MURDER MYSTERY IN N.J (SOLVED)

[Jacqueline]

New relationship held hope after bitter divorce, property loss      

Friday, August 25, 2006

By TOM TRONCONE and GIOVANNA FABIANO
STAFF WRITERS

 
 

JAMES W. ANNESS / THE RECORD
Investigators enter the property of Paul Duncsak on West Crescent Avenue in Ramsey Thursday seeking clues in his slaying the night before.
 
Paul Duncsak expected to be relaxing with his fiancee and two young children in Virginia Beach today, far from the strife and worry that engulfed his life the past few years.

Early Wednesday evening, the doting Ramsey dad telephoned the woman he planned to marry.

It's not clear what they talked about, but something was obviously wrong. In the middle of the conversation, the line went dead.

The fiancee frantically phoned police, who rushed to Duncsak's West Crescent Avenue home and forced in the door. In the expanded Cape Cod's center hallway, they found the 40-year-old pharmaceutical expert's body. He'd been shot twice, including once in the head.

Nothing was missing and there were no signs that someone forced entry, authorities said. A large plasma television hung within feet of the victim's body, undisturbed.

Investigators spent much of Thursday conducting interviews, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said, declining to say with whom they spoke. He also wouldn't say whether his detectives had developed any suspects.

He did say that Duncsak's fiancee heard something during the phone conversation that "gave rise to concern," prompting her to call police.

 
"It's still a little bit surreal," said next-door neighbor Penny McCulloh. "I hate to say it, but I hope it's someone he knew or was connected to him. If it's a random thing, then it's scary."

McCulloh recalled Duncsak's children -- Paul, 6, and Samantha, 5 -- playing with her daughter's golden retriever in the back yard. Anticipating his trip, Duncsak recently asked McCulloh's husband to feed his parrot and fish while he and the kids were away.

Yet there were also darker times at the sprawling home. Neighbors said they sometimes heard fierce arguments that ended about a year ago, when Duncsak and his wife, Stacey, separated.

The couple's 3,500-square-foot home on a one-acre lot, bought in January 2003 for $780,000, currently lists for $1.1 million. The private back yard has an in-ground pool, gazebo and sunroom with a kitchen.

Neighbors said the home has been for sale for nearly a year without any buyers. During that time, the Duncsaks fell victim to thieving real estate broker Susan Silok, who pleaded guilty last month to robbing homes listed with her, Molinelli said.

As part of the murder probe, investigators are examining what was clearly a rocky six-year marriage between Duncsak and his ex-wife, who now goes by the name Stacey Walker.

"There was a lot of domestic violence and TROs [temporary restraining orders]," Molinelli said.

"I've seen his name on police reports, but that's about it," said Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Gurney. "Our police department has been here in the past on investigations of domestic disputes."

In January 2004, Stacey Duncsak filed assault charges against her husband, saying he slammed a door on her foot. She withdrew the complaint as part of their divorce settlement, records show.

The divorce filings include several claims of "extreme cruelty" against one another.

Paul Duncsak said he slept in his son's room out of fear for his safety. He said his wife blamed him for her Bell's palsy, a disease characterized by facial drooping, and her jaw problems and migraines. He also said she abused prescription drugs, wouldn't work and refused to have sex with him for months at a time.

Her verbal abuse included telling him he was a "loser" and that he would "amount to nothing," Duncsak claimed.

What's more, he said, she threatened to falsely accuse him of physically abusing her and sexually abusing their children.

In the strangest accusation, Duncsak said his wife "would claim that she was so ill that she needed to sleep diagonally across the bed with ice packs and earplugs as well as with the plasma television and fan on."

Stacey Duncsak, in turn, said her husband "exhibited erratic, threatening and harassing behavior" when they were alone, with their children, and in public. She said he verbally and physically assaulted her over "trivial matters."

Paul Duncsak had a $1.5 million life insurance policy, but it was unclear Thursday who was the beneficiary at the time of his death. His wife had been the beneficiary while they were married.

Their divorce was finalized in January 2005, with the couple splitting custody of their children: He had them during the week, she had them on weekends.

This week, the children were to spend time with their dad in Virginia Beach, followed by a week with their mother in Florida, where her parents, Edward and Dottie Ates, live.

Stacey Walker, born Stacey Ates, was raised in a Southern military family. She was born on a naval base near Huntsville, Ala., while her father was in the service, said Tony Brooks, to whom she was married from 1992 to 1996.

