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WILKES-BARRE — The stench was unlike any Colette DiFrancesco had come across.
The Carbon County resident, testifying Thursday in the fourth day of Eleazar Yisrael’s homicide trial, described the foul odor she encountered near her Albrightsville home on Sept. 5, 2015, telling jurors “it was a very strong, sour smell.”
The next day, investigators identified the source: The rotted remains of the man Yisrael is accused of shooting in the back with his own rifle.
Yisrael, 31, of W. 10th St., Hazleton, allegedly murdered 52-year-old Samuel Vacante Aug. 31, 2015, inside the garage of his Drums home before storing the body in the trunk of Vacante’s car and dumping it in a clearing in Penn Forest Township, where it deteriorated for days until the smell caught DiFrancesco’s attention.
“It was a smell I’ve never smelled before,” she told the Luzerne County jury.
The officer who responded to DiFrancesco’s 911 call, Pennsylvania State Trooper Craig Dadurka, noted scores of turkey vultures surrounded the area where he came upon the remains.
Jurors were shown a blown up photograph of the trooper’s finding: Vacante’s badly decomposed body balled up and wrapped inside a brown and tan tent. Yisrael looked on as several other gruesome photos depicting the deteriorated condition of Vacante’s remains and portions of his autopsy were displayed on a large projection screen in the courtroom.
One gruesome image showed a closeup of Vacante’s skull, overrun with maggots and devoid of nearly all its skin. The advanced decomposition indicated the body had been dumped days before it was found, investigators said.
As Yisrael’s trial continued Thursday, forensic evidence continued to mount against the murder suspect.
Floyd Bowen, a state police fingerprint examiner, told jurors Yisrael’s right thumb print was taken off the license plate of Vacante’s white 2014 Kia Cadenza. Investigators previously testified the plate was found in the trunk of the vehicle, discovered about two blocks from Yisrael’s residence with its vehicle identification number scribbled out by a black marker.
Several black markers were located in Yisrael’s residence and a key fob found tucked behind a speaker in his bedroom belonged to Vacante’s Kia, investigators previously testified.
Other witnesses Thursday corroborated video evidence of a white car near the location where Vacante’s body was found and at a gas station in Blakeslee.
Donna Neumane, of Stony Mountain Road, Albrightsville, said the surveillance system outside her home captured a white car driving by the day of Vacante’s murder. However, Yisrael’s attorneys, Allyson Kacmarski and Mary Deady, noted the make and model were impossible to discern and said anyone could have been behind the wheel.
Ivan Biksey, a technician who installed the video surveillance system at Choice gas station on Blakeslee Corners, took the stand as prosecutors played multiple recordings of a white vehicle arriving at the location. A man wearing a dark shirt and camouflage pants can be seen exiting the car, entering a store at the gas station, and returning to the vehicle.
Both videos were recorded the day Vacante was gunned down.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross testified a single .22-caliber bullet entered Vacante’s back and was lodged in his spine. An entry wound was visible on Vacante’s back and clothing. Prosecutors allege a pillow, found with Vacante’s remains, was used to muzzle the sound of the fatal gun blast.
The investigation into Vacante’s murder began after the victim’s estranged wife, Lisa Vacante, called Butler Township police on Aug. 31, 2015, to report Vacante missing.
According to testimony, Lisa Vacante and Yisrael were in a romantic relationship prior to Samuel Vacante’s death and were at odds over possession of their home. It’s unclear whether Yisrael or Lisa Vacante will take the witness stand.
Prosecutors, who have called 30 witnesses and presented more than 250 exhibits since the trial began Monday, will continue presenting their case Friday morning. The trial is expected to last into late next week.