Warrant: Co-worker confessed to fatally stabbing UPS driver

WATERTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A UPS employee accused of fatally assaulting a co-worker he was helping deliver packages told police he stabbed the man before fleeing into the woods, according to an arrest warrant released Thursday.

When he was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon by state troopers at a gas station in Plymouth, Elijah David Bertrand, 19, of Bristol, asked officers, “What took you guys so long to find me,” according to the warrant, posted online by the Waterbury Republican-American.

Bertrand was arraigned Thursday on murder charges, accused of killing UPS driver Nathan Burk, 28, of Waterbury. The arrest warrant said Bertrand was working as Burk's “helper/runner” on Tuesday, the day of the assault.

A motive remains unclear.

Bond for Bertrand was kept at $2 million, WTNH-TV reported. His attorney Robert Pickering asked that bond be reduced, arguing Bertrand was not a flight risk and has a strong connection to the state. Betrand is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 6.

Pickering told The Associated Press the case is “a terrible thing for all parties involved," especially considering it happened just before Christmas and during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The empathy of my client's family, it's unbelievable,” he said. “Whether my client is responsible for this or not, the death of this young man never should have happened during the holiday season.”

Bertrand and Burk apparently were riding in the same vehicle, State Trooper Joseu Dorelus said at a news conference Wednesday. According to the arrest warrant, the pair stopped at the home of Burk’s girlfriend and had dinner, staying for about an hour, before they were supposed to turn in the UPS truck.

Burk’s girlfriend began calling her boyfriend about a half-hour later, expecting he...