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Posted on 09/27/2007 3:18:25 PM PDT by decimon
INDIANA, Pa. -- Going through a bitter divorce, Dr. John Yelenic had a feeling that someone he knew would try to have him killed.
On Thursday, more than a year since the dentist's death shocked his small Indiana County neighborhood, a statewide grand jury investigation alleged that Yelenic's fears were right.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Kevin Foley, who investigators say was dating Yelenic's estranged wife, has been charged with homicide by Attorney General Tom Corbett's office. He is being held in the county prison with no bail.
"It is extremely difficult to have to arrest a member of the law enforcement community, but as in any case, we follow the evidence wherever it leads," said Corbett, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Yelenic, 39, was found dead inside his Blairsville home on South Spring Street on April 13, 2006, after what police said appeared to be a violent struggle.
At the time, Foley, 42, of Indiana, was working criminal investigations at the state police barracks in Indiana. Not long after the killing, he was put on restricted duty and moved to the Holidaysburg barracks.
The grand jury investigation found that Foley "had a well-known hatred for Dr. Yelenic" and often talked about it, Corbett said.
Foley had no visible injuries when he left a hockey game at Center Ice Arena in Salem Township around midnight on April 12, 2006, Corbett said. The next day -- after Yelenic had died -- Foley was seen with a fresh gash over one eye and a scratch below it, Corbett said.
Surveillance video at two businesses showed that a vehicle matching Foley's was near Yelenic's home around the time Yelenic was killed, Corbett said.
Bloody shoeprints found at the scene came from an Asics sneaker -- which is a brand that Foley often bought via the company's discount program for police, according to the grand jury.
A fellow trooper testified to the grand jury that Foley began wearing a different brand of running shoes after Yelenic's death.
Also, state police investigators found a sample under Yelenic's fingernail that matched Foley's DNA, according to the grand jury.
Yelenic had offered to pay his attorney to investigate in the event that he was found dead because he was sure that his wife, Michelle, was going to have him killed by her state trooper boyfriend, according to the grand jury indictment.
"The victim felt that because of Kevin Foley's influence, his murder would be covered up," an affidavit said.
Police said Yelenic was found dead the day before he was supposed to sign and notarize papers to finalize divorce proceedings that began in 2002.
Even after the death, Yelenic's family tried to go through with the divorce, saying it's what the doctor would have wanted. However, Judge Carol Hanna denied the request, and a state appeals court later upheld her decision.
John Yelenic's attorney told the grand jury that Michelle Yelenic stood to lose $2,800 a month in support once the couple's divorce was finalized and stood to gain $1 million in life insurance if John Yelenic died.
For a while, the couple shared custody of their son, until Michele Yelenic accused John Yelenic of molesting the boy. Those charges were later deemed unfounded.
Michele Yelenic also filed a protection from abuse order in 2005.
State and Blairsville police handed the murder investigation over to the attorney general's office when it was discovered that Michelle Yelenic was romantically involved with Foley.
Michele Yelenic has not commented publicly on the Foley charges. No charges have been filed against her.
It's unclear if Foley has an attorney yet.
Definitely the work of an antidentite.
I work in the Indiana Co. Courthouse. Quite a day there today!
Must have been. Did you notice any legal counsel with him?
Almost sounds like of the plots in the movie, “The Whole Nine Yards.”
I figured a patient just got loose from the leather bindings.
I didn’t leave my office. Too busy. Couldn’t tell you about the legal counsel, but the place was abuzz.
What a btich!
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Maybe the trooper would have killed her in time.
I think he’ll rat. No honor among criminals.
bump
And the false molestation charges are something we’re seeing more and more in divorces. It used to be you hardly ever saw a false charge . . . now we see them all the time. It’s almost become a boilerplate allegation in a divorce petition.
calling Ann Rule!
Why is that? Why is it any harder to arrest one criminal suspect than another? Are some people more equal than others?
Yep. It’s more the person than who they are married to. Whatever they do to the first, they are likely to do to the next.
Put him in with the general population.
I wouldn't come down on them for how they feel about it. As long as they do it, that is.
Why did the Trooper hate the Doctor?
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