Walker graduated from high school in Georgia and later lived in St. Louis. She moved to Illinois to be near her parents in the 1980s and got a job with Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical.

While living in St. Louis, she met Brooks, and the two were married in Illinois. By 1995, she'd been transferred by her company to Texas and the couple took up residence in Arlington, a Dallas suburb.

"Everything should have been great in Texas," Brooks, who lives in Humboldt, Tenn., said Thursday. "We had a new house, she'd been promoted, I had a good job. But one day when I returned from a golf outing in Memphis, she was gone and I never saw her again."

Brooks said she also accused him of abuse after their separation.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Paul Duncsak was making a name for himself in the pharmaceutical industry. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in 1989, and attended Rutgers Graduate School of Management and the Long Island University College of Pharmacy.

In 1992, Duncsak founded the Hospice Provider Group, a Westfield-based buying group that helps hospices purchase products at reduced prices. From 1995 to 2001, he worked for the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, spending the last three years as director of corporate learning.

In 2001, he founded a consulting firm, Vision Group Inc., which provided training for the pharmaceutical industry. The company created product launch programs, training manuals and medical education programs, generating revenues of $2.5 million a year.

Duncsak lectured in more than 10 states on the pharmaceutical industry and was an adjunct professor at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy.

"He was exceptionally bright," said David Miller, owner of Miller's Pharmacy in Wyckoff. "He was a 'super pharmacist' with expertise in virtually every area of pharmacy."

Duncsak worked at the pharmacy for four months last summer before taking a job with MedCo Health Solutions of Franklin Lakes. He and Miller became friendly and saw each other when they dropped their children off for day care at the Children's Learning Center in Mahwah.

"He was troubled by everything that was going on," Miller said. "He talked a lot about how this would affect his kids."

At the Children's Learning Center, the Duncsak children are known as "Paulie" and "Sammie Jo," director Rae Ann Jandris said Thursday.

They've attended the center the last three-and-a-half years, with their father often serving as chaperone on various class field trips to local farms, museums and pet stores. Duncsak also spoke about being a pharmacist at a Father's Day presentation, Jandris said.

"He was a very doting dad," she said. "Both parents were very involved, and, like many divorced parents, they made special efforts to compensate for that."

Jandris said she thought the couple had split amicably. There were some money issues early in the separation, she said, but they seemed to have been resolved. The children were always well-mannered and impeccably dressed and seemed to handle the situation well, she said.

"They're very friendly, wonderful children who've made a lot of friends," she said. "Sometimes they'd be sad, but we made an extra effort to talk to talk to them every day and ask how they were doing."

Jandris said she brought in trauma response counselors to talk to the center's students after learning of Duncsak's death. She said she also called Stacey Duncsak and suggested that she get a counselor to help break the news to Paul and Samantha.

"It's sad for the children," Jandris said. "They are the ones that are very impressionable."

Staff Writer Kristyn Ecochard contributed to this article.
 

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[Cat]

This is a horrible crime.What is being done for the children?I think it will turn out that it was someone known to the family. Cat

[Jacqueline]

This is a horrible crime.What is being done for the children?I think it will turn out that it was someone known to the family. Cat

Hi Cat.

After the initial reports of this happening i can't find any updates on this case on the news or in the papers...

Not even a little news blurp.

I know Ramsey NJ is a very affluent community and they really seem to be keeping this hush hush.

[Cat]

I like the shoes.I love the dance moves and the paintings of Dega.I do not much about that area of NJ.Please let us know more.Now shall curl in a tree limb and knaw on a juicy piece of fruit.Cat

[Jacqueline]

I like the shoes.I love the dance moves and the paintings of Dega.I do not much about that area of NJ.Please let us know more.Now shall curl in a tree limb and knaw on a juicy piece of fruit.Cat

Thanks, I love Degas too!

I will try to find out as much as I can and will post it!

Enjoy that juice piece of fruit!

[Jacqueline]

RAMSEY, N.J. -- The ex-wife of a pharmacist shot to death inside his million-dollar home Wednesday evening has an alibi, her lawyer said.

Paul Duncsak, 40, a father of two young children, was shot in the head and the arm, authorities said.

Walter Lesnevich, an attorney for Duncsak's former wife, Stacey Walker, says she was at a doctor's office when he was shot. Lesnevich said he spoke with detectives who have confirmed her whereabouts Wednesday night.

"She has not been told that she is a suspect," Lesnevich told The Star-Ledger of Newark for its Saturday editions.

