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Trial begins in case of 36-year-old murder
Last year, police found the fingerprints of a 63-year-old man with a violent criminal past.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
DAYTON — When Perry Smith was bludgeoned in June 1971, Robert J. Sosnoskie was a traveling salesman passing through Montgomery County.
Nothing tied Sosnoskie to the area until last year, when investigators matched 17 fingerprints from Smith's ransacked home to Sosnoskie's hands, assistant county prosecutor Ward Barrentine said Tuesday, March 25, in common pleas court.
Extras
"The case simply went cold," Barrentine told jurors at Sosnoskie's murder trial, which started Tuesday.
Smith's body was found at his home in Harrison Twp. on June 19, 1971. The street, Sinclair Avenue, no longer exists.
Sosnoskie, 63, was living in Wisconsin when detectives made the computerized fingerprint match.
Sosnoskie, who keeps what's left of his hair closely trimmed, has a lengthy criminal record that includes multiple convictions for violent crimes in Florida and Indiana.
The assistant county coroner who performed Smith's autopsy, John Welsh, is too frail to testify and had to give a deposition to attorneys. The transcript was read aloud, with the lawyers reading their parts, and a sheriff's deputy reading Welsh's lines for the jury.
Welsh's testimony was that Smith, 76, died as a result of a heart attack after he was severely beaten. Smith, Welsh said, had signs of severe heart disease.
Smith's body was covered with bruises, his ribs were broken and he had hand wounds that could have been made while trying to defend himself, Welsh said.
When questioned by defense attorney Richard Nystrom, Welsh said they could have been offensive wounds.
Former sheriff's Detective Sam Mains testified that he found a metal file near Smith's body, a file that appeared to match dirt marks on the back of Smith's T-shirt.
Photos from the scene showed that Smith's house had been ransacked — drawers emptied, cupboard doors opened, a mattress and couch cushions askew.
Mains said someone could have gone through Smith's pockets, which "had been pulled out and in some cases had been ripped out."
Contact this reporter
at (937) 225-2057 or
lgrieco@DaytonDailyNews.com.
