Witnesses recount truck highway homicide
In the early evening of May 10, 2005, Terri Lynn Gresko and Thomas Myers checked out at the South Union Township Wal-Mart, and were followed out of the store parking lot by Edward Belch. Minutes later, Belch used his pickup truck to ram the Harley Davidson motorcycle they were riding, killing both of them.
On Wednesday, Fayette County prosecutors started presenting a case in hope of showing that Belch, 45, knew what he was doing, and planned to kill Gresko, 44, of Edenborn and Myers, 54, of Masontown. Belch’s attorney, however, contend he was intoxicated and told jurors that can mitigate his degree of guilt.
Sixteen witnesses took the stand during the first day of testimony that could result in a death sentence if Belch is convicted of first-degree murder. Many of them – witnesses to the accident, police, medical personnel – said they smelled alcohol on Belch after the 7 p.m. accident. None, however, testified that Belch seemed unsteady on his feet or had difficulty talking.
The Rev. Alfred Thompson of McClellandtown testified that he was traveling toward Uniontown on Route 21 when he saw Belch’s truck in his lane, passing cars. He said he was concerned that if the truck did not move back into its lane he would have to move onto the berm to avoid a collision.
Almost as soon as Belch passed by, Thompson testified, he watched him hit into the motorcycle. Thompson testified that he pulled over and called 911 before heading to the accident scene, which was near the Lakeside Party Center on Route 21in German Township.
Outside, Belch was near Gresko’s body, Thompson testified, and he told Belch not to move her. Then, Thompson testified, Belch asked him if he saw the man who ran him off the road. Thompson testified he did not reply because he knew that no one ran Belch off the road and into the motorcycle.
Peggy Ocker of Greensboro was returning to her home from the Uniontown Mall with her daughter when Belch passed her in a no passing zone. While she did not see him hit the motorcycle, Ocker testified she saw debris flying and pulled over and went to help.
Belch, she said, was bent over Gresko’s body and Ocker testified she pulled his arm and told her not to move Gresko.
When he told her that someone ran him off the road, Ocker testified she told him that was not true.
She also testified that she heard Belch talking to Gresko as she lay on the road.
“Terri, I told you I was going to get you. I will go to jail for this,” Ocker quoted Belch as saying.
Daniel Simon of Masontown testified that he also heard Belch yelling at Gresko, quoting him as saying, “I told you I was going to get you.”
Kimberly Davis of Jefferson testified that Belch passed on Route 21 as she headed home from the Uniontown Mall. The area where he passed her was not a passing zone, she testified.
“He kept on going and hit two people in front of me,” she said. “The two people flew off” the motorcycle.
State police trooper George Carlberg, the first on the scene, testified that he came upon Belch, looking disheveled and mutter, “I killed her. I killed her. She was my girlfriend.”
As Belch got Carlberg his driving information, the trooper testified that Belch made more statements.
“She just had me arrested this weekend for a fight and I just got out of jail,” Belch reportedly said.
Carlberg told Assistant Public Defender David Kaiser that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Belch, and initially thought that it might have been a drunken driving accident.
Carlberg testified that he saw skid marks, clothing and even flesh ground into the road at the scene of the accident.
Monica Hair, an emergency medical technician who responded to the scene as part of Fayette Emergency Management Service, testified that once she and the other medical personnel tended to Belch, he started giving them Gresko’s information.
Hair testified that Belch smelled of alcohol, and he told her he just out of a jail, where he was incarcerated after violating a protection-from-abuse order. Gresko obtained a protective order against Belch in 2004 and it still was in effect at the time of her death.
Belch also told Hair that another vehicle caused the accident, she testified.
And while he did smell of alcohol, Hair testified that Belch was coherent and walking and talking normally.
Jurors also heard from an employee of the Wal-Mart vision center who indicated that Belch smelled of alcohol when he came to the store to get a receipt for his glasses.
A video from the dozens of surveillance cameras in the store and parking lot show Gresko and Myers pulling into a parking spot. About three minutes later, Belch also pulls in.
The video, played for jurors Wednesday, showed Gresko and Myers checking out and walking past the vision center to leave, and then seconds later, Belch following them into the parking lot.
After the couple left on Myers’ motorcycle, the video shows Belch pulling out of a parking space and following them.
Assistant district attorneys Peter U. Hook and Phyllis A. Jin are prosecuting Belch. Kaiser and Public Defender Jeffrey Whiteko are representing Belch.
If prosecutors are successful in their bid to secure a first-degree murder conviction against Belch, jurors will begin deliberations to determine if he will be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. If that happens, attorney Mark Mehalov will handle that hearing on Belch’s behalf.