Chapter 182
6/6/2008
Ch 182 Greek Peak in cold blood
Greek Peak Chalets January 1968
I worked at this Virgil Ski resort during college recesses back in my blue period. On my last day of paper shuffling yesterday in Albany, a co-worker advised me that her relative, you could say my co-worker at Greek Peak (link gone) (same managers still there) had just been murdered in Cortland a few miles over the hill pictured.
This was an ironic twist, to think that 40 years after I took this picture, I'd be sitting 150 miles away in an office watching an internet video description of the tragedy (link gone) by my sister-in-law in Virgil, who also worked at the Peak along with my nephew who live just behind the chalet.
By coincidence, my Albany co-worker had been a guest of the strangulation victim and had previously camped out there at the Tower Road, the scene of the crime. That is just down the road from where I camped out years ago with my high school farmer buddy Ray Stevens (whose parents had moved up to that Tower Road).
Since the victim's estranged husband, had choked her to unconsciousness a couple months back, resulting in a restraining order placed upon him, he is a likely suspect. Being a martial arts expert and a Karate instructor at the YWCA, along with his lawyer probably does not help his cause.
An internet search shows the suspect is an international traveler and received an SSA C Badge in 2005 from the Harris Hills Soaring Club.
County Sheriff on case is high school classmate; Dale don't send any tips in.
County Judge on case is high school classmate of brother Bill's. Believe we played some town team basketball and chugged a few beers together way back.
...Virgil: the dark side: the story continues...
Cortland County officials along with Cortland County Sheriff’s Department Captain Glenn Mauzy, right, escort Charles "Randy" Thibeault Sr. to jail today after being convicted on all counts for the May murder of his wife Wendy D. Thibeault.
By ANTHONY BORRELLI
Staff Reporter
aborrelli@cortlandstandard.net
CORTLAND — Charles “Randy” Thibeault Sr. appeared calm and emotionless as a jury in County Court found him guilty this afternoon of murdering his estranged wife Wendy Thibeault on May 26. The verdict, issued at 3:05 p.m., came as a mixed blessing to Wendy Thibeault’s mother, Natalie Maurer of Towanda, Pa. "There is no real happiness in this,” Maurer said after the verdict. “We couldn’t bring Wendy back but at least we got justice.”
Wendy Thibeault's family and friends, gathered in the rotunda of the County Courthouse after the verdict was read, applauded as the jurors emerged from the County Clerk's Office after they were released out of a back door to the second-floor courtroom. Randy Thibeault, 60, stood trial in Cortland County Court for strangling Wendy Thibeault, 47, in May in the couple’s Tower Road home. Testimony lasted eight days. Wendy Thibeault was found May 26 at about 7 p.m. lying at the bottom of a wooden staircase, surrounded in blood. She was beaten, strangled and wearing only underwear. The jury found Randy Thibeault guilty on all charges — second-degree murder, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal contempt, all felonies — included in the indictment.
Randy and Wendy Thibeault had separated after he allegedly choked her unconscious April 14. She obtained an order of protection and he moved to a house on Durkee Avenue in Homer. District Attorney Mark Suben had tears in his eyes as he stood outside the courtroom after the verdict was read. “I feel privileged to have been in the position to do justice. And justice was done,” Suben said. Suben called the murder a crime of passion in his closing statement to jurors Monday, arguing he believed Randy Thibeault had become angered at losing control of his wife after she asked for a divorce in January and she took nearly $13,000 from a joint bank account in May and deposited it in one of her own.
Suben linked Randy Thibeault to the crime scene through tire tracks found outside the Tower Road home, matched by police to his GMC Sierra pickup truck. A small amount of Wendy Thibeault’s blood was found inside the pickup truck by investigators. Wendy Thibeault’s sister Lori Monahan, of Towanda, Pa., said after the verdict she was not surprised that Randy Thibeault showed little emotion when found guilty, adding the guilty verdict brought relief from sitting through a difficult trial. As he left the courtroom, defense lawyer Emil Rossi declined to comment on the verdict. Cortland attorney Patrick Perfetti, who was part of the defense team, said afterward that an appeal is expected. Randy Thibeault was taken in handcuffs, wearing a bulletproof vest, to Cortland County Jail. He will be sentenced April 23. He faces 25 years to life in prison and Suben said Tuesday he plans to recommend the maximum sentence.