Expert: Wlasiuk accident was faked
NORWICH – The prosecution’s accident reconstruction specialist Thursday painted a detailed theory of how Peter M. Wlasiuk allegedly murdered his wife.
Also in court were two witnesses who claimed they heard a woman scream on the night of April 3, 2002, calling into question the prosecution’s premise that Patricia Wlasiuk was already dead when she entered the water.
Sergeant Andrew Frate has been an accident reconstruction specialist since 1987 for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Thursday, he testified to his findings during his examination of the alleged Guilford Lake accident.
“In my opinion this entire incident was staged and claimed to be an accident. It’s filled with inconsistencies and impossibilities,” Frate told Wlasiuk’s jury of eight women and four men.
Frate recalled the original account of the accident he received before beginning his investigation based on Wlasiuk’s statements given to police on April 3 and 5, 2002.
Wlasiuk’s original story
The couple’s truck was traveling at around 55 miles per hour at about 12:15 a.m. April 3, 2002 on Route 35 in the Town of Guilford with Peter Wlasiuk as the passenger and his wife Patricia as the operator. A deer suddenly appeared in the roadway and Patricia made a quick avoidance maneuver that caused the truck to fishtail before veering through a 33-foot gap in the guardrails. Peter Wlasiuk opened the passenger’s side door while the truck was going under and attempted to extract his wife from vehicle but couldn’t because he was pulled beneath the sinking truck and out his door by the force of the water.
Considered an expert in the field of accident reconstruction, Frate was allowed to express his own professional opinion on how Patricia Wlasiuk died.
Frate offered his primary theory “not just as an accident reconstruction specialist, but as a seasoned police officer working on patrol,” he said.
Frate’s theory
Peter Wlasiuk kills his wife at their residence in Oxford by suffocating her and gets burdocks on the body during a struggle. He then places Patricia’s body in the back of his dual wheel pick-up, concealing her body in the truck’s heavy duty tool box for transport to Guilford Lake. Once at the lake, Frate believes Wlasiuk pulled over on the side of the road and waited for an opportunity to remove Patricia’s body from the tool box and put place it in the truck bed. During the course of moving the body, Frate surmises Patricia’s pager fell into the back of the truck, where it was later discovered by investigators. Wlasiuk then gets back into the truck and drives to the top of the Black residence’s driveway, where a 33-foot gap in the guardrails opens up. He puts the vehicle in neutral before exiting. He then reaches in through the open driver’s side window to the column-mounted shift, putting the vehicle from neutral into drive. Frate then says he believes Wlasiuk watched the truck careen down the hill and slip into the water.
Frate noted the four-by-four clothesline post that stood between the roadway and the lake was hit by Wlasiuk’s truck on its way into the water. The post’s cement base was pulled from the wet ground as the truck went over it.
He testified that the truck suffered no damage. “Very little to no considerable damage to the truck, because it was such a low speed,” he said.
The lack of physical damage to the truck led Frate to surmise that the Wlasiuk truck entered the water at a slow rate of speed, between 10 and 15 miles per hour.
Another indication Frate said was an important factor was that the truck appeared to have entered the lake at a perpendicular angle, meaning the vehicle had turned 90 degrees to the right in relation to the road.
“There is absolutely no evidence of evasive actions taken by the operator of the truck,” he said.
Frate also testified that when a vehicle strikes water at a high speed, it’s like “hitting a brick wall.” He said the interior of the vehicle suffered no damage and pointed out that the pulled-out ash tray didn’t even slam shut. Frate said in his experience one could expect to find a bent steering wheel and windshield damage, especially since Peter Wlasiuk admitted that neither he nor Patricia were wearing seatbelts.
Frate claimed that, “the victim’s injuries don’t match up with the impact and Mr. Wlasiuk, the passenger, had no injuries. Passengers usually have worse injuries because there’s nothing for them to grab that’ll slow them down. The driver has a steering wheel,” he said.
