NY NY - Amanda Wienckowski, 20, Buffalo, 5 Dec 2008

[Hilda Swenson]

(02/03/2011)

Two years after her death, Amanda Wienckowski's family creeps closer to finding answers

Every day, Leslie Brill confronts a nightmare that has haunted her for more than two years. Every day she reconstructs the heartbreaking circumstances of her daughter’s death, informed by the facts that are available to her, and the gaps in her understanding filled by the often dreadful workings of her imagination.

In the two years since the body of her 20-year-old daughter, Amanda Wienckowski, was found naked and frozen in a garbage tote outside the New Covenant Church on the corner of Clinton and Spring Streets, Brill and her family have pushed relentlessly for Buffalo and Erie County law enforcement either to undertake a serious investigation of Amanda’s death or to release information to the family so they can investigate on their own.

continue here: http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n5/amanda_wienckowski

 

[Hilda Swenson]

01/09/2013
Vigil for Amanda Wienckowsk
http://buffalo.ynn.com/content/top_stories/628903/vigil-for-amanda-wienckowski/


Chasing the sordid story of Amanda Wienckowski's death
http://tinyurl.com/b5uex5a


Amanda Lynn's Law
http://www.wgrz.com/rss/article/170153/37/Seeking-Justice-For-Amanda-Wienckowski

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Man connected to cold case in hot seat
Updated: Thursday, 04 Oct 2012

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/men-accused-of-terrifying-robbery

 

[Hilda Swenson]

1/28/2013

Dispute in cause of Wienckowski death reaches Council
BY: LOU MICHEL / NEWS STAFF REPORTER

 

[Hilda Swenson]

The Buffalo News

It’s long past time to determine how Amanda L. Wienckowski died four years ago.

The 20-year-old was either strangled or died of a drug overdose, depending on which autopsy you believe. That unbelievable discrepancy should be settled by an independent inquiry. Doing so would not only help a grieving family, it would answer questions about how evidence is evaluated in Erie County. Also, if it is determined that she was strangled, a murder investigation can get under way.

Two new experts now dispute the original autopsy results, which listed the cause of death as a drug overdose. A respected out-of-town pathologist says that Wienckowski did not have enough morphine in her blood to cause her death. A local ear, nose and throat specialist says that a fractured bone and broken cartilage in her throat indicate that she was strangled.

Wienckowski’s body was found Jan. 9, 2009, upside down in a garbage tote outside a church at Clinton and Spring streets on Buffalo’s East Side, across the street from the home of Antoine J. Garner. He was the last person known to have seen her alive and has been described by authorities as “a person of interest” in the death.

Garner is standing trial in an unrelated case in which he is accused of choking and assaulting a prostitute.

<modsnip>

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

Fascinating case. lots of visual aids. I thought she was found soon after she became missing. Than I read this..........Amanda Wienckowski disappeared December 5, 2008. Her body was found January 9, 2009. (photo courtesy of Wienckowski Family)...........so where was she?

27 minute interview with main suspect at this link...at about 1250 or so he said homicide and the reporter corrects him with overdose..could have been a Freudian slip.
http://http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/notebooks/Full-interview-with-Antoine-Garner

Thinking about this case

Do I think he did it?
Right now I am 50/50
The balance beam of suspicion.
If I had to answer yes or no right now I would say NO.
​

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Fascinating case. lots of visual aids. I thought she was found soon after she became missing. Than I read this..........Amanda Wienckowski disappeared December 5, 2008. Her body was found January 9, 2009. (photo courtesy of Wienckowski Family)...........so where was she?

