Montco woman’s killing at boyfriend’s hands is a clear case of murder, DA says as trial begins

When Alyssa Wiest broke up with her boyfriend after a night out in May, she had no idea that her life was in danger, Montgomery County prosecutors said Tuesday at the beginning of her alleged killer’s trial.

But Michael Dutkiewicz, 27, could not accept her decision, and he executed Wiest in what Assistant District Attorney Yasmine Finnegan said was a clear case of first-degree murder.

“She couldn’t have known she’d pay for her decision with her life,” Finnegan said. “He formulated and plan and decided to kill her.”

Dutkiewicz, of Warrington, is on trial for murder after shooting Wiest multiple times May 18 with a .38 caliber revolver she kept in her West Conshohocken home for self-defense, prosecutors said.

The final gunshot, aimed at her head, came as Wiest, 25, lay on the pavement outside her apartment on Moorehead Avenue, critically wounded.

Dutkiewicz’s attorney, Timothy Woodward, told jurors the case was not a “whodunit or a howdunit, but a whydunit.” He explained that, in the hours before the shooting, the couple had been out drinking at a bar in Ambler, and had come home heavily intoxicated.

“The combination of too much alcohol and the emotional instability of Michael Dutkiewicz because of the unexpected breakup, along with the presence of a gun, led to a toxic situation that ended in tragedy,” Woodward said.

He told jurors the shooting was not premeditated.

But Finnegan said evidence proved Dutkiewicz planned the killing: He Googled, “how to load and shoot a revolver” moments before the shooting, and confronted Wiest with the loaded gun after she packed his clothes in a suitcase and told him to leave her home.

Wiest worked as a microbiologist at GSK, and was an ambitious career woman who loved her family and traveling. Her sister, Alexandria Wiest Lang, testified Tuesday that the couple had started dating in the spring of 2024, not long after Wiest had left a long-term relationship.

Wiest, her sister said, told her she planned to break up with Dutkiewicz in May.

They never expected Dutkiewicz, who was a friend of their cousin, to turn violent when confronted with the prospect of an end to their relationship.

Three of Wiest’s neighbors testified Tuesday that they heard a chilling scream that night, followed by multiple gunshots.

One of the neighbors said Wiest’s guttural screams made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

The neighbors told police they saw Dutkiewicz back his pickup truck out of Wiest’s driveway and speed away.

He drove to his parents’ beach house in Wildwood, where he stored the gun he used to kill Wiest, prosecutors said.

Hours later, Dutkiewicz’s parents contacted West Consohocken Police to turn him in.

The trial is expected to last through Thursday before Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Rothstein.