Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The Importance of the Phone Records



This post considers the importance of the phone records as a source of relevant information in the death not only of my brother Mark but also of Dale Tarapacki and Tim Nye, the other two men who also were killed under very suspicious circumstances in Great Valley, N. Y., in the same general period.

A previous post (December 27, 2012) pointed to three crucial reasons why the phone records (landline and cell) should have been examined by the New York State Police in their investigation into Mark’s death: the argument between my brother and Salamanca police officer Mark Marowski at a local club that led to Marowski getting my brother arrested for DWI the very day before the truck fire; the alleged phone call between my brother’s wife Susan and Pete Rapacioli for about half an hour immediately prior to the fire; and problems with the chronology of events given by Mark’s wife both in her witness statement and, according to reliable sources, shortly after the fire. 

Since that post, I obtained further information reinforcing the importance of the phone records.  Although one State Police official claimed that “it wasn’t much of an argument,” the State Police investigator admitted that he never interviewed the club members present about the quarrel.  However, more than one person from the Salamanca area said that it had involved Marowski’s anger over a pool my brother had won that day.  An individual who had an official role at the Holy Cross Club at that time later informed me that my brother and Mark Marowski had argued on numerous occasions specifically over pool tabs, adding that people would often win a fair amount of money when there were only a few left to be sold, with winning tabs still to be drawn. 

In addition, as mentioned in a previous post (August 11, 2014), Marowski—now deceased—was reportedly having an affair with my brother’s wife during that period.  In spite of the fact that no one has publicly admitted to witnessing the argument between my brother and Marowski (which took place in the afternoon of Monday, September 22, 2003), a reliable source informed me that Gary Subulski and Pete Rapacioli were regularly there on Monday afternoons to sign the book.  Furthermore, a woman who answered Rapacioli’s phone when I called in early November 2003 (at the suggestion of a friend of Mark’s) informed me that Pete had told her about the argument between my brother and Marowski (see post of June 21, 2016).  Yet Rapacioli himself later claimed to me that he had not been there and appeared to know nothing about that argument (see post of June 23, 2013).

It seems clear that the phone records associated with my brother and his wife, with Mark Marowski, and with Pete Rapacioli should have been checked.  But they never were, either during the investigation or afterward, in spite of requests to the New York State Police in 2005 by Atty. Michael Kelly and me that they be examined.

In the case of Dale Tarapacki, as mentioned in previous posts (see March 19 and May 19, 2016), it is difficult to accept the explanation in the fire investigator’s report for the rear drive shaft breaking and puncturing the fuel line and for Tarapacki’s supposed efforts to accelerate aggressively, causing the wheels to spin excessively and the wheel bearings to fly off.  Furthermore, reports of a gunshot wound in the area of his right leg make the ruling of accident seem even less probable.  In addition, the remote location where Tarapacki’s truck was found (off the upper, unpaved section of Hardscrabble Road in Great Valley) raises the question of what Tarapacki would have been doing there.  Did the investigators from the Sheriff’s office look into this? 

It is also difficult to understand why Tarapacki’s death certificate indicates that he was a pharmacist at Rite Aid.  In fact, according to several reliable sources, he had resigned from that job and accepted a position at a new Native American-owned pharmacy, also in Salamanca, reportedly for a much higher salary.  However, according to my sources, he had issues concerning that job and quit, reportedly after about a month.  Did the investigators consider why Tarapacki had abruptly left that job?

A reliable source expressed concern about how quickly the investigation into Tarapacki’s death concluded.  It would appear that the investigators did not check Tarapacki’s phone records.  The phone records certainly might have revealed if Tarapacki had been called by someone just prior to that very odd drive up Hardscrabble Road.

Finally, although much less information has been given to me about the case of Tim Nye (see posts of February 18, March 19, and April 19, 2016), one fact in particular should have motivated the investigators from the Sheriff’s office to obtain his phone records.  As reported in the post of April 19 and an addendum to it, after he left his residence following a phone call that appeared to cause him considerable anxiety, no one heard from Tim Nye for two days, and he strangely did not return phone calls during those two days. 

This would appear to be a case where the phone records were essential.  The investigators should certainly have wanted to know who had called him and to learn what that person’s conversation with Nye had been about.  But here as well, it appears that phone records were never checked.  A relative of his confirmed to me that Nye had been shot in the gut.  Yet, according to another source very close to Nye, his death was ruled a suicide.