27 minute interview with main suspect at this link...at about 1250 or so he said homicide and the reporter corrects him with overdose..could have been a Freudian slip.
http://http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/notebooks/Full-interview-with-Antoine-Garner

Thinking about this case

Do I think he did it?
Right now I am 50/50
The balance beam of suspicion.
If I had to answer yes or no right now I would say NO.
​

She was found head first in a garbage tote next to a church on the east side of Buffalo in the dead of winter. That's the first thing a person does after overdosing on drugs :doh:

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Buffalo Common Council Items of Interest February 5, 2013

The Council adopted a resolution, sponsored by Ellicott District Council Member Darius G. Pridgen, requesting that the Erie County Legislature call for a hearing to fully investigate the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office. As a result of the controversies regarding the death of Amanda Wienckowski, the Council's Legislation Committee heard testimonies from Amanda's friends and family on how unprofessionally the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office handled Amanda's autopsy. The Council, in conjunction with the family's wishes, seeks the facts behind Amanda's autopsy in order to finalize the real cause of her death so that law enforcement can pursue the case immediately and bring the guilty parties to justice. In addition, the Council adopted another resolution requesting that the Erie County Legislature expeditiously conduct a full and thorough investigation of the Erie County Medical Examiner's office to ensure that proper protocol was followed with Amanda's initial autopsy as well as with respect to challenged autopsy findings.

Jury convicts Garner of strangulation

Garner’s trial has taken on a higher profile because Garner also is considered a “person of interest” by police in the unrelated but mysterious death of Amanda L. Wienckowski.

Four years ago, Wienckowski’s frozen body was found upside down in a garbage tote outside a church at Clinton and Spring streets on the city’s East Side, across the street from the home of Garner.

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Breaking silence in Wienckowski's death

A just-retired Buffalo homicide detective who investigated the death of Amanda Wienckowski is breaking his silence about the troubling case of the young woman whose frozen body was found stuffed inside a garbage tote in 2009, revealing publicly for the first time that he and fellow investigators never agreed with the Erie County Medical Examiner&#8217;s determination that Wienckowski died of a drug overdose.

They believed the most likely scenario was that a large person accidentally choked the petite, 20-year-old Kenmore woman during a paid sexual encounter, retired Buffalo Homicide Detective Mark J. Lauber said.

Previously, Lauber had not been allowed to speak to reporters because of Buffalo Police Department policy.

But now that he has retired, he talked to The Buffalo News to clear up &#8220;misinformation&#8221; about the case and to show that police thoroughly investigated the case.

&#8220;We realized right away the cause of death was not from a lethal amount of opiates for someone who used heroin every day,&#8221; Lauber said.

 

[Hilda Swenson]

County attorney advice noted in Wienckowski dispute
Law bans appearance by medical examiner


Despite repeated requests for Vertes to make a public appearance and explain how she concluded Wienckowski died from an accidental drug overdose, County Attorney Michael A. Siragusa told Vertes a state law governing county medical examiners prohibits that from happening.

&#8220;Your office can only discuss findings to the district attorney or ... the personal representative, spouse or next of kin of the deceased. There is no provision permitting the release of autopsy information to a county legislative body,&#8221; Siragusa wrote, adding that only under a court order would the release be allowable.

County Legislature Chairwoman Betty Jean Grant, D-Buffalo, had pushed for Vertes to appear before the Legislature&#8217;s Health and Human Services Committee last week because of the continued controversy surrounding the 20-year-old Wienckowski&#8217;s death.

Four years ago, her frozen body was found stuffed upside down in a garbage tote outside a church at Clinton and Spring streets, across the street from the home of Antoine J. Garner. The Kenmore native had gone to Garner&#8217;s home for a paid sexual encounter in December 2008, then disappeared, according to authorities.

<modsnip>

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Strangulation Cause of Death

 

[MDATCA]

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/man-with-criminal-history-to-learn-fate

 

[Hilda Swenson]

link here

By Matt Gryta | News Staff Reporter

on January 9, 2014 - 9:54 PM

The family of the late Amanda L. Wienckowski on Thursday filed a $100 million fraud suit against Erie County officials, claiming the investigation into her death was handled improperly.

The suit names District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III, his office, the Erie County Medical Examiner&#8217;s Office and retired chief county medical examiner Dianne R. Vertes.