Frate was also critical of Wlasiuk’s account of what happened once he had entered the water.
“He claims to have opened the door while the water was pushing against the vehicle door. That is impossible. The strongest person that ever lived couldn’t have done that,” said Frate. He explained that the mass of the water pushing against the doors would be beyond anyone’s ability to open until the truck’s cabin had filled with water and equalized the pressure.
“If you even give him credit for opening the door, which I say is impossible, the doors were closed and locked. They would have been opened and unlocked at the bottom of the lake,” testified Frate.
Once the truck entered the water, Frate estimated the Wlasiuk couple would have 30 to 45 seconds before their truck submerged, “ample time to get up and get out.”
Frate endorsed Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Richard Cobb’s original accident reconstruction work, saying he reviewed all the calculations and agreed with their findings. Cobb testified Monday to his own findings in the accident. Cobb is an advanced accident investigator who is short two weeks of training to become a certified accident reconstruction specialist, which is why the Sheriff’s Office contacted an outside agency for a “second opinion,” said Frate.
A screaming woman
Two witnesses testifying for the first time appeared in court yesterday to say they had heard a woman screaming or yelling just five minutes before the Guilford fire whistle went off at around the same time the alleged accident took place.
Chenango County Corrections Officer John Mullin Jr. and Melissa Menard of South New Berlin were visiting the lake’s swimming area together late that night. The two met up after Mullin, who at the time worked for a convenience store, closed up for the night at around midnight on April 2. The two then drove to Guilford Lake to talk and walked down to the swim area.
Mullin testified that he no longer spoke with Menard, and that the two had not spoken about the incident since being contacted by investigators earlier this year.
“I heard screaming,” he said.
“Isn’t it true that you said in your statement you heard a woman scream five times?” asked defense attorney Randel Scharf.
“Yes sir,” responded Mullin.
Mullin said the scream occurred at “intervals” with pauses in between.
Court began at 8:30 this morning with Broome County Court Judge Martin E. Smith presiding.
The prosecution is expected to call witnesses to testify to the DNA evidence found at the scene, Wlasiuk’s house and in the pick up truck.
Also in court were two witnesses who claimed they heard a woman scream on the night of April 3, 2002, calling into question the prosecution’s premise that Patricia Wlasiuk was already dead when she entered the water.
Sergeant Andrew Frate has been an accident reconstruction specialist since 1987 for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Thursday, he testified to his findings during his examination of the alleged Guilford Lake accident.
“In my opinion this entire incident was staged and claimed to be an accident. It’s filled with inconsistencies and impossibilities,” Frate told Wlasiuk’s jury of eight women and four men.
Frate recalled the original account of the accident he received before beginning his investigation based on Wlasiuk’s statements given to police on April 3 and 5, 2002.
Wlasiuk’s original story
The couple’s truck was traveling at around 55 miles per hour at about 12:15 a.m. April 3, 2002 on Route 35 in the Town of Guilford with Peter Wlasiuk as the passenger and his wife Patricia as the operator. A deer suddenly appeared in the roadway and Patricia made a quick avoidance maneuver that caused the truck to fishtail before veering through a 33-foot gap in the guardrails. Peter Wlasiuk opened the passenger’s side door while the truck was going under and attempted to extract his wife from vehicle but couldn’t because he was pulled beneath the sinking truck and out his door by the force of the water.
Considered an expert in the field of accident reconstruction, Frate was allowed to express his own professional opinion on how Patricia Wlasiuk died.
Frate offered his primary theory “not just as an accident reconstruction specialist, but as a seasoned police officer working on patrol,” he said.
