Expert: Wlasiuk accident was faked

NORWICH – The prosecution’s accident reconstruction specialist Thursday painted a detailed theory of how Peter M. Wlasiuk allegedly murdered his wife.

Also in court were two witnesses who claimed they heard a woman scream on the night of April 3, 2002, calling into question the prosecution’s premise that Patricia Wlasiuk was already dead when she entered the water.

Sergeant Andrew Frate has been an accident reconstruction specialist since 1987 for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Thursday, he testified to his findings during his examination of the alleged Guilford Lake accident.

“In my opinion this entire incident was staged and claimed to be an accident. It’s filled with inconsistencies and impossibilities,” Frate told Wlasiuk’s jury of eight women and four men.

Frate recalled the original account of the accident he received before beginning his investigation based on Wlasiuk’s statements given to police on April 3 and 5, 2002.

Wlasiuk’s original story

The couple’s truck was traveling at around 55 miles per hour at about 12:15 a.m. April 3, 2002 on Route 35 in the Town of Guilford with Peter Wlasiuk as the passenger and his wife Patricia as the operator. A deer suddenly appeared in the roadway and Patricia made a quick avoidance maneuver that caused the truck to fishtail before veering through a 33-foot gap in the guardrails. Peter Wlasiuk opened the passenger’s side door while the truck was going under and attempted to extract his wife from vehicle but couldn’t because he was pulled beneath the sinking truck and out his door by the force of the water.

Considered an expert in the field of accident reconstruction, Frate was allowed to express his own professional opinion on how Patricia Wlasiuk died.

Frate offered his primary theory “not just as an accident reconstruction specialist, but as a seasoned police officer working on patrol,” he said.

Frate’s theory

Peter Wlasiuk kills his wife at their residence in Oxford by suffocating her and gets burdocks on the body during a struggle. He then places Patricia’s body in the back of his dual wheel pick-up, concealing her body in the truck’s heavy duty tool box for transport to Guilford Lake. Once at the lake, Frate believes Wlasiuk pulled over on the side of the road and waited for an opportunity to remove Patricia’s body from the tool box and put place it in the truck bed. During the course of moving the body, Frate surmises Patricia’s pager fell into the back of the truck, where it was later discovered by investigators. Wlasiuk then gets back into the truck and drives to the top of the Black residence’s driveway, where a 33-foot gap in the guardrails opens up. He puts the vehicle in neutral before exiting. He then reaches in through the open driver’s side window to the column-mounted shift, putting the vehicle from neutral into drive. Frate then says he believes Wlasiuk watched the truck careen down the hill and slip into the water.