About two dozen of Wienckowski&#8217;s relatives and friends gathered in frigid weather Thursday evening outside the Kenmore Community Center off Mang Avenue to renew their demands for justice in what they contend was her murder five years ago.

The 20-year-old Kenmore native&#8217;s body was found frozen inside a trash receptacle on the morning of Jan. 9, 2009, outside a church at Spring and Clinton streets in Buffalo.


email: mgryta@buffnews.com

 

[Hilda Swenson]

article here

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) - A California Doctor says the autopsy she conducted, has determined Wienckowski was Murdered.

She was found dead in a garbage tote on January 9th of 2009 .

Since then, no one has been arrested or charged with her death.

County Officials determined it was a drug overdose. However, her family did not believe that was the case and never gave up.

They hired Private Investigators who linked up with Dr. Silvia Comparini, a Forensic Pathologist from California.

An autopsy she conducted found evidence of strangulation and blunt force trauma to Amanda's body.

Click the link for more.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://buffalo.twcnews.com/content/news/742949/balloons-released-in-memory-of-amanda-wienckowski-on-her-birthday/

Family and friends of Amanda Wienckowski came together Monday evening to celebrate what would have been her 25th birthday. They released balloons and made signs for the occasion...

Family members say they are still pushing for the passage of Amanda's Law, which would call for felony charges for the disposal of a body. That bill passed the Assembly and state Senate and now is on the governor's desk for consideration.

 

[hot cawfeee]

can the dna be rerun????? there were two unidentified men and two unidentified women.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://buffalo.twcnews.com/content/...ckowski-hold-vigil-at-kenmore-park/?ap=1&MP4/

Loved ones of Amanda Wienckowski, who died six years ago, gathered Friday at Mang Park in Kenmore to again call for justice.

 

[StarrChance]

Seven years after Amanda Wienckowski’s frozen body was found in a garbage tote outside a church on Buffalo’s East Side, her mother says a witness has come forward claiming to have information about her daughter’s death.

Leslie Brill Meserole said that Thomas Woodman has told her that he saw Wienckowski’s body, still warm, in Antoine Garner’s apartment on Spring Street and later frozen inside a tote. He told her that Garner asked him to help him dispose of the body, threatening to harm him if he told anyone.

What’s more, Woodman told her that Garner said Wienckowski “got what she deserved.”

Meserole believes Woodman’s information and other information she has gleaned from police reports she obtained under court order strengthen her long-held belief that Garner killed her daughter and then tried to hide the crime by removing her body from his home.

Woodman showed up unexpectedly at her City of Tonawanda home on Jan. 9, Meserole said. Woodman said he did not come forward earlier because he was fearful of Garner but wanted to speak that day, on the seventh anniversary of when her daughter’s body was found, because he was haunted by her death, she said.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-reg...amanda-wienckowskis-mysterious-death-20160123

I hope this Garner is tried for her death so he never has chance for parole!

 

[amandasmom]

Hello everyone. My name is Leslie. I'm Amanda's mom. This is the first forum I've ever joined.

I wanted to thank you all for your interest in Amanda's case. I've been fighting the Buffalo Police, the Erie County District Attorney, and the Erie County Medical Examiner's office for 12 years now. They still refuse to do the right thing.

This year, my friend Gavin uncovered a new piece to this puzzle. The ME said Amanda died of a opiate overdose. But there wasn't any opiate metabolites in my daughter's system, per the toxicology report. So, it's impossible for her to have overdosed.

Also, we think we've found something else in the autopsy photos. There are two wounds on Amanda's face that look like they were made by a stun gun. The only way to know for sure is to exhume her again and test the skin around the wounds.

I'll keep you up to date on those two things.

 

[amandasmom]

can the dna be rerun????? there were two unidentified men and two unidentified women.

The ME's office won't tell me if they still have enough of the DNA on file to rerun it. We'd also like them to rerun it in the way that it can be used for genetic genealogy so we can try to identify the unknown people. See the attachment for how the DNA breaks out that was on or in Amanda.