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WILKES-BARRE — Alleged killer Jessica Alinsky delayed a phone call to 911 after her boyfriend was shot in the face because she was afraid of how it would look, a state trooper testified Friday.
State police Cpl. Shawn Williams testified in Luzerne County Court that the admission was one of several made by Alinsky during a series of interviews in the days that followed the Sept. 2, 2011, death of corrections officer Matthew Gailie.
Gailie, 34, was found dead on the living room floor of the Hazle Township home the couple shared. A gun was in his left hand and a bloodied bank statement was next to his body.
During the course of Alinsky’s homicide trial this week, prosecutors have presented over a dozen witnesses and numerous pieces of evidence that they claim prove Alinsky, 32, not only pulled the trigger, but staged the crime scene to make the death look like a financially related suicide.
Williams, an investigator with the state police’s criminal investigation assessment unit, said police “had some doubts” about Alinsky’s account of the incident, which the trooper testified changed multiple times after she was confronted with discrepancies in her story.
“We had suspicions she may have lied to us,” Williams said.
Stories change
Alinsky was interviewed at least four times between Sept. 2 and Sept. 6, 2011, Williams said. None of the interviews were recorded on camera out of concern it might make Alinsky act differently, he said.
“I heard a bang and I went downstairs,” Alinsky said in an audio recording of a second interview conducted in the early morning hours that followed Gailie’s death. She is also heard telling Williams she didn’t see Gailie get shot because she was upstairs.
Meanwhile, members of Alinsky’s family — step-father Richard deGregor, sister Nicole deGregor and mother Lisa deGregor — each testified that she told them similar stories: Alinsky heard a gunshot and then came downstairs to find Gailie on the living room floor.
Nicole deGregor, 30, said Alinsky contradicted herself when she told her she was upstairs but also saw Gailie shoot himself, which she said she found “unusual.”
During a third interview on Sept. 4, Alinsky cried as she admitted she was not only downstairs when Gailie shot himself, but was right next to him, Williams said.
Williams said Alinsky told him she didn’t call 911 right away because she “needed time to think” and that she lied about her whereabouts in the home because of “the way it was going to look.”
It was also during this interview that Alinsky admitted she lied about moving Gailie’s body.
Motives questioned
In a contentious cross-examination, defense attorney Demetrius Fannick argued that Williams was a trained interrogator who was assigned to the case to rip apart Alinsky’s story despite her cooperation after experiencing a traumatic event and being awake for nearly 24 hours.
Alinsky, who spent most of the interviews in a pink bathrobe, wasn’t even offered a change of clothes or a shower, Fannick said.
“You’re trained to do that nice soft tone, ‘Be a friend of mine, we’re there for you.’ You weren’t there to help her, were you?” Fannick asked Williams.
“I was there to get the facts of the investigation,” Williams said.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola noted that Alinsky voluntarily waived her rights on all of the interviews.
The prosecutor then slammed photos of Gailie’s body in front of Williams and asked the trooper if any one of the stories he got from Alinsky matched what he saw at the crime scene.
“No, sir,” Williams said.
“You may not have given her a shower or put her in a Jacuzzi tub but you read her her constitutional rights did you not?” Zola asked.
‘He just wanted out’
Gailie’s father, Frank T. Gailie, testified earlier Friday that his son told him he was sorry he got involved with Alinsky again after a brief split and he had “a couple more months to tough out” before he could leave her after their lease expired in November 2011.
“He said he was sad he got back into the relationship but other than that he just wanted out,” Frank Gailie said.
Frank Gailie described his son as a “kind and sociable” man who was trying to figure himself out, but acknowledged he often splurged on guns, radio-controlled cars and fishing gear, and worried about paying for the items after the fact.
But none of that was out of the ordinary.
“That’s how he always lived,” Frank Gailie said.
Despite spending money on the items, Matthew Gailie indicated he was getting a handle on his finances and made arrangements to work overtime at State Correctional Institution Frackville, his father said. He indicated his son never displayed suicidal thoughts or was acting depressed or anxious.
A post-mortem evaluation of Matthew Gailie by psychologist Richard Fischbein showed he lacked risk factors that would have indicated the potential for suicide. Gailie’s risk for suicide were “very, very low,” he said.
“It doesn’t appear he was crashing and burning,” Fischbein said. “It appeared he was going uphill.”
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday at 9:30 a.m.