Cobra Killer (13 page)

Review of financial records for Cuadra and Kerekes quickly helped investigators make an inter-state link to activities of possible illegal money laundering, and the Internal Revenue Service was contacted as the investigation began to mirror a federal RICO probe. A RICO probe, named for federal and state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, allows federal and state prosecutors wide latitude in reviewing conspiracy and other activities involving several criminal statutes, including money laundering.

As 2007 unfolded and the investigation into the Kocis murder began, open suggestions that Cuadra and Kerekes had something to do with the case, according to Cuadra, had a
positive
effect on their escort business. “It’s been busy, it’s been crazy, it’s been crazy and ya know people are booking like extended time, ’cause they all wanna talk about (the murder case),” Cuadra said. “So I have like this BS version of it, like a Cliff Notes.”
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Claiming he was tired from his escorting work and the pressure of being under suspicion for murder, Cuadra believed as late as April 2007 (one month before he was arrested) that “We’ve survived the worst of it” and that things “can’t get any worse.”
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Kerekes said he and Cuadra were initially quite frightened of being arrested, especially after they drove by their home during the execution of the February 2007 search warrant. “Fifteen or sixteen police cars, the big black tanker truck with the gyro cam on top and a big white truck were all sitting in front of our house. We said, ‘Oh my God, how many people get to ride by their own house and see the SWAT team in there?’”
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Former detective Childress said he was present for both the February and May 2007 searches at Cuadra and Kerekes’ residence. “Their home was large and was set up like a business,” Childress said. “They had camera equipment both up and downstairs, they had a production room with a lot of computers, and they were mass producing their DVDs in their home.”
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Childress also recalls that a private room was clearly set up for in-call escort services. “It was elaborate,” he said. “They had a king-sized bed, massage table, spa and a huge shower. They had the finest alcohol and expensive cigars available for their clients. They also recorded their in-call sessions (on DVD), something I don’t know whether their clients knew or not.”
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Following the February raid, Cuadra and Kerekes were spooked and fled Virginia Beach for three months. “We got out of town, we were scared,” Kerekes said.
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The couple sold diamond rings and watches to raise cash. “We sold everything that was valuable to us, gone,” Kerekes said.
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Cuadra’s assessment that “the worst of it” was over would prove to be very wrong.

On May 15, 2007, he and Kerekes were locked in handcuffs and shackles and charged with the murder of Bryan Kocis. After his arrest, those who knew Cuadra well, including his personal attorney Barry R. Taylor, remained unconvinced that he could be a killer. “Harlow does not seem to have the character to commit a crime like this,” Taylor said.
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Once extradited to the Luzerne County Jail, Cuadra’s family and a few remaining friends kicked into gear the idea of an auction to help raise funds for his defense. Cuadra said, “For the supporters that I have, thank you for standing by me in my time of need. As for all the others, I still wish you the best in life, there are no hard feelings.”
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Cuadra took issue with online speculation going on outside the jail that he and Kerekes were open to any sort of plea agreement for the charges they faced. “There are no deals for Harlow and Joe, there haven’t been any deals for Harlow or Joe, and Harlow nor Joe will be taking any deals,” he said, noting the prosecution’s case included “to (sic.) many loopholes.”
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Cuadra’s confidence about no deals would eventually be shattered. That would come later. As the summer gave way to fall in Luzerne County and he sat out his time in an isolated jail cell, he had no reason to believe otherwise.

During his time in jail, Kerekes joined Cuadra in posting missives to a web blog via emissaries outside the jail. In a November 20, 2007 posting, Kerekes said, “I want everyone to know that I am innocent of the charges against me” and that “I was arrested for heinous crimes that I am innocent of.”
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Cuadra said his imprisonment convinced him of the need to begin to take “prayer a little more seriously,” acknowledging that letters received from his lover Kerekes indicated a growing fear that they would both spend the rest of their lives apart from one another.
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Harlow and Joe Seek a Solution

“What if Bryan left the country? What if he went to Canada?”

—Harlow Cuadra

“Harlow knows someone who would do anything for him.”

—Joseph Kerekes

Dallas Township Fire Chief Harry Vivian was still at the fire station at 8:35 P.M. on Wednesday evening, January 24, 2007, when the 911 dispatch center reported a fire very near the station on Midland Drive. It took firefighters only moments to arrive and they found flames shooting from the porch and front window of the structure.

By 9:45 P.M. as firefighters knocked down the last of the hot spots still burning, snow began to fall as Dallas Township Police officers strung a police line tape across the frontyard and street in front of the house at 60 Midland Drive. The fire ravaged the small Cape Cod style house, stretching up to the second floor and the roof of the home. As the quiet snow fell, the only noise heard over the idling fire trucks was the sound of an electrical truck setting floodlights in place on the scene so that investigators could work into the night.

On a night like this, particularly a weeknight, people in the north can normally be found inside their homes. But on Midland Drive, a handful of neighbors bundled up against the winter wind and snow, looking on as firefighters rolled up fire hoses and police and coroner investigators began the grim task of figuring out what happened.

This kind of noise and disruption was unusual for Midland Drive—a narrow paved street that climbs a small incline as it moves northwest from East Center Hill Road and ends at Fern Knoll Cemetery at the bottom of a slight incline, adjacent to the campus of Misericordia University. This kind of activity was unusual, really, for all of Dallas Township and the town of Dallas—a twenty-two square mile area of Luzerne County in the Pennsylvania foothill mountains that is home to some 15,000 residents.

