Treehouse murder, road trips and sushi dinner: What to know ahead of Jonathan Lind’s trial

Hours after his girlfriend stabbed a man to death dozens of times in an Ashburnham treehouse, prosecutors say Jonathan Lind helped cover up the killing.

Lind and his girlfriend, Julia Enright, placed Brandon Chicklis’ body, full of stab wounds, into two plastic garbage bags. Prosecutors said they then wrapped Chicklis in a quilt and dumped her body about 12 miles across state lines in Rindge, New Hampshire. His body wasn’t found for weeks.

Later that evening, the couple went out for sushi while trying to prepare an alibi for Enright, prosecutors said. After the couple had dinner, prosecutors said Lind’s phone call showed he went back to the town where Chicklis’ body was found. The next day, Chicklis’ phone rang near the area where his car was found.

But the excuse didn’t work. Enright was later arrested and charged with the murder of Brandon Chicklis.

However, after Lind was taken into police custody on charges of accessory to murder, Enright was convicted of the murder nearly three years later. During his trial, Enright testified that he was involved in the cover-up of the murder.

But when Lind’s trial begins next month, prosecutors won’t be able to tell jurors that Enright was found guilty of Chicklis’ murder. This means they must convince the jury not only of Lind’s guilt, but also that the 2018 murder occurred.

Multiple trials

Lind was 25 when Enright was sentenced in December 2021. Three years later, he will appear in court twice.

He faces charges of accessory after the fact to Chicklis’ murder, as well as charges of transporting a corpse and perjury.

He will not be tried on the perjury charge when his trial begins next month in Worcester Superior Court after his defense and prosecutors moved to separate the case. That decision came after the judge ruled that Lind’s statement to the grand jury could not be used to support other charges, but could be used in a perjury case.

The judge ruled that Lind was not properly warned before testifying that he was the target of a criminal investigation.

Who is Enright?

At the time of the murder, Enright was a 21-year-old dominatrix with a taste for dark humor.

On June 23, 2018, she killed her 20-year-old ex-boyfriend Chicklis. A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in 2021. She claimed the murder was in self-defense and that Chicklis was trying to rape her.

During his trial, prosecutors revealed chilling details about his obsession with killing, including writings in which he said he “had an insatiable curiosity about killing a person” and was “provoked by an event.” She was running a side business as a dominatrix.

Investigators found a raven or crow in a jar in the bedroom, an organ in a jar, knives, four vials of blood, and some type of clothing similar to a dress.

Jurors were also shown Enright’s remarks about his involvement in the cutting and blood game.

The day before the murder, Enright asked Lind, “Do you think we could add bubbles to the bloodbath?” he asked. He said he was confident they could find a way.

After the murder, Enright wrote that Lind may not have enjoyed the “surprise.”

night of murder

On June 23, 2018, Chicklis agreed to meet Enright inside the treehouse.

The couple dated in high school and had previously had sex in a small cabin on the property next door to Enright. Although she was in a relationship with Lind at the time, Enright was also seeing other people.

Although Enright initially said he planned to have sex with Chicklis in the treehouse that day, a text from Lind made him reconsider. testified.

“I wanted to slow it down. My boyfriend was really sick that weekend and I think that was really a wake-up call. He needed me,” she said. “I thought I’d finish this and then go back and hang out with my boyfriend.”

However, Enright testified that Chicklis tried to kiss her again and pushed her into the corner of the treehouse. She said she tried to stop him but he continued touching her.

He testified that he then took out the knife he often carried with him and stabbed her.

After the murder, Enright said he hid in the woods for about 40 minutes before returning to his treehouse, where he could still hear the music playing from his phone.

Finally, Enright changed clothes, got into his Prius, and drove to Lind’s house, about five minutes away.

Enright testified that the woman told him she needed help and they returned to the treehouse.

Brandon was lying face down facing the door. “I touched his shoulder, but he didn’t move,” he said.

Prosecutors said the two wrapped Chicklis’ body in garbage bags and a quilt, then drove around looking for a place to hide her. They arrived in New Hampshire.

“We chose 119 because it was right there. “I don’t know why we chose this,” he said.

Prosecutors said Lind’s cellphone traveled from his home in Ashburnham to Enright’s home around 3 p.m. that day.

About four hours later, the phone moved north into southern New Hampshire, near the Hannaford supermarket in Rindge where police found Chicklis’ car. By 8 p.m., Lind’s phone call had returned to his home.

That night, Lind and Enright went to a meeting, prosecutors said. I prepared sushi dinner and an excuseEnright was sending messages to Chicklis’ phone implying that he had not seen her that afternoon.

According to court records, around 9:30 p.m. that same night, Lind’s phone was active again; this time he was heading to Enright’s house and then to the Rindge area where Chicklis’ body was found. Around 10:30 p.m., the phone was at Lind’s home in Ashburnham.

Lind told police that on June 23 and 24, 2018, she was sick in bed and Enright came to visit her.

The jury at Enright’s trial found his testimony unreliable.

Who was Chicklis?

Chicklis was about a week away from turning 21 when her body was found.

Inside his obituaryhis family remembered him as “a gentle young man who was loved, missed and will always remain in our hearts.”

Chicklis attended school in Fitchburg and graduated from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in 2015, where he met Enright.

He had been a member of the Boy Scouts of America for more than a decade, achieving the rank of Life Scout with the Fitchburg-based troop.

“Brandon truly loved the outdoors, hiking, and camping, making Scouts of America a perfect fit for him,” his obituary reads. His favorite trip was when Troop 41 went to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and spent more than a week. ”

Chicklis had been working for an HVAC company for about 2 years before his death.

“He enjoyed his job and was always trying to fix things around the house that he learned from work,” his family wrote.

Lind’s upcoming trial

A Worcester Superior Court judge scheduled a final pretrial hearing in Lind’s case on Tuesday. Jury selection for his trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m. on Dec. 5.

Lind also faced a charge of misleading a police officer or investigator when he is indicted in 2022, but that charge was later dropped by prosecutors.

Lind faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison for complicity and no more than three years in prison for transporting the body.

This report used material from previous MassLive stories.