Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Authorities Had No Basis for Their Claims of Suicide

    As indicated in the main narrative on the unsatisfactory investigation into the suspicious truck fire and death of my brother Mark in Great Valley, New York, no one that I spoke with ever observed any signs of depression or instability in Mark.  The main narrative below (September 2010) provides the background that I learned related to Mark's death.  This new post comes to reinforce the lack of any basis to the claims made by authorities that my brother in all likelihood committed suicide. 

(1) My brother in fact had a deep connection to people.  That came out clearly as soon as I began to call his friends to ask if they had noticed anything unusual in his behavior.  I've pointed out in the main narrative comments by some of his friends on that issue.  One long-time friend was Gary Subulski, who said that my brother offered help before he was asked.  Gary's wife even made a point of mentioning how much help Mark had given them when Gary was undergoing chemotherapy.

(2) My brother showed by his actions how much he cared about the well-being of his children and would not simply have abandoned them by taking his own life.  Two people I called not long after Mark’s death commented on my brother’s commitment to his children.  His old friend Bill Lewis said that during the summer before his death Mark asked him to speak with his son Brian about the young man’s drinking because Brian wouldn’t listen to him.  His acquaintance Peter Rapacioli said that after his son got a DWI (just days before Mark himself was set up for a DWI by Salamanca Police officer Mark Marowski after an argument at the Holy Cross Athletic Club), my brother went to a lawyer and was hopeful that Brian’s DWI would be reduced to a lesser charge.  Rapacioli insisted that, contrary to what the State Police investigator indicated, Mark was not depressed about his son’s DWI.

(3) My brother showed a sense of commitment to his obligations right up to the evening of the DWI.  Mark's friend Jim Poole told me that, when my brother did not show up at his house on September 22 to help him do some painting, he left a message for Mark to find out if he was planning to come the following day.  Jim said that he, of course, had not known at the time that Mark had been arrested for DWI.  After my brother was brought home by two friends, he was unable to reach Jim but left a message that he would explain later what had happened.  If Mark was suicidal at that time, he wouldn't have bothered to call Jim in order to explain why he hadn't shown up.

    My brother then had to find someone to go with him to retrieve his truck from the impoundment.  I was informed by two different individuals that he went to their houses to ask for help in getting his truck back.  That obviously would have taken some time.  So, it's understandable that my brother did not get back to Jim in the evening after he left the first message.  Jim said that he was surprised not to hear from him the following day because Mark always honored his commitments.  It is also surprising–and troublesome–to me that no one except for his wife seems to have seen Mark the next day prior to the truck fire.  Susan says in her witness statement that Mark was at home and "slightly intoxicated" the afternoon of September 23.  But Jim did not get the second phone call he was expecting, and two other individuals told me they had tried to reach him at home in the morning and afternoon but got no response.  Mark at least would have let Jim know if he wasn't able to help paint that day.  What happened to him?

(4) My brother apparently showed no signs of depression to the one person who acknowledges seeing him on the day of the fire, his wife Susan.  State Police investigator Edward Kalfas acknowledged to Attorney Michael Kelly in 2005 that he had found no one who saw Mark out that day.  All the friends and acquaintances I spoke with said that they had not seen him and, as many observed with concern, did not know of anyone who had seen him the day of the fire.  However, in her witness statement his wife says that she and Mark were watching television around 7:30 p.m. and that he left the house around 8:45 to go to downtown Salamanca.  Susan mentions nothing whatsoever about any despondency on his part over the DWI or anything else.  Mark was presumably not depressed about issues related to his marriage.  As retired N. Y. S. P. Sr. Inv. John Ensell (who was the main investigator's boss) pointed out during my meeting with D. A. Lori Rieman last May, a divorce was approaching.

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