NORWICH – Day four of testimony in the murder trial of Peter Wlasiuk found one witness stating that Wlasiuk, approximately a year prior to his wife’s death, explained in public how easy it would be to kill someone and make it look like an accidental drowning.
Wlasiuk is accused of killing his wife in 2002 and engineering a staged automobile accident in an effort to cover up the crime. The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office alleges that Wlasiuk killed his wife, Patricia, at their Oxford home before purposely driving or pushing his GMC pick-up truck – and Patricia’s body – into Guilford Lake on April 3, 2002.
According to Mark Loughran, attorney for the defense, Patricia drowned in Guilford Lake, and there was no motive for the alleged murder.
First charged with second degree murder in 2002, Wlasiuk has twice been convicted – in 2003 and 2008 – sentenced to serve 25 years to life in state prison. Both convictions were overturned on appeal, in 2006 and 2011, respectively.
Brenda Golden, of Mt. Upton, and a Guilford resident at the time of the alleged murder, said she had known Wlasiuk for “about three years” as of 2001. Approximately one year prior to Patricia’s death, Golden said Peter Wlasiuk, whom she called a “friendly acquaintance,” stated that “sometimes, there are people and people can be problems,” before stating how easy it would be to “kill someone and make it look like a drowning accident.”
According to Golden, Wlasiuk went on to say that one would have to be careful, however, and that you couldn’t just drown them and put them in the lake. The smart thing to do, said Wlasiuk according to Golden’s testimony, would be to drown them in lake water in case the water found in a victim’s lungs was ever tested.
Golden said the statements were made while the two were at The Pilllars, in Guilford, just a few months prior to Wlasiuk’s purchase of the business. The statements, she added, were made in a “straightforward” manner.
When cross examined, Golden said she could not remember who else was present at the time of the conversation and admitted she conducted her own investigation of the accident site before speaking with the authorities. Golden said she felt she “couldn’t say anything” until she’d viewed the scene herself. In particular, Golden said she observed the high rock cut across the road from the scene of the accident, adding there is “no place for deer to go to or from.”
Wlasiuk’s original statements to police state that Patricia was driving west on County Road 35 when she swerved to miss a deer, veering into the lake. In a sworn deposition to then-deputy with the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office Ted Ellingsen, Wlasiuk said he was able to open the passenger side door of the truck with his right arm when it crashed into the lake and attempted to grab Patricia with his left. The story then gets conflicted, however, with Wlasiuk first stating he had pulled Patricia from the vehicle and lost hold of her on the way to shore, later claiming to have lost his grip on her in the cab of the truck when he was sucked underneath the vehicle.
Loughran asked Golden if she’d looked for deer at the site, to which she replied, “There’s no reason at all for deer to be there.”
Asked if she looked for skid marks, Golden said yes, and that she’d found none.
Following Ellingsen’s testimony, the jury heard a reading of a transcript from one of Wlasiuk’s previous trials that featured a phone conversation between Wlasiuk, his attorney at that time and an insurance adjuster regarding the damage to his GMC pick-up truck.
During the course of the conversation, Wlasiuk’s story changes once again and there was no deer. Wlasiuk goes on to describe that his wife – perhaps purposely – drove the vehicle into Guilford Lake as the two were arguing, this time stating that the two were travelling east on County Road 35.
The trial resumed today at 9 a.m. in the Chenango County Courthouse.