the police department. "They knew this man had violent tendencies."