NORWICH – The Peter M. Wlasiuk retrial continued Monday with a number of police investigators telling a jury of eight women and four men they believe Wlasiuk murdered his wife.
Several police officers who played intricate parts in the 2002 murder investigation appeared as witnesses for the prosecution yesterday, including Chenango County Sheriff’s Lt. James E. Lloyd, who was then a sergeant detective, and Sgt. Detective Richard Cobb, who was a sergeant in 2002 in charge of accident reconstruction.
Wlasiuk, 39, was arrested April 8, 2002 and charged with second degree murder. He is accused of killing his wife, Patricia, who was 35 at the time. Her body was pulled from Guilford Lake at about 12:30 a.m. April 3, 2002 after an apparent truck accident.
District Attorney Joseph McBride began the day by calling Cobb to the stand and, using a projector, demonstrated his findings to the jury.
Cobb said he had no experience in submerged vehicle accidents, but had been involved in the investigation of around 120 to 150 motor vehicle accidents, eight involving fatalities, at the time of Mrs. Wlasiuk’s death.
Cobb arrived at around 2 a.m. at the Guilford Lake scene where Peter and Patricia Wlasiuk ran their 1998 GMC dual-wheel one-ton extended cab into the 40 degree water.
Cobb said he was briefed by Chenango County Sgt. Scott Carpenter and then began taking photographs and examining the tire marks that deputies had marked off.
Cobb said he noted where the truck’s tires had made their impressions and drew a preliminary sketch of the car’s hypothetical trajectory, showing a diagram and helicopter photograph of the scene to the jury.
The sketch and picture, which had cones tracing the alleged route of Wlasiuk’s vehicle that night, showed a very gradual curve toward the 33-foot-wide area of the lake shore unprotected by guard rails. Cobb said the opening was the only open access to the lake of its kind on County Route 35.
Cobb said he never interviewed Wlasiuk, but he gathered his information from other investigators and from Wlasiuk’s own statement, which claimed the couple had been traveling at approximately 60 miles per hour when Patricia allegedly swerved to avoid hitting a deer then “fishtailed” before plunging through the divide and into the lake.
“We found no indication this accident was caused by a high rate of speed,” said Cobb.
Cobb testified that the lack of skid marks and yawing (the marks made when a vehicle rotates along its vertical axis in a skid) indicate that the vehicle was never out of control.
“It’s not what the evidence says,” said Cobb. “There was no way that a vehicle could have been going any faster than 30 miles per hour without leaving any marks. Any more than 30 mph and you’d lose control.”
Cobb theorized that Peter Wlasiuk had killed his wife, placed her in the bed of the truck, and drove the car to Guilford Lake and left it about 80 feet from the water’s edge parked in or near the roadway. He thinks Wlasiuk then put the truck into drive and watched as it became submerged in the lake.
Lloyd said he interview Peter Wlasiuk on April 5 because “Patricia Wlasiuk’s coworkers had expressed serious concerns, and the evidence regarding the accident did not match up with his story,” he said.
Wlasiuk scheduled an appointment and met with Lloyd for the first time and was read his Miranda rights. McBride presented the original document in court that explained Wlasiuk’s rights and had his signature at the bottom of the page waiving them. In the statement, Wlasiuk gave Lloyd a detailed timeline of the events of the night his wife died at Guilford Lake.

Peter Wlasiuk’s story and timeline
7-7:30 p.m. Wlasiuk makes calls from his Oxford residence about acquiring a band for his bar in Guilford.
8-9 p.m. Wlasiuk arrives at the Angel Inn in Guilford.
10-10:30 p.m. The Angel Inn bar closes; Wlasiuk then drives home.
11 p.m. Wlasiuk arrives at his home and has some coffee before falling asleep on his couch.
11:40-45 p.m. Joyce Warden calls the Wlasiuk residence and asks where Patricia Wlasiuk is. Wlasiuk said Patricia was supposed to pick up the Wlasiuk’s children from Joyce Warden, who was baby-sitting.
11:50-55 p.m. Patricia Wlasiuk walks into the Wlasiuk residence. Peter and Patricia have a disagreement about who was supposed to pick up the children and which one of them will go to Warden’s house to retrieve them.
12:05-10 a.m. Peter calls Warden back and says that Patricia and himself will be driving over at that time to pick up the children. Warden suggests that the Wlasiuk children stay the night and Patricia refuses to leave her children at the Warden residence overnight. According to Peter, Patricia then storms out to the truck without further discussion.
12:15 a.m. The couple departs from their Oxford residence on New Virginia Road.
12:15-12:45 a.m. The Wlasiuk’s GMC truck, allegedly driven by Patricia, takes New Virginia Road to Wade Road to County Road 35. Peter said he felt the cab become cooler and turned his head left to notice Patricia flicking a cigarette out the window. As he turns his attention back to the road, he suddenly sees a deer in the roadway. Patricia then swerves left toward the lake, and the truck fishtails back to the right. Then suddenly the two crash into Guilford Lake.
Wlasiuk told Lloyd that he grabs Patricia by the collar and attempted to pull her out. He claimed he was sucked from the vehicle and somersaulted beneath it, losing his grip on Patricia.
Following the drive shaft, Wlasiuk climbed his way toward the surface and swam to shore. Lloyd then told jurors that Wlasiuk said he yelled for his wife from shore before running for help, checking a few nearby lake homes before finding the Beckers asleep in their home. Thomas Becker then called 911.
Becker, Becker’s friend, Steven M. Schweichler, and Wlasiuk then drive back to the scene, emergency crews and police arrived shortly thereafter.
Wlasiuk stated that his wife had not been drinking before the accident and “absolutely denied that she (Patricia) was suicidal,” said Lloyd.
Lloyd also said Wlasiuk denied he’d had a sexual relationship with Joyce Warden, but when told that she had already told investigators about a three-way relationship with him and Patricia, Wlasiuk recanted and admitted it.
“He described it as a three-way sexual relationship between himself, Warden and Patty. He said the three had a special bond. He kept pounding his fist against his heart like this,” said Lloyd, as he demonstrated the motion to the jury.
According to Lloyd’s interview of Wlasiuk, the three had been involved sexually for about six months but tensions had been taking place in the time before Patricia’s murder because Peter Wlasiuk admitted he was having sexual intercourse with Warden at the Angel Inn without his wife’s knowledge.
Defense Attorney Randel Scharf cross-examined Lloyd late into Monday afternoon and court will begin this morning at 8:30 a.m. with Lloyd again taking the stand.