Authorities have said there was no sign of forced entry but that there is no question it was a homicide.

Police went to the home after receiving a 911 call at about 6:30 p.m. from Duncsak's fiancee, whom authorities say he was on the phone with before he was killed.

Duncsak, a pharmacist who worked for Medco Pharmaceutical Supply Co., had gone through a divorce proceeding. His children were not home at the time of the shooting.

Duncsak had put the house up for sale, asking $1.1 million.

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli has declined to say whether there are any suspects in the case.

___

[Jacqueline]

Just an update that I have nothing to update on this...

Man is this story ever buried...

[2NJSons_Mom]

Just an update that I have nothing to update on this...

Man is this story ever buried...

I'm still waiting on this, too, Jacqueline.  Guess they are still investigating???

[Jacqueline]

Just an update that I have nothing to update on this...

Man is this story ever buried...

I'm still waiting on this, too, Jacqueline.  Guess they are still investigating???

  I hope so.

Cannot find anything on the internet or in the papers...

Odd.

[2NJSons_Mom]

Arrests made in Ramsey man's shooting death      

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

By CAROLYN SALAZAR
STAFF WRITER

 
 
Edward Ates (left) is charged with killing Paul Duncsak. Dottie Sue Ates (right) is charged with hindering her husband's apprehension. Photos courtesy of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.
 
Detectives arrested four family members in Florida and Louisiana this morning in connection with the shooting death of businessman Paul Duncsak last August in his Ramsey home.

Edward Ates, 62, the father of Duncsak’s estranged wife, was taken into custody outside his Fort Pierce, Fla., home at 8 a.m.

He is charged with breaking into Duncsak’s house and killing the 40-year-old pharmaceutical expert while he talked on his cellphone with his fiancé.

Also arrested was Ates’ wife, Dottie Sue Ates, also 62.

At the same time, investigators in Louisiana arrested Ates’ mother, Myra McCoy Barnes, 83, and his sister, Brenda Nell Ates, 52.

Edward Ates, who is being held at Saint Lucie County Jail in Florida, is charged with murder, felony murder and burglary charges. His wife, mother and sister face hindering and obstruction charges. Ates was discharged from the military then went to work at the Department of Defense until his retirement.

Duncsak was going through a tumultuous divorce with his former wife and was planning on remarrying this year when he was shot on Aug. 23. Police found his body in the hallway of his home with gunshot wounds in his head and body.

 
Stacey Walker, Duncsak’s estranged wife, and Duncsak, shared custody of their two children. Neither Walker nor the children were in the house at the time.

E-mail: salazar@northjersey.com
 

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http://tinyurl.com/35z8fy

[2NJSons_Mom]

A few more details in this morning's article:

Four charged in Ramsey man's killing      

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

By CAROLYN SALAZAR
STAFF WRITER

 

Four people were arrested Tuesday in last summer's shooting death of Ramsey businessman Paul Duncsak.

Edward Ates, 62, the father of Duncsak's ex-wife, spent a week stalking the 40-year-old pharmaceutical expert while planning a methodical attack, said Michael Mordaga, chief of detectives for the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

 
Then, on Aug. 23, Ates broke into Duncsak's house, waited for him to come home, and shot him more than once as he walked through the front door, Mordaga said.

Ates, a retired Department of Defense worker who had served in the Army and Marines, was taken into custody Tuesday morning outside his home in Fort Pierce, Fla. Police also arrested Ates' wife, Dottie, 62, who was inside.

Meanwhile, investigators in Louisiana arrested Ates' mother, Myra McCoy Barnes, and his sister, Brenda Nell Ates, 52.

The 83-year-old Barnes had a loaded .38-caliber handgun on her nightstand and a .25-caliber pistol in her car, Mordaga said.

Ates faces murder, felony murder and burglary charges in New Jersey. His family members are charged with hindering and obstruction. All three had given "less than truthful" information to police, apparently to protect Ed Ates, during the murder investigation, Mordaga said.

Ates' defense attorney, Walter Lesnevich, said his client "absolutely and adamantly" maintains his innocence.

About a dozen police officers converged on Ates' home around 8 a.m. Tuesday. The officers -- from the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Department, Ramsey police and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office -- then searched the residence.

"Officers went in with shotguns early in the morning, and I'm not sure why they did that," Lesnevich said. "He's been there. They knew where to find him. It wasn't like he was going to run away."

Duncsak's ex-wife, who moved next to her parents shortly after the murder, was crying and shocked when she saw police storm the house, the lawyer said.

