NORWICH – Day four of testimony in the murder trial of Peter Wlasiuk found one witness stating that Wlasiuk, approximately a year prior to his wife’s death, explained in public how easy it would be to kill someone and make it look like an accidental drowning.

Wlasiuk is accused of killing his wife in 2002 and engineering a staged automobile accident in an effort to cover up the crime. The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office alleges that Wlasiuk killed his wife, Patricia, at their Oxford home before purposely driving or pushing his GMC pick-up truck – and Patricia’s body – into Guilford Lake on April 3, 2002.

According to Mark Loughran, attorney for the defense, Patricia drowned in Guilford Lake, and there was no motive for the alleged murder.

First charged with second degree murder in 2002, Wlasiuk has twice been convicted – in 2003 and 2008 – sentenced to serve 25 years to life in state prison. Both convictions were overturned on appeal, in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

Brenda Golden, of Mt. Upton, and a Guilford resident at the time of the alleged murder, said she had known Wlasiuk for “about three years” as of 2001. Approximately one year prior to Patricia’s death, Golden said Peter Wlasiuk, whom she called a “friendly acquaintance,” stated that “sometimes, there are people and people can be problems,” before stating how easy it would be to “kill someone and make it look like a drowning accident.”