Tri-Towns Bureau

NORWICH — Patricia Wlasiuk was smothered and died of asphyxiation, not drowning, a medical examiner told jurors Thursday in the murder trial of Peter Wlaskiuk.

The examiner checked Patricia Wlasiuk's body after it was pulled from Guilford Lake on April 3.

Peter Wlasiuk is on trial in Chenango County Court for the murder of his wife. He is accused of staging an accident by crashing the truck with her body into the lake off county Route 35 in Guilford shortly after 12:20 a.m. April 3 to cover up the alleged homicide.

Forensic pathologist Dr. James Terzian of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton took the stand Thursday afternoon and testified for about 2 hours.

"This 35-year-old woman died of asphyxiation consistent with smothering," he said. "The injuries were sustained prior to death."

The initial autopsy was conducted at 9:30 a.m. April 3. According to a page of the report, introduced into evidence by defense attorney Frederick Neroni, the preliminary finding was "probable drowning, pending toxicology reports."

However, Terzian said at the time that was written: "I had minimal information. The investigation was ongoing.

"I'm a pathologist. I like to consider the body itself and the situation."

Upon visiting the scene of the crash April 8, "my determination changed rather quickly," Terzian said. He said he found no burdocks at the lake, but he found the weeds in Patricia's hair during the autopsy.

"The burdocks play an extremely important role," he explained. "They tell me this wasn't a drowning. A lady doesn't go out with burdocks in her hair."

He said when he checked out the Wlasiuk house in Oxford, "(the burdocks) were all over the place."

Drowning, he said, is very difficult to determine as a cause of death. The finding is made "by the exclusion of all other diagnoses."

However, he said, normally "the lungs (of the drowning victim) are quite heavy and filled with water," whereas Patricia's were not.

Asphyxiation is almost always a pattern of rather subtle injuries. Those Terzian found on Patricia fit all the pattern, he said.

Initially questioned by Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride, Terzian read the injuries from two pages in the final autopsy report issued in late April.

What was especially noteworthy to him, Terzian said, were the tears on the inner lip. This indicated pressure was placed on her lips and teeth, possibly by "a hand over the mouth," he said.

While Terzian explained to the jury the injuries shown on the autopsy photos, several spectators left the room. At one point Patricia's mother, Joyce Cardozo, removed her glasses and lowered her eyes. At other times, she and other members of her family looked towards Wlasiuk while the pathologist was speaking.

Neroni asked Terzian whether any injuries could have been caused after she was taken from the lake by emergency service people who tried to revive her.

He said because these injuries showed signs of hemorrhaging or swelling, they were caused before she died. And since she was in the lake for about 30 minutes before being brought to shore, he said he was almost certain she was already dead when brought from the lake, if not before.

"None of these injuries could have happened in treatment," Terzian said.

Neroni asked why the injuries to the body hadn't changed but the findings had between the first autopsy and when the body was brought back to the hospital April 10 for another study.

"Nothing changed," Terzian said, "I just made it more detailed and complete."

When Terzian refused to allow for any possibility of an alternate reading of the findings, Neroni asked the doctor where the death occurred.

"I believe it happened in the vicinity of the home — either inside or outside in the yard," he said. "I believe she was face down while this was occurring."

In earlier testimony, McBride called several people from the state police laboratory in Albany.

Bradley Brown, a forensic serologist who tests bodily fluids, received the clothing Patricia and her husband were wearing the night she died for testing.

Chenango County Det. Raymond Ogborn had earlier testified he collected Peter Wlasiuk's wet clothes from the home of Joyce Worden of Guilford — who had been identified as his girlfriend — following her interview at The Hospital in Sidney where Wlasiuk was taken after the alleged accident.

Brown said blood was found on the blue sweater Patricia wore that night. It was also found on Wlasiuk's black sweatshirt and his black underwear, Brown said.

However, he said the test only determines the presence of blood — not whether it is human. Brown said tests on other articles were inconclusive or negative.

John C. Brenner, a DNA specialist with the Albany lab, said out six of the 18 hairs found in the burdock bush by the pool in the Wlasiuks' back yard were consistent with Patricia's hair. He said one was a positive match, and the rest had enough similarities they could be identified as hers. Previous testimony indicated the bush was a possible site of the alleged fatal struggle between the couple.

Brenner also said one of two hairs found in the truck bed was consistent with Patricia's DNA. Previous testimony said Wlasiuk allegedly threw his wife's body in the truck bed after the fight before he let the vehicle roll into the lake.

The day started with testimony from Tonya Shoales, an officer from the Chenango County jail — where Wlasiuk has been held without bail since he was arrested.

Shoales said she overheard a conversation between Wlasiuk and his mother, Gail, on May 25. She testified that, during the conversation, Wlasiuk said, "If I had thought about what I did before I did it, I wouldn't be in jail right now."

McBride had hoped to call state police forensic pathologist Michael Baden as one of his last witnesses Friday. Baden, however, is involved in another trial, McBride said. If Baden is available Monday, he will be scheduled to appear then. Otherwise, McBride indicated he will rest his case.

If that happens, Neroni is scheduled to present his case starting Monday. He said he is working on his witness list, and Joyce Worden will be among those called.