Frate’s theory
Peter Wlasiuk kills his wife at their residence in Oxford by suffocating her and gets burdocks on the body during a struggle. He then places Patricia’s body in the back of his dual wheel pick-up, concealing her body in the truck’s heavy duty tool box for transport to Guilford Lake. Once at the lake, Frate believes Wlasiuk pulled over on the side of the road and waited for an opportunity to remove Patricia’s body from the tool box and put place it in the truck bed. During the course of moving the body, Frate surmises Patricia’s pager fell into the back of the truck, where it was later discovered by investigators. Wlasiuk then gets back into the truck and drives to the top of the Black residence’s driveway, where a 33-foot gap in the guardrails opens up. He puts the vehicle in neutral before exiting. He then reaches in through the open driver’s side window to the column-mounted shift, putting the vehicle from neutral into drive. Frate then says he believes Wlasiuk watched the truck careen down the hill and slip into the water.
Frate noted the four-by-four clothesline post that stood between the roadway and the lake was hit by Wlasiuk’s truck on its way into the water. The post’s cement base was pulled from the wet ground as the truck went over it.
He testified that the truck suffered no damage. “Very little to no considerable damage to the truck, because it was such a low speed,” he said.
The lack of physical damage to the truck led Frate to surmise that the Wlasiuk truck entered the water at a slow rate of speed, between 10 and 15 miles per hour.
Another indication Frate said was an important factor was that the truck appeared to have entered the lake at a perpendicular angle, meaning the vehicle had turned 90 degrees to the right in relation to the road.
“There is absolutely no evidence of evasive actions taken by the operator of the truck,” he said.
Frate also testified that when a vehicle strikes water at a high speed, it’s like “hitting a brick wall.” He said the interior of the vehicle suffered no damage and pointed out that the pulled-out ash tray didn’t even slam shut. Frate said in his experience one could expect to find a bent steering wheel and windshield damage, especially since Peter Wlasiuk admitted that neither he nor Patricia were wearing seatbelts.
Frate claimed that, “the victim’s injuries don’t match up with the impact and Mr. Wlasiuk, the passenger, had no injuries. Passengers usually have worse injuries because there’s nothing for them to grab that’ll slow them down. The driver has a steering wheel,” he said.
Frate was also critical of Wlasiuk’s account of what happened once he had entered the water.
“He claims to have opened the door while the water was pushing against the vehicle door. That is impossible. The strongest person that ever lived couldn’t have done that,” said Frate. He explained that the mass of the water pushing against the doors would be beyond anyone’s ability to open until the truck’s cabin had filled with water and equalized the pressure.
“If you even give him credit for opening the door, which I say is impossible, the doors were closed and locked. They would have been opened and unlocked at the bottom of the lake,” testified Frate.
Once the truck entered the water, Frate estimated the Wlasiuk couple would have 30 to 45 seconds before their truck submerged, “ample time to get up and get out.”
Frate endorsed Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Richard Cobb’s original accident reconstruction work, saying he reviewed all the calculations and agreed with their findings. Cobb testified Monday to his own findings in the accident. Cobb is an advanced accident investigator who is short two weeks of training to become a certified accident reconstruction specialist, which is why the Sheriff’s Office contacted an outside agency for a “second opinion,” said Frate.
A screaming woman
Two witnesses testifying for the first time appeared in court yesterday to say they had heard a woman screaming or yelling just five minutes before the Guilford fire whistle went off at around the same time the alleged accident took place.
Chenango County Corrections Officer John Mullin Jr. and Melissa Menard of South New Berlin were visiting the lake’s swimming area together late that night. The two met up after Mullin, who at the time worked for a convenience store, closed up for the night at around midnight on April 2. The two then drove to Guilford Lake to talk and walked down to the swim area.
Mullin testified that he no longer spoke with Menard, and that the two had not spoken about the incident since being contacted by investigators earlier this year.
“I heard screaming,” he said.
“Isn’t it true that you said in your statement you heard a woman scream five times?” asked defense attorney Randel Scharf.
“Yes sir,” responded Mullin.
Mullin said the scream occurred at “intervals” with pauses in between.
Court began at 8:30 this morning with Broome County Court Judge Martin E. Smith presiding.
The prosecution is expected to call witnesses to testify to the DNA evidence found at the scene, Wlasiuk’s house and in the pick up truck.
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