THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090526
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Jurors have begun deliberating the fate of Derek R. ``Serf'' Barnabei, the man accused of raping and murdering an Old Dominion University student in 1993.
If convicted, the 28-year-old New Jersey high school dropout could receive the death penalty.
Prosecutors presented 58 witnesses and 212 pieces of evidence during the two-and-a-half week trial. They hoped to convince jurors that Barnabei raped, strangled and beat to death Sarah J. Wisnosky, a freshman from Lynchburg who was two weeks shy of her 18th birthday when she was killed.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for an hour Thursday before Circuit Judge William H. Rutherford dismissed them for the day.
``The defendant truly had Sarah Wisnosky under his control and power up until the bitter end,'' Commonwealth's Attorney Charles Griffith said during closing arguments.
``On Sept. 21, 1993, another side of the defendant came out to haunt (Barnabei's) housemates and especially Sarah Wisnosky,'' Griffith said. ``It's time now for justice to catch up with the defendant.''
Because there were no witnesses, the case hinges largely on DNA evidence allegedly linking Barnabei to the victim, and on other circumstantial evidence.
During the trial, prosecutors characterized Barnabei as a ``womanizer'' and a ``big shot'' who had awed a ``small-town girl'' with his smooth talking and fabricated tales. He claimed to be a Rutgers University architectural engineering graduate and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity member who had come to the area to work for his father's firm.
Barnabei had met Wisnosky on several occasions and invited her to attend several fraternity parties. Witnesses testified that she sometimes stayed overnight with him. On the night of her death, Wisnosky called her roommate and said she was with Barnabei, the roommate testified.
``There is ample evidence in this case that the defendant dominated Sarah Wisnosky,'' Griffith said. ``The defendant was a man she should have stayed away from.''
The hazel-eyed, brown-haired teen was discovered Sept. 22, 1993, by police after a passer-by walking her dog told officers that a mannequin appeared to be floating in the water. Police found Wisnosky's nude body floating face down in the Lafayette River near the near the 5000 block of Mayflower Road.
Dr. Faruk B. Presswalla, deputy chief medical examiner, testified that Wisnosky suffered from a bruised vagina and a torn anus, which was caused by some amount of ``medical force,'' and possibly through ``rough sex.''
She had been struck at least 10 times with a blunt object on the right side of her face and head. The weapon, possibly a ball peen hammer, left cuts and bruises on her face and crushed part of her skull, he said. Marks on her neck also led him to believe that she had been strangled.
When police found her body, their only clues were a high school ring she wore with her initials, a brown moccasin shoe found on the side of the river bank and a bloodstained towel.
Police later found a matching moccasin on the side porch of Barnabei's home on West 48th Street. And in his bedroom, DNA testing revealed Wisnosky's bloodstains on the walls, the headboard of Barnabei's waterbed and a surfboard Barnabei was storing for a friend.
Barnabei fled a few hours before Wisnosky's body was found after borrowing $100 each from two fraternity members. Police arrested him three months later in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where they said he was using a false name.
One of Barnabei's housemates also testified that he used a ball peen hammer to put Barnabei's waterbed together. And another former roommate testified that when Barnabei moved out of her apartment, she noticed her ball peen hammer was missing.
Barnabei, who showed little emotion during the trial, did not testify.
Only two witnesses appeared on behalf of the defense and provided little testimony.
During his closing argument, defense lawyer Danny Shipley said that his client was innocent and that prosecutors had many problems within their case.
``There is no motive for Derek Barnabei to rape Sarah Wisnosky,'' Shipley said, citing no history of physical abuse between the couple.
Shipley cited testimony from an earlier witness who said that Wisnosky had indicated that she liked anal intercourse and that she had engaged in sex with Barnabei on other occasions.
``Sarah wanted to be with Derek,'' Shipley said. ``They were lovers.'' Shipley said the evidence was largely circumstantial and police had been ``sloppy'' in their investigation.
``My client's life is at stake,'' he said. ``We have a right to demand that they cross their t's and dot their i's.''
Shipley said that the lead detective had moved a piece of evidence, police failed to dust a window screen that had been removed from Barnabei's bedroom window for prints, and a footprint on Barnabei's front porch was not investigated. Police also found 19 unidentified prints in the man's room.
``Sloppy business, that's the problem with this case,'' Shipley said. ``Someone could have climbed in that window and assaulted Sarah Wisnosky.''
Citing the area's high crime rate, Shipley presented several reports of rape, burglary and assault.
Shipley also said that his client did not flee but had planned weeks in advance to leave after fraternity brothers began asking questions. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Derek R. Barnabei
KEYWORDS: MURDER RAPE SEX CRIME TRIAL by CNB