"It terrorized the kids," Lesnevich said.

Duncsak, who was embroiled in a custody battle with his ex-wife over their two school-age children, was talking with his fiancee on his cellphone when he walked through the door of his $1.1 million West Crescent Avenue home the fateful night.

"We believe Ates entered the house and was waiting for him to arrive," Mordaga said.

The woman, Lori Adamo, called police after the line suddenly went dead. They later found Duncsak's body in the hallway. He'd been shot in the head and body, they said.

Duncsak and Stacey Walker divorced in January 2005 but continued to live together in the five-bedroom home. Neither Walker nor the children were there when he was killed.

Duncsak's mother, Sofie, told The Record last year that Ates had continually badgered her son about money and the children.

In addition, Duncsak claimed in divorce papers filed in 2003 that he feared for his and his children's safety, saying his wife abused prescription drugs, neglected the youngsters and verbally abused him.

In a written statement released by Walker last year, she denied the allegations.

Shortly after the killing, investigators searched Ates' house and confiscated his computer. From there, Mordaga said, they retrieved evidence that "we believe implicates him in this murder."

He wouldn't elaborate. Nor would he say whether police have retrieved the murder weapon.

Ates came to New Jersey a week before the killing "for the purpose of planning and surveillance for the murder," Mordaga said.

Ramsey Police Chief Brian Gurney said Ates used a fictitious name while he stayed at a campground in Pennsylvania.

Ates was being held at the St. Lucie County Jail pending an extradition hearing today. Lesnevich said that he didn't know yet whether his client would waive extradition.
 

7150885

http://tinyurl.com/ywvl6n

[2NJSons_Mom]

Accused couple flown in for charges      

Friday, June 15, 2007

By KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER

 

PARAMUS -- A couple accused in the shooting death last year of their son-in-law in Ramsey were flown in from Florida on Thursday to face charges.

Edward and Dottie Ates were being held in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack pending court appearances this afternoon, authorities said.

 
Authorities say Edward Ates, 62, stalked Paul Duncsak for a week before he broke into the 40-year-old businessman's home on Aug. 23, 2006, waited until he came home, and shot him dead. He is charged with murder, felony murder and burglary.

Investigators later alleged that Ates had viewed a Web site titled "How to Commit the Perfect Murder" before killing Duncsak, a pharmaceutical expert.

Edward Ates' attorney, Walter Lesnevich, disputed reports that Duncsak was involved in a custody battle with his wife, Stacey Walker, at the time he was killed.

Both children now live with Walker in Fort Pierce, Fla., next door to her parents.

"Eight months before he died, the two had signed an agreement for joint custody of their children," the lawyer said. "[Authorities] are trying to make it sound as if the killing happened in the middle of a divorce or a custody fight, and that's just not true."

The only disagreement between Ates and Duncsak occurred three or four years before the killing, Lesnevich said, adding that he didn't know what the disagreement was about.

"My client insists that he has nothing to do with the killing," Lesnevich said.

Dottie Ates' attorney, Brian Neary, said his client will plead not guilty "loudly and clearly" this afternoon.

Dottie Ates is charged with hindering and obstruction, as is Edward Ates' mother, Myra McCoy Barnes, and his sister, Brenda Nell Ates, who were both arrested Tuesday in Louisiana. Authorities said all three gave misleading information to homicide investigators, apparently to protect Edward Ates.

Released without bail, Barnes and Nell Ates have been given until July 19 to turn themselves in to Bergen County authorities, said Assistant Prosecutor James Santulli. An arrest warrant will be issued if they don't meet that deadline, Santulli said.

Edward and Dottie Ates were arrested Tuesday outside their Florida home. Both waived extradition and were flown to Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday afternoon, accompanied by detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the Ramsey Police Department.

E-mail: markos@northjersey.com
 

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http://tinyurl.com/yt66zm

[2NJSons_Mom]

You can access 911 tape by a link on the site of article at northjersey.com:

http://tinyurl.com/2c7x2j

NORTHWEST BERGEN  
911 tape from Ramsey murder released      

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

By KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER

 
 

JIM ANNESS / THE RECORD
The scene outside Paul Duncsak's Ramsey home on Aug. 24, the day after Duncsak was shot.
 
 Listen to the 911 tape

Authorities today released the 911 recording in the murder of a Ramsey businessman Paul Duncsak, who was shot dead last summer while talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

"I was just speaking to my boyfriend and he was entering his home,” Lori Gerbasi of Wyckoff tells a Paramus dispatcher. “I heard loud screaming and now there is dead air on the other end."

