One of the most disturbing elements of my brother Mark’s death in a suspicious truck fire in Great Valley, New York, on September 23, 2003, is the pool of his blood found that night in his driveway right next to where he usually parked his truck (see esp. post of May 29, 2012, with photos of the property). DNA analysis of the blood proved it conclusively to be my brother’s. What is also troubling is that N.Y.S.P. Inv. Edward Kalfas, the lead detective in the investigation, failed to make the existence of that pool of blood known publicly for several months, even to individuals who in their own official capacities required that information for full and accurate reports.
News about the pool of my brother’s blood came to me informally on March 9, 2004, by our half-sister Carol McKenna. According to Carol, Kalfas had recently revealed to her that testing on a pool of blood found on Mark’s driveway the night of the fire proved conclusively that it belonged to Mark. Although Atty. Tony Tanke spoke several times about the case with then Cattaraugus County District Attorney Edward Sharkey’s investigator Michael Malak, Atty. Tanke was not informed about the pool of blood, but in late April 2004 asked Malak about the information I had received from Carol McKenna. Malak then acknowledged that a pool of Mark’s blood had indeed been found on his driveway.
Because D.A. Sharkey informed Atty. Tanke in late May 2004 that he would not release any documents to me from his office, I filed a FOIL request to the N.Y.S. Police for the police report, which I did not receive until September 2004. It was very surprising to see that Kalfas’s narrative on the investigation barely mentions the pool of blood. In an entry dated 9/24/03, Inv. Kalfas lists among five items taken from the scene "two cotton swabs with blood samples secured from the victim's driveway—to NYSP Crime Lab Albany." In an entry dated 12/12/03, for an interview with Mark’s wife Susan, Kalfas states: “She has no explanation for the blood located in the driveway and also stated there was [sic] no notes or letters left by the victim.”
Until D. A. Sharkey ordered a blood kit to be sent out for DNA testing in early January 2004, Kalfas makes no other reference to the pool of blood, even though its presence in the driveway near Mark’s usual parking spot would reasonably suggest that it might well be his blood. The N.Y.S.P. Forensic Investigation Center’s report, dated February 23, 2004, details the DNA testing results. When I consulted Buffalo criminal attorney Michael Kelly in May 2005, he was concerned that Kalfas had “buried” the blood evidence in the police report.
Kalfas’s lack of information to Mark’s insurer Nationwide during the investigation is disturbing. When I contacted Nationwide in late September 2004, they reported that they had paid out on the truck but not on another policy for medical bills. A Nationwide agent with whom I then spoke informed me that their own investigation had determined that the fire was not an accident. She seemed surprised when I told her that a pool of Mark’s blood was found on the scene the night of the fire. The agent then revealed that Kalfas had not told them about the blood and refused to let them see the police report.
In my initial consultation with him, Atty. Kelly emphasized that Kalfas should have told Nationwide about the pool of blood. The blood on the driveway was an important piece of information for the insurance company to determine the cause of the truck fire and to decide whether and when to pay out funds.
Why didn’t Kalfas tell Nationwide about the blood? Why did he refuse to let them read the police report? Was he concealing something?
It is also a matter of concern that Kalfas did not mention the pool of blood to Mark’s doctor at the Erie County Medical Center, where my brother had been airlifted the night of the fire. According to Atty. Kelly, Kalfas claimed at their meeting in September 2005 that he had called to speak with the attending physician at ECMC, who had nothing to say.
Mark’s actual attending physician, Dr. Edward Piotrowski, however, told me in February 2005 that he was concerned about my brother’s condition, in particular because he could not understand how Mark could have sustained such severe burns over more than 80% of his body and how Mark could have suffered soft-tissue swelling on his forehead. But, he added, no one from the investigation had ever questioned him; so, he assumed that they knew what had happened.
If Kalfas spoke to any medical personnel at ECMC, it appears not to have been Dr. Piotrowski. The doctor himself was surprised when I told him about the pool of blood (see esp. post of March 31, 2018, with Dr. Piotrowski’s own suggestions about the pool of blood). If Kalfas had told him about that blood in the driveway during the investigation, Dr. Piotrowski would have been able to take that information into account in order to assess more fully the physical facts about Mark’s condition that troubled him, and he would have been able to help the state police investigators arrive at a proper conclusion about how my brother actually ended up sustaining such horrific burns.
In October 2004, Carol McKenna mentioned the explanation that Kalfas had given her for the pool of blood: Mark had likely cut his hand on the gas can. There is no evidence that Mark ever handled that can (found in the cab of the truck, where he never put gas cans) the night of the fire, and the can itself, according to the fire investigator’s report, was plastic (not metal). In any case, Kalfas’s explanation seems far-fetched at best.
In their meeting in September 2005, Atty. Kelly asked Kalfas why he barely mentioned the pool of Mark’s blood in the police report. According to Kelly, Kalfas replied that he did not think Mark’s death was a murder. A proper investigator derives conclusions from the evidence, especially physical evidence on the scene, and does not impose pre-conceived ideas on the evidence.
