Wecht details Swearingen autopsy
WASHINGTON – Jurors in the Gregory Modery homicide trial Friday heard graphic testimony as forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht presented his findings in the autopsy on the skeletal remains of Ira Swearingen that were found nearly a year after his Dec. 12, 1999, disappearance. Wecht testified that there was little left of Swearingen to provide details about what happened to him prior to his death, but the cause and manner of death were apparent from the remains.
“There was a gunshot wound of entrance behind and a little above the right ear. It was fairly circular, fairly symmetrical, and most importantly, it showed inward beveling,” Wecht said.
The inward beveling of the skull at the site of the wound, Wecht said, was typical of a gunshot wound, showing the direction of the impact of the bullet.
“On the left side of the skull, somewhat further back and somewhat lower, was another defect that was somewhat larger and more irregular. It showed outward beveling. I concluded, based upon these two findings, that there had been a gunshot wound a little bit behind and above the right ear,” Wecht said.
Wecht said there were multiple radiating fractures from the wounds, affecting a large area of the skull.
“In my opinion, this individual died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. There was no question to me that this individual would have suffered extensive damage to the brain. This was not a survivable injury,” Wecht testified. “As a forensic pathologist, I would say this was a homicide.”
Modery, 31, of McMurray is charged with homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, robbery, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit each of those acts. A codefendant facing the same charges, Alexander Martos, 34, with previous addresses in Bentleyville and Monongahela, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is expected to be sentenced to life in prison after testifying at Modery’s trial. Martos has admitted to pulling the trigger. Modery is being tried as his accomplice.
Two other co-conspirators who face all but the homicide charge, John Shaker and Robert Petrick, are also expected to testify against Modery.
Wecht indicated that his examination of Swearingen’s remains showed injuries in addition to the gunshot wound.
“You look for any evidence of injuries. In this case, no internal organs were present. All soft tissue was gone. This body had been dead for some time. I believed this body had been exposed during the summer months to insects and animals,” Wecht said.
Wecht said the skeleton did show rib fractures that occurred before death. There were three broken ribs on the right front side and one broken rib on the left front side. Wecht said the left eye socket, cheekbone and forehead also showed multiple fractures, which could have been the result of the gunshot wound. Both the upper and lower jaws were intact.
Under questioning from Modery’s attorney, Fred Rabner, Wecht said the injuries to the eye socket could not have been caused by a punch.
“A kick by an adult with a heavy shoe, not a tennis shoe, could conceivably do this,” Wecht said.
Rabner also asked if there were any indications that Swearingen had been struck with the butt of a gun as many as 20 times.
“It would be impossible in this case to determine if there were any bruises such as would be caused by being struck with the butt of a gun, due to the lack of soft tissue. Correlating this to your last question, could one or more blows from the butt of a gun have caused the injuries to the eye, it is quite possible,” Wecht said.
Dr. Michael Sobel, a forensic odontologist, testified that he positively identified the remains as Ira Swearingen through dental records and the perfect fit of a partial denture made for Swearingen.
“Partial dentures, when constructed, are made for a specific individual. There are too many variables. In this case, there was an exact fit of the dentures with the remains. We could only conclude then that the partial denture belonged to the person we were examining,” Sobel said.
Additional testimony Friday came from Mark Welsh, of Venetia, who had reported four guns stolen from his home on Dec. 3, 1999, the day Debrah Levandosky testified that she had picked up Martos and Shaker at the Greyhound Bus Station in Pittsburgh and driven them past Welsh’s house. She testified that Martos had wanted to stop to confront Welsh about money owed to him, but she refused to stop. She said she later took the two men to meet Modery.
Welsh said Modery and Martos had worked for his cement contracting business and that until the break-in at his home, he had trusted Modery. Welsh said the day of the break-in, he noticed boot marks on his carpeting with the same unusual V-pattern as Martos’s work boots. After calling the police, Welsh said he called Modery.
“I told him my house was robbed. I asked him where Al (Martos) was and he said Las Vegas, but that he should be back within a week,” Welsh testified.
Welsh identified three weapons that had been recovered by divers as being the ones stolen from his home. Chief Sam Woncheck of the Fallowfield Township Police Department and head of the Mon Valley Divers Search and Rescue, said two of the weapons were found by his dive team in Peters Lake in Peters Township. Members of the Connecticut State Police Dive Team said they found the suspected murder weapon in the Monongahela River under the Mon City Bridge in November 2000. The location had been specified in a statement by Shaker to police, saying the weapon had been thrown from a moving vehicle.
Retired Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Thomas Mozes, who was on the investigative team documenting evidence from Swearingen’s burned rental vehicle also testified Friday. Mozes said he found the plastic cap from a road flare at the fire scene, though it did not contain Modery’s fingerprints. Mozes said there was no forensic evidence at the scene connecting Modery to the crime scene.
Testimony in the case will continue Tuesday at 9:15 a.m.