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PrintPolice yesterday focused on yet another man -- convicted felon Thomas H. Kase Jr. -- in the Ohio Turnpike killing of a wealthy Mercer County physician.
Kase, of Aliquippa, was not arrested, but Pennsylvania State Police revealed in court filings that they searched two of his vehicles in connection with the May 13 shooting death of Dr. Gulam Moonda.
A Sky Bank payment book in the names of Kase and Moonda's wife, Donna, was among the items confiscated in the search of vehicles and an apartment in Monaca.
Also seized were three pink bath towels with suspected blood stains, 19 $50 bills, a pager and six cell phones.
The bank book apparently was for vehicle loan payments. It contained two names, those of Kase and Donna J. Smouse, which is Donna Moonda's maiden name.
One of the vehicles searched was a black 1995 Land Rover. It loosely matches the description of the "van" that Donna Moonda said was used by the robber who shot and killed her husband.
The Land Rover was still parked last night at the Monaca apartment of Damian R. Bradford, whom police have called "a person of interest" in the homicide investigation. An informant told police that Bradford and Donna Moonda were involved in a "serious relationship."
Kase, 32, was incarcerated in state prisons from August 1997 to August 2000 for burglary in a Venango County case.
He served part of his prison sentence in Mercer County, where the Moondas lived and worked. After his release from prison, Kase was jailed again for illegal drug use and technical violations of his parole. He has been free since February 2001.
Kase was not at the Aliquippa address police listed as his home in search warrants. Neighbors said the home on Baker Street had been vacant until this week, and none of them had ever heard of Kase.
Police would not say how Kase's name ended up on a bank book with that of Donna Moonda.
Donna Moonda has not responded in the past several days to reporters' calls or questions. But Cleveland lawyer Niki Schwartz appeared on KDKA-TV yesterday to say he was representing her.
Schwartz described Moonda's death as the work of an unknown highway robber, and characterized Donna Moonda as a second victim of a senseless crime.
Donna Moonda, 46, said her 69-year-old husband of nearly 15 years was shot in the head by a robber who approached their Gold Jaguar after she pulled off the roadway. She told police she had stopped because she intended to let her husband drive. By her account, the robber took her husband's money, then fired a single shot into the right side of his head.
Also in the Jaguar and a witness to Moonda's death was Donna Moonda's mother, 74-year-old Dorothy Smouse.
The highway patrol said Donna Moonda and her mother told them the killer left in a dark van, but neither noticed the license number or the state where the plate was issued.
Police found Kase's black Land Rover parked at the Monaca apartment complex where Bradford lived.
At 23, Bradford is 23 years Donna Moonda's junior, but informants told police they have been in a relationship for months. She and Bradford, according to police, met at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Aliquippa.
An unidentified informant quoted in police affidavits said Donna Moonda told Bradford her plan was to divorce her husband and collect $3 million to $4 million in the settlement.
Donna Moonda, a nurse anesthetist and self-described addict, is on probation in a drug case. She pleaded no contest in August to a charge of stealing the painkiller fentanyl from the hospital where she worked in Greenville, Mercer County.
She had no prior criminal record, so Mercer County District Attorney James Epstein said his staff agreed to a sentence of probation. She had already completed two months of treatment in the Aliquippa rehab center by the time she made her plea in the criminal case.
Epstein and a spokeswoman for the state probation and parole department said yesterday that Donna Moonda had met all terms of her probation since being sentenced nine months ago. The probation department would not disclose how many times she had been tested for drugs.
Police said their search of Bradford's apartment at 151 Milne Drive, which Donna Moonda also recently listed as her address, found vials of fluid marked "testosterone" and syringes.
Bradford, on probation in Beaver County for cocaine possession, was arrested and jailed for violating the terms of his release by having drugs or drug paraphernalia. Held on $50,000 bail, he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing tomorrow on the drug charges.
Pittsburgh lawyer James Ecker, who is representing Bradford, said the drug case was concocted by police after their raid of his apartment failed to turn up any evidence relevant to Moonda's killing.
"This ain't a cold-blooded killer. This is a nice kid," Ecker said.
He also objected to police characterizing Bradford as "a person of interest" in the homicide investigation. Ecker, though, acknowledged that, if Bradford has a romantic tie to Donna Moonda, the attention he has attracted from police would be understandable.
Ecker said Bradford probably will be in jail for some time. Because he is accused of violating the terms of his probation, he could be held even if he somehow managed to raise the $50,000 needed for bail.
