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“Take that smile off your face!” Witness Snaps At Selenski

WILKES-BARRE — “Take that smile off your face!” That’s what a witness snapped on the stand, looking straight at accused killer Hugo Sele...

WILKES-BARRE -- "Take that smile off your face!"

That's what a witness snapped on the stand, looking straight at accused killer Hugo Selenski.

It was how the testimony started for the mother of Michael Kerkowski, one of Selenski's alleged victims.

The jury heard testimony from several witnesses who seemed to be outlining a motive for why Hugo Selenski allegedly murdered Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett in 2002.

One of those witnesses was the mother of Michael Kerkowski.

'Take that smile off your face!'

Those were the words Geraldine Kerkowski said directly to Hugo Selenski, the man accused of killing her son Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend Tammy Fassett in 2002. Their bodies were found the following year buried outside Selenski's home in the back mountain of Luzerne County.

Mrs. Kerkowski told jurors that Selenski and her son were close. She testified that at one point her son told her, "I trust him, whatever he asks for give him, because he's going to help me."

Agent Robert Melnick with the state attorney general's office testified that Michael Kerkowski was facing prison time for drug charges in Wyoming County and that he had more than $800,000 in cash.

Another witness testified that Selenski knew about Kerkowski's money and his legal problems, even going so far as to support Kerkowski at some of his court appearances.

Prosecutors contend that Selenski then formed a plan to rob and kill Michael Kerkowski while making it look as though Kerkowski had fled the area to avoid going to prison.

Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett disappeared in May 2002.

Kerkowski's mother testified that over the next several months, Selenski kept her believing that her son was alive and scammed her and her husband out of $100,000 that he told them was for their son.

She testified he kept her believing her son was alive for several months and constantly asking for money that he said was for Michael.

But in a highly emotional moment on the stand, Mrs. Kerkowski testified about the betrayal she felt when she found out where Michael actually was.

She testified that in July of 2003 her husband told her, "They found Michael's body. I said 'where?' They said 'in Hugo Selenski's back yard.'"

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