The Paramus dispatcher later relayed the call to Ramsey police, who went to Duncsak’s home on West Crescent Avenue.

They found the 40-year-old pharmaceutical expert’s body in the hallway. He’d been shot in the head and body, they said.

Authorities last week arrested Duncsak’s father-in-law, Edward Ates, and charged him with the Aug. 23, 2006 murder.

They also arrested Ates’ wife, Dottie, and charged her with hindering the investigation of her husband. Two other family members also face hindering charges after being arrested in Louisiana.

Prosecutors say Edward Ates broke into Duncsak’s home, waited for him to return and shot him.

 
Duncsak was involved in a divorce and child-custody battle with his ex-wife, Stacey Walker, they noted, although Edward Ates’ attorney said the dispute was resolved through a mutual custody agreement signed several months earlier.

Edward Ates, 62, is being held on $2 million bail at the Bergen County Jail. Dottie Ates posted $20,000 bail on Friday and returned to Florida, according to her husband’s lawyer.

Bail hearings have not yet been scheduled.

Meanwhile, Edward Ates' 83-year-old mother, Myra McCoy Barnes, and his sister, Brenda Nell Ates, have been ordered to report to Bergen County authorities on July 6 or face arrest.

E-mail: markos@northjersey.com
 

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[Auntiem]

   And when will Stacey Ates Brookes Duncsak Walker be arrested?

[JustMeT]

I suppose the family could have committed this murder w/out the daughter being aware. But I'm sure if they were onto four family members they are on to her also, if she was in on it.

As I was reading the thread the last thing I expected to read was that it was the ex wife's father, family etc. Total insanity.   

[FoolsGold]

The ex-wife of a pharmacist shot to death inside his million-dollar home Wednesday evening has an alibi, her lawyer said.

The Prime Suspect would be the ex-wife. The fact that she has an iron clad alibi instantly starts the thoughts of "did she know in advance to have an alibi". So the usual inquiry is 'friends, relatives and people she might have solicited'.

Somehow the cops sure got onto the wife's parents fairly fast.

With no burglary motive, it was obvious this was emotional and that means usually the "ex".
It just seems strange that they couldn't have done a better job of it. Fake name at a campground? Did they forget to fake the license plates too?

[FoolsGold]

With no burglary motive, it was obvious this was emotional and that means usually the "ex".

By 'emotional' I do not mean 'rage filled' as might be exemplified by dozens of stab wounds or dozens of gunshot wounds, I mean that the absence of an actual burglary or even a faked burglary means that it was clearly an intentional killing wherein someone simply wanted him dead. Usually you look for the spouse or someone else mentioned in the will. He was about to re-marry and that meant the will and life insurance policies if they had any value at all had to be used real soon. It would also bring a sort of psychological deadline too.

[Auntiem]

      That "ex" doesn't sound to me like she has an emotional bone in her body.
Perfect marriage with husband no.1 and one day he comes home from work and...pfttttt she's gone!

[Nut44x4]

OUTLAW IN-LAWS IN 'SLAY'
KIN OF TRAGIC MOGUL'S WIFE ARE ARRESTED

The money-grubbing ex-in-laws of a murdered millionaire - including an 83-year-old gambling granny - were busted yesterday in his New Jersey slaying, authorities said.

Edward Ates, 62, was charged in Florida with pulling the trigger in the execution of rich pharmaceutical exec Paul Duncsak of Ramsey - his former son-in-law - after cops discovered that Ates had been trolling a Web site titled "How to Commit the Perfect Murder," one law-enforcement source told The Post.

"He thought that when he hit the delete button on his computer, it was gone forever," the source said of the suspect's 'Net-surfing shenanigans, which also included visits to Web sites featuring lock-picking tools and instructions on how to use them.

Ates' daughter, Stacey Walker, had been married to Duncsak until their bitter divorce, partly fueled by money battles, in 2005. Duncsak, 40, was found with a bullet in his head in his million-dollar mansion last August. Cops said the home was entered through a picked lock on a back sliding door.

Also arrested yesterday were Ates' wife and Stacey's mom, Dottie Sue Ates; his 83-year-old mother, Evelyn "Myra" Barnes; and his sister, Brenda "Nell" Ates, 51.

The trio was charged with obstruction after allegedly lying to provide him an alibi at the time of the slaying.