The house at 60 Midland Drive was as typical as they come in Dallas. “It was quiet, nobody knew what was going on,” said neighbor Donna Yachim.
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That certainly was true on that snowy January night. Just beneath the smoldering hole that used to hold a picture window at the front of Bryan Kocis’ well-kept home was his body, slashed and burned lying curled up on a leather sofa. It was a grisly scene worse than any horror film producer could ever conjure.

The pathologist would later say that Kocis was dead before the fire was set, but none of that removed the feeling of disrespect reflected in stabbing and setting a dead man’s body on fire. By morning, detectives would have dental records from Dr. John Evans, Kocis’ dentist, who along with forensic dentist Dr. John Hosage would confirm the dead man’s identity.

Early on it was clear to investigators that Bryan Kocis’ past and his porn business were key to determining who had killed him, and why.

A challenging investigation from the start

Dallas Township Police Detective Sergeant Doug Higgins, the first detective on the scene, quickly called on the Pennsylvania State Police to come in and assist. Lieutenant Frank Hacken of the Wyoming post (later promoted to captain) responded and said the early focus of the probe was to learn as much as possible about the victim and his associates. “The victim’s past is going to lead us to solve this crime,” Hacken said. “We are definitely interested in his pornography business. We’re not stating pornography is the reason for this, but it does make it more complex.”
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State Police Corporal Leo Hannon, a veteran of more than a decade of state police investigations (who is also cross designated as a Federal Agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) summed up the challenge this way: “It was a very difficult and complex investigation for a number of reasons. Not specifically to the line of business Mr. Kocis was involved in but mainly (because) his associates were spread out over a vast geographical area. It made interviews difficult.”
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Despite growing information about their victim, police were not limiting the scope of their probe to the adult film world. A roadblock was put in place along East Center Hill Road one night after the murder, just a block away from Kocis’ home. East Center Hill Road is a major east-west thoroughfare. Police asked passers-by if they had been in the area the night before and whether they had seen anything unusual. Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers also stepped in and offered a reward of up to $2,000 for anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the murder.
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“We’re just asking that anybody who has any kind of information…whoever they may be, they may be a potential witness,” said State Police Trooper Martin Connors. “They may not even realize they’ve seen something. We need that information. No matter how insignificant something might seem, when put together with our information, it might be a case-breaker.”
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There would be few calls to police, however.

As it turned out, police were getting plenty of information on their own. “My feeling is that there wasn’t a lot of time for people to call in and say, ‘Hey, I saw this or that,’” Detective Higgins said. “By hitting the streets really hard the next morning, interviewing the family, the friends, the neighbors, we learned where Bryan would eat, where he went here, where he went there. Everyone you talked to took you someplace else. And hitting it so hard with so many investigators…meant we gathered information quickly.”
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The aggressive investigation was in place from Day One. The tiny Dallas Township Police Department, less than a mile from the crime scene and tucked into the back half of the township’s town hall, served as the central command post for investigators. The squad room would fill to capacity during investigators’ daily briefing meetings.

It was at the bustling police department where Bryan Kocis’ parents and his sister Melody went early on the morning of January 25, 2007. After watching the morning news on TV they realized the news of a house fire they were seeing reported was at the home of their loved one. They had been unable to get Bryan on the phone (unaware that he was already dead) and went to the police department looking for answers.

“They actually just showed up before we could confirm who our victim was,” Detective Higgins said. “In reality we knew who’s house it was, but we didn’t know for sure who was on the couch because nothing was confirmed yet.”
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The family was distraught, but cooperative, and eager to help investigators. They quickly helped in locating dental records for a positive identification of Bryan’s body, for example, since burn injuries to his body were so severe to his fingers and hands, fingerprint identification was impossible.
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The two Midland Drive neighbors who knew Bryan best, Michael and Nancy Parsons, did not arrive home from a trip to Florida until several hours after the fire was put out. As they drove up their normally quiet street after a long drive home, the crime scene unfolding at Kocis’ house next door shocked them.

Other neighbors on Midland Drive provided key bits of information. At least two neighbors reported that minutes before they saw the fire bursting through the front of Kocis’ home, they saw a “light colored” SUV back out of the driveway and drive away.

Los Angeles-based attorney John R. Yates, Jr. was also talking to police and reporters. Investigators had already uncovered Yates’ name and the names of his clients, including Sean Lockhart and Grant Roy, and were beginning to untangle the lengthy legal dispute the men had fought with Kocis. Yates described his clients as “shocked” to learn of Kocis’ death and told the
Citizens Voice
that “Various law enforcement officers have been in touch with me. My clients are fully cooperating with police.”
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Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski, Jr. had already granted a police request to seize all cell phone, home phone, voice mails, text messages and e-mail records attached to Kocis. The police request was specifically focused on Kocis’ communications during the week of January 18-25, 2007.

Did desperate people seek desperate solutions?

It’s said desperate people and desperate acts are not often far apart. That is one explanation for the “solution” investigators believe Harlow Cuadra and Joe Kerekes hatched for their problems at the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. But such a simplistic take leaves out a great deal of what has been revealed about the pairing of Harlow and Joe.

There is no question life had become increasingly difficult for the couple as 2006 drew to an end. In Kerekes’ own words, the couple had a spending habit that required them to bring in as much as $3,900 a day in income.
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