He went from a sobbing, heartbroken victim to a cool, composed murder suspect — all in the same day.
Prosecutors yesterday played jurors in the murder trial of National Guardsman David Lynch, a recorded jailhouse phone call Lynch made to a gal pal just hours after he wept uncontrollably in front of detectives, claiming he was grief stricken over failing to save the life of the girlfriend he’s accused of killing.
“I can’t get into details, I can’t get into details…this is a high-profile murder case,” said a calm Lynch to the unknown woman about his involvement with Althea Lewis’ death on Nov. 23, 2010.
The 15-minute Rikers Island phone call was recorded the same day Lynch was nabbed for viciously beating Lewis to death on a Far Rockaway beach.
“They’re trying to say that I raped and murdered her, this doesn’t make any sense,” said Lynch who did most of the talking and referred to Lewis as an “old friend” while nervously giggling about never having been in jail before.
Last week, the Queens jury watched videotaped statements made by Lynch while he was at the 101st Precinct, crying uncontrollably as he described trying to “rescue” Lewis from the frigid Atlantic Ocean.
“An old friend of mine wanted to talk about us breaking up, it escalated and got violent in the water. I can’t get into details,” he said to his unidentified confidante, who he promised to send money to for her to see him in jail.
“Don’t cry. This isn’t a big deal. I have a squeaky clean record — I went to war. Even the papers can’t write anything bad about me,” he said to the woman.
Lynch is accused of beating his victim in the face so badly his military ring left four star-shaped holes on her mouth, nose and both temples.