Edward Ates had told cops that he had been visiting his ailing mom in Sibley, La., the week that Duncsak was killed. But cops later learned that the great-grandmother had been gambling at Louisiana Downs at the time, and the women eventually 'fessed up that they hadn't seen him, the source said.

As for Walker, "as of right now, [she] has not been charged. But as the investigation goes on, if the mom and sister start cooperating, there may be additional charges," the source said.

Walker, who lives with her young son and daughter near her parents in Fort Pierce, Fla., declined to comment through her lawyer.

"She and the kids were there when her mom and dad were arrested" at their house yesterday morning, said her lawyer, Walter Lesnevich, of Hackensack, N.J. "I could hear the kids screaming and crying in the background."

The lawyer, who is also repping Edward Ates, said he has been unable to talk to his client, who is being held without bail at St. Lucie County Jail. Dottie Ates also is being held there.

"I'm in the dark," Lesnevich said. Edward Ates "wasn't anywhere near New Jersey" at the time of the murder, the lawyer insisted.

The law-enforcement source acknowledged that the case against Ates is "all circumstantial," noting that police have yet to recover the murder weapon.

But he had motive, Duncsak's relatives said.

The victim's mother, Sophia Duncsak, said Edward Ates was nearly bankrupt when he tried to squeeze $250,000 from her wealthy son in 2003 to keep the struggling golf course he had bought in Okeechobee, Fla. When her son balked, Edward Ates turned menacing and vengeful, she said.

"She [Walker] is a gold digger, and they killed him for the money," the grieving mom said. "They are liars and liars and liars."

The law-enforcement source said Ates had been "a suspect from the get-go" but that his family helped stonewall the investigation. But in the end, his alibi crumbled, the source said.

Ates told cops that he hadn't been near Ramsey for two years, but cellphone records showed he was, the source said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06132007/news/regionalnews/outlaw_in_laws_in_slay_regionalnews_jeane_macintosh_and_kate_sheehy.htm

[Nut44x4]

Man using 'fat' defense in NJ depicted as marksman

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Prosecutors cross-examining a Florida man who claims he was too fat to have killed his former son-in-law tried to portray the defendant as a skilled marksman and attempted to undercut his alibi.

The 62-year-old defendant, Edward Ates, was at least 285 pounds when Paul Duncsak was shot in 2006.

Ates' attorney has made the case that his client didn't have the energy to run up a staircase, accurately shoot Duncsak, leave before police arrived, then make a 21-hour drive to his mother's home in Louisiana, as prosecutors claim.

His doctor testified that bounding up the stairs would have caused Ates to become short of breath and shake, making it difficult to keep his wrist straight enough to accurately fire a gun at someone from a distance.

On Thursday, Ates took the stand in his own defense but didn't delve much into his weight.

Prosecutors claim Ates drove from his home in Fort Pierce, Fla., to Duncsak's $1.1 million home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, in August 2006 and shot him as he came home from work. Police quickly suspected Ates and found him 24 hours later at his mother's home in Sibley, La.

Defense lawyer Walter Lesnevich disputes that his client could have made the trip to Louisiana without stopping, as prosecutors have suggested, and called upon doctors to talk about Ates' physical limitations.

On Wednesday, Dr. Michael Farber, an internal medicine specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center called it "highly improbable" that Ates could have driven for 21 hours straight.

But under cross-examination by Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello, Farber said Ates' weight doesn't mean he can't fire a gun.

"Basically he is obese, has some form of asthma, elevated blood pressure and diabetes," Mello said. "Does any of that have to do with the ability to fire a weapon?"

"No," Farber replied.

On Thursday, Mello questioned Ates about the fact that he shot at a snake during his trip to Louisiana. Their exchange didn't explain exactly where or when Ates shot the snake, but Mello was trying to infer that Ates was an accurate shooter.

Mello also played a wiretapped phone call Ates made to his sister in Louisiana after Duncsak was killed. During the call, Ates repeatedly goes over the timing of events to make sure they agree.

"I just need to make sure we're all saying the same thing when it comes to it," Ates tells his sister. She has testified that she misled police about the day Ates arrived in Louisiana because her brother had asked her to lie.

Duncsak, a pharmaceutical executive, and Ates' daughter were involved in a bitter custody dispute after their divorce.

Duncsak's mother, Sophia, has said Ates became vengeful toward her son after Paul Duncsak refused to give his father-in-law $250,000 in 2003 to keep Ates' struggling golf course in Okeechobee, Fla., afloat.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/28/national/a075821D90.DTL&type=printable