It was a regular Friday morning in the summer for Maria Mitousis. Like most Fridays she spent the morning finishing up nine holes of golf with friends.
But on this July 3 her life forever changed.
Mitousis took the stand Wednesday morning to testify at the attempted murder trial of Guido Amsel.
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Amsel, 51, is charged with five counts of attempted murder in connection with three bombs delivered in July 2015, and a December 2013 explosion at his ex-wife’s rural home in St. Clements.
Mitousis said that day, her friends had convinced her to take the day off. So she quickly popped by the office to check in.
“I was just going to stop in and do a few things,” she testified Wednesday.
Mitousis said she went into her office and noticed a puffy, bubble-wrapped package on her desk. It was addressed to her and handwritten.
“I assumed it was personal,” Mitousis said.
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She cut the package open with a pair of scissors and found a small pouch holding a digital recorder and a handwritten note.
“There were instructions that it would help me with my case and that I should press play,” she said. “I remember picking it up… the first thing I thought that went through my mind was ‘this is weird.'”
Mitousis hesitated and read the note again.
“All I could think about… what the message was going to be… what was going to be said,” Mitousis recalled.
Mitousis said she closed her office door, held the recorder in her right hand and pressed play.
“I remember the sound. It was like a firecracker. Pop. It felt like I was reeling for a moment,” she said. “I remember feeling off balance, feeling like I was underwater. I just remember feeling very dazed. I felt throbbing in my right hand.”
Mitousis said she had no idea how badly she was injured and doesn’t remember seeing any blood. But she heard the panic in her colleagues voices, screaming and people calling 911 for help.
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Paramedics and police arrived and she was rushed to the emergency room. After numerous surgeries, Mitousis said it wasn’t until the next morning she woke up and realized the extent of her injuries.
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“My right arm was completely wrapped and I didn’t have a hand any longer,” she said. Her left hand also had an open wound. “(I had) cuts to my face and burns to my neck… stitches all over my face, my chin. I lost a lot of tissue.”
Mitousis had extensive injuries all over her body. She said surgeons took tissue from her left leg to create a flap to repair damage to her right hand. Her body was also covered in burns.
“Burns all across my chest, my stomach, my feet as well,” she said. “I’m aware of it every minute of the day.”