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.
