NORWICH – The case against accused murderer Peter Wlasiuk on Thursday focused on DNA evidence analyzed by the New York State Police Crime Lab, including testimony that hairs located on a burdock branch at Wlasiuk’s Oxford home were a match to his wife, Patricia.

According to the Chenango County District Attorney’s Office, Wlasiuk killed his wife at the couple’s New Virginia Road home before loading her body into his 1998 GMC pick-up truck, later driving or pushing the vehicle into the waters of Guilford Lake in the early morning hours of April 3, 2002.

According to Wlasiuk, he and his wife were traveling east along County Road 35 in the Town of Guilford when she swerved to miss a deer, losing control of the truck and veering into Guilford Lake, where he claims she drowned.