Men plead not guilty to murder of Gloversville woman in Malta

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

Georgios N. Kakavelos, left, and James Duffy, in orange at right, appear separately in court Tuesday

BALLSTON SPA – The two men indicted in the Malta murder of Gloversville resident Allyzibeth Lamont appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty.

Georgios N. Kakavelos, 51, of Ballston Spa, and James Duffy, 34, of Johnstown, appeared separately Tuesday afternoon in Saratoga County Court for their arraignment on the indictment.

Both men remain held without bail.

The arraignment came the day after the indictments were unsealed. Both face one count each of second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with evidence.

If convicted on the murder charge, the men would face up to 25 years to life in state prison.

Kakavelos appeared in court while using a wheelchair. No explanation was given. Kakavelos walked in, handcuffed but unassisted to a court appearance earlier in the case, Nov. 5.

Trial dates were also set for both men, both May 18.

Kakavelos and Duffy were both arrested shortly after Lamont’s body was discovered Oct. 31 in a swampy marshland in Malta. She was last seen alive days earlier in Johnstown, near the Local Substation No. 9 sandwich shop where she worked. Kakavelos co-owns the sandwich shop, and Duffy was a manager there.

State police said an autopsy showed she died of multiple blunt force trauma to the head. Her body was found over 30 miles away from the Johnstown sandwich shop where she and the defendants worked. State troopers have alleged the two men killed Lamont where her body was found sometime around Oct. 28.

Her body was found in a “wooded area east of the on-ramp to Interstate 87 southbound Exit 13,” according to police. Police further alleged the men worked to conceal Lamont’s body “by burying the body in a secluded area and covering the body in cement, stone blocks, dirt, mud, vegetation and tree limbs.”