bloodrayne
05-29-2005, 02:40 PM
Police: Best-Laid Suicide Plans Went Astray
Pennsylvania - A township supervisor from northern Westmoreland County who took his life last week went to great lengths to try to trick investigators into believing he had been murdered, possibly to secure a better life insurance payout to his loved ones.
The body of Daniel R. Smetanick, of Allegheny Township, was found May 13 by a woman walking on the path near the entrance to Winn & Clara Tredway River Park, about 10 miles east of New Kensington.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck and Coroner Kenneth A. Bacha said Friday that Smetanick died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. They said he rigged a device intended to carry the handgun he used away from his body.
"It was a methodical, planned-out event," Bacha said. "It was not a homicide or an assisted suicide."
Bacha and Peck said Smetanick's life insurance policy was limited to the premiums paid if his death was determined to be a suicide.
Peck said he would not disclose how much money the policy involved or who was named as the beneficiary. Bacha said he did not know when the policy was purchased.
A prepared release from Peck and Bacha stated that Smetanick, 61, had debilitating health problems, but Bacha said Smetanick was not suffering from a major illness.
"There was nothing life-threatening or life-ending," Bacha said last night. "He had a lot of smaller problems and may have thought he was sicker than he was."
Smetanick, a retired investment banker and financial planner, apparently put a lot of thought into his death.
"He was a planner his entire life. He evidently planned this over a period of time," Bacha said.
For instance, Smetanick made sure his will and other personal affairs were in order and he wrote plans for his funeral about 15 months ago, Bacha said.
When township police and county detectives arrived at the park, they found two plastic bags, one wrapped around the grip of Smetanick's handgun.
Attached to the bags and handgun was a piece of rope connected to a log that was attached to a child's sled. The log and the sled were over a nearby hillside.
"It appears that this device was constructed so that after the handgun was discharged, the handgun would be pulled over the hillside by the sled weighted with the log and thereby concealed from investigators," the statement from Bacha and Peck said.
"The device, however, did not operate as intended as the sled apparently struck a rock and was impeded from traveling down the hill. The result was that the plastic bags and the handgun were found just several feet from Mr. Smetanick," the statement said.
Investigators learned that the sled belonged to Smetanick. Peck said Smetanick owned a gun but he doesn't know if that was the weapon used.
Bacha said he believes investigators would have learned the truth even had everything turned out as Smetanick planned.
"If we had found the body and no weapon, detectives would have canvassed the entire area in search of clues," he said. "I think we would have found it."
Pennsylvania - A township supervisor from northern Westmoreland County who took his life last week went to great lengths to try to trick investigators into believing he had been murdered, possibly to secure a better life insurance payout to his loved ones.
The body of Daniel R. Smetanick, of Allegheny Township, was found May 13 by a woman walking on the path near the entrance to Winn & Clara Tredway River Park, about 10 miles east of New Kensington.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck and Coroner Kenneth A. Bacha said Friday that Smetanick died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. They said he rigged a device intended to carry the handgun he used away from his body.
"It was a methodical, planned-out event," Bacha said. "It was not a homicide or an assisted suicide."
Bacha and Peck said Smetanick's life insurance policy was limited to the premiums paid if his death was determined to be a suicide.
Peck said he would not disclose how much money the policy involved or who was named as the beneficiary. Bacha said he did not know when the policy was purchased.
A prepared release from Peck and Bacha stated that Smetanick, 61, had debilitating health problems, but Bacha said Smetanick was not suffering from a major illness.
"There was nothing life-threatening or life-ending," Bacha said last night. "He had a lot of smaller problems and may have thought he was sicker than he was."
Smetanick, a retired investment banker and financial planner, apparently put a lot of thought into his death.
"He was a planner his entire life. He evidently planned this over a period of time," Bacha said.
For instance, Smetanick made sure his will and other personal affairs were in order and he wrote plans for his funeral about 15 months ago, Bacha said.
When township police and county detectives arrived at the park, they found two plastic bags, one wrapped around the grip of Smetanick's handgun.
Attached to the bags and handgun was a piece of rope connected to a log that was attached to a child's sled. The log and the sled were over a nearby hillside.
"It appears that this device was constructed so that after the handgun was discharged, the handgun would be pulled over the hillside by the sled weighted with the log and thereby concealed from investigators," the statement from Bacha and Peck said.
"The device, however, did not operate as intended as the sled apparently struck a rock and was impeded from traveling down the hill. The result was that the plastic bags and the handgun were found just several feet from Mr. Smetanick," the statement said.
Investigators learned that the sled belonged to Smetanick. Peck said Smetanick owned a gun but he doesn't know if that was the weapon used.
Bacha said he believes investigators would have learned the truth even had everything turned out as Smetanick planned.
"If we had found the body and no weapon, detectives would have canvassed the entire area in search of clues," he said. "I think we would have found it."