Friday, October 16, 2015

Expressed Concerns about Suspicious Deaths in Vehicle Fires in the Salamanca Area


Over the years since my brother’s death, numerous individuals have informed me that Mark’s was one of several suspicious deaths in the Salamanca area within a relatively short period and that two of these other incidents involved vehicle fires.  One of the latter has already been mentioned on this blog: Mark himself discovered a burned-out vehicle with the body of a man named Bill Duhan, whom he actually knew but apparently did not recognize under those circumstances (see post of February 4, 2013).  The other was the death of a young local pharmacist named Dale Tarapacki, whose body was discovered in his burned-out truck off a rural road outside of Salamanca about a year and a half after my brother was killed.

There appears to have been no newspaper publicity about the manner of either of these other two deaths involving vehicle fires.  There was also clearly no news report in the local newspapers about Mark’s case, in spite of my efforts in 2004 (see post of November 30, 2011).  Since I have not had access to the police report on either Bill Duhan’s or Dale Tarapacki’s death, I do not know for certain any of the specific details of these two cases.  It is not clear to me, for instance, if Mr. Duhan’s death was ruled a suicide or an accident.  I was informed by a reliable source that Mr. Tarapacki’s death was ruled a suicide and that a suicide letter was apparently discovered by the investigating authorities.

In Dale Tarapacki’s case, however, many people are skeptical of, or flatly reject, the explanation of suicide.  As I have searched for answers in my brother’s death, numerous individuals have brought up the case of this young pharmacist as another very suspicious death.  Two people who apparently knew him quite well mentioned character traits that would not suggest a suicidal frame of mind.  One referred to his clearly sociable nature, and the other to his attachment to his two very young daughters.  The latter brought up some other things as well, which I cannot mention on this blog.

In addition to such individual conversations, this pharmacist’s death has come up on two local Topix sites.  The following comment from February 2010, taken verbatim from the Allegany Topix site, reflects some local people’s concern: “friends and i were just talking about things that never get solved in salamanca. we could never figure out what happened to dale the pharmacist from rite aid. that never seemed to fit. they found him in his truck in the woods..........just never fit.”  The writer both makes it clear that the official explanation for Dale Tarapacki’s death did not make sense and implies that many questionable deaths in Salamanca are left unresolved.  Here are two comments from May 2013, the one a reply to the other, taken verbatim from the Salamanca Topix site:         

            How about the pharmacist that worked at Rite Aid. Found him burnt
            in his truck. He was about to open with the nation pharmacy that
            was on Main st. Rumor was that there was something shady going on
            and he backed out. Less then a week later he was dead.

            yep and it wasn't suiside, that same year mark pavlock gets fried almost in his own yard and tim nye also gets killed of course it was all covered up calling them suicide. The bromley was laying on his couch in his own house and shot it the head,

I’d like to make it clear that the first comment from the Salamanca Topix site repeats a rumor that has not been verified and that I myself am not endorsing, nor am I endorsing the view in the second of a cover-up in all three cases (Tarapacki, Pavlock, and Nye).  I have made clear the numerous--some very serious--failures of the New York State Police investigation into Mark’s death throughout this blog.  But since I don’t have official information about the deaths of Tarapacki and Nye, I cannot make any assumption about the nature of the investigations into their deaths.

I’m not even certain what the second commenter on the Topix post is implying about the Bromley case.  But I quote these comments because together they reflect a publicly expressed concern about the two truck fires that took the lives of Dale Tarapacki and my brother and because the second raises concern about two other local deaths, the first of which (Nye’s) happened in the same general time frame as Mark’s.

Beyond the remarks made by individuals with whom I have actually spoken (in two cases the individuals knew this local pharmacist) and by posters using pseudonyms on the public forum of the Topix sites, a comment sent in to this blog some time ago adds another level of concern about the deaths of Dale Tarapacki and my brother.  In the summer of 2014, I decided to try and contact Dale Tarapacki’s parents to learn what they thought about his death.  I found a phone number for his mother Rosanne and left a voice mail message for her.

Shortly afterward (July 20, 2014), the following comment arrived on my blog (linked to the post “A Follow-up on Mark’s Blood Alcohol Level”).  I quote it verbatim: “Barbara, Received voice message Sunday 7/20. I would very much like to talk to you about similar circumstances and my son's death. I, too, have exercised various options and am convinced his death was murder. Can you call me again--leave a phone number or email? I am moving this week.”  The sender was listed as “Ro.”  I have now published the comment (to the relevant post of September 23, 2013).

As soon as possible after receiving that message, I called Mrs. Tarapacki’s number again and left the requested information.  However, I did not hear back from her and assumed that she was settling into a new place and would give me a call at a convenient time.  Perhaps she did not receive my information by the time she moved.  But since I have no longer had an operative phone number for her, I have not been able to contact her and find out what specific similarities she sees between her son’s death and my brother’s, other than the fact that each victim’s truck unexpectedly burned up in an isolated area near Salamanca.  I assume that she has some potentially useful information, since a family member of hers reportedly hired a private investigator.

In any case, I hope that Mrs. Tarapacki reads this post, and I ask that she contact me again to discuss her concerns.  Likewise, if readers have information relevant to any of these deaths, I ask that they contact me by sending in a comment to the blog or by e-mailing me (through the link “View my complete profile” at the right side of this page, where there is an “Email” link).