What a sweet couple..

[Steff]

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/art...4488126,00.html

 

 

Investigators: Suspects Responsible for Killing Spree

By Anu Prakash & Michael Rosenfield

Web produced by Sarah Morgan

February 22, 2006

 

Wednesday, investigators laid out the evidence against the man and woman who are responsible for a killing spree. The suspects were being held in the Genesee County Jail and will be taken to Macomb County for their arraignment on Thursday.

 

A few months prior to her murder, Melissa Berels met Patrick Selepak while working at VG’s supermarket. Police said Selepak befriended Melissa and would stop by the store to visit her. The two were even spotted talking in a field outside her home.

 

New Baltimore Police Chief John Bolgar said, "She was very trusting, she was a very kinds person and as a result of this, Patrick used that to his advantage and his fiancés."

 

Police believe Selepak and his fiancée Samantha Bachynski murdered Melissa and her husband Scott Berels to make their own lives easier.

 

Police said the couple was suffocated and the suspects attempted to kill Scott by injecting bleach into his veins. He was also beaten with an AK-47.

 

Money was not taken from the Berels’ home, but police believe the suspects had a plan.

 

"We’re not sure what all their financial interests were in this. It was mainly financial and to make their lives comfortable," said Chief Bolgar.

 

After the murder police found a receipt in the Berels’ home that showed Samantha Bachynski had purchased duct tape at a nearby CVS.

 

Police released the surveillance video from the store and a tip lead police to her and eventually to Patrick Selepak.

 

After allegedly killing the Berels, the two suspects partied in Flint, eventually befriending a 53-year-old man at bar on Saturday.

 

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said, "It was part of a plan that they would take advantage of a vulnerable adult, a vulnerable person. Mr. Johnson was very kind to them, he purchased things for them."

 

The man invited the suspects to stay at his home, but soon recognized the two as being wanted for murder.

 

Tuesday morning, as he tried to escape, the suspects shot him with a riffle they had stolen during an armed robbery at Dunham’s Discount Sports in Flint.

 

Police said the suspects strangled him and then wrapped his body in plastic and put it in the back of his blue pickup truck where he froze.

 

The couple then headed to Owosso, where they picked up a female acquaintance and drove her to a job interview at a hotel in Owosso. The woman became suspicious and called police from inside the hotel, ending the couple’s crime spree.

 

Police said they would not be surprised if more victims were found in the future calling the suspects "extremely violent individuals."

 

Timeline of the crime spree:

- A hand gun was stolen from the Gibraltar Trade Center in Mt. Clemens.

- Last Monday, two automatic assault riffles were stolen from Dunham’s in Flint.

- Last Thursday, Scott and Melissa Berels were found dead in their New Baltimore home.

- Tuesday, police found Patrick Selepak and Samantha Bachynski in a pick-up truck in Owosso. There was a body in the back of the truck.

- Police traced the pick-up truck to a home in Vienna Township.