Time taking toll on Fassett’s sister

“Until this day, I still drink tea in her mug and think of her. Sometimes at 2 in the morning, sometimes at 4 in the morning when I can’t sleep.”

MESHOPPEN – Lisa Sands knows she has to remain strong for her deceased sister, Tammy Fassett.

Sands admits it is getting harder eight years after Fassett, 37, was killed and seven years after her body was discovered buried at a Kingston Township home.

“It’s tough, I won’t lie to you,” Sands said from her home in Wyoming County.

State police and Luzerne County detectives allege Fassett, 37, and Michael Kerkowski, 37, were killed on May 3, 2002, at Kerkowski’s Hunlock Township home. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave outside a residence where Hugo Selenski, 36, resided on June 5, 2003.

Sands and her family have been waiting for justice, but her patience is wearing thin. She said she is tired of waiting for the trial that has been delayed by appeals, and lost confidence with the Luzerne County judiciary that has been scarred by corruption.

Selenski’s case has been assigned to four judges since he was charged nearly four years ago. It is currently assigned to Judge William Amesbury, who took office in January.

Sands said she is hopeful that a trial date will be set on Friday, but quick to say she is pessimistic.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a date for the trial,” Sands said. “And then we’ll get another appeal that will delay it. If a trial date is not set on Friday, you’re going to see one mad woman because I’m going to stand up and I’m going to say, ‘Why can’t we get a trial date set for this man?’”

Sands said she will never forget that last phone call with Fassett, discussing a birthday party and plans to go shopping.

“It was May 3 (2002), I talked to her at 11:30 a.m. while I was having lunch and we talked until noon; we talked about going shopping,” Sands said.

Fassett was planning to stay the weekend at Kerkowski’s home to celebrate his younger son’s birthday that weekend. Fassett was expected to pick up her youngest son the afternoon of May 3, but she failed to show, raising Sands’ concerns.

Sands kept calling Fassett’s cell phone, but was unable to reach her. Her concerns grew worse when Kerkowski’s parents, Michael and Geraldine, told her their son and Fassett were missing.

“It’s Sunday, May 5, and still no word from Tammy and by this time, I know something is wrong,” Sands said.

Sands said she met Michael and Geraldine Kerkowski at their son’s home on May 6, when she noticed her sister’s vehicle in the driveway. Fassett’s coat and mail were inside the vehicle, but Sands was unable to find her sister’s purse and keys.

While inside Kerkowski’s home, Sands said she pulled the sleeves on her coat down to cover her hands.

“I knew something was wrong … I didn’t want to touch anything,” Sands said.

Sands and the Kerkowskis filed missing persons reports with the state police at Shickshinny on May 6, 2002.

During the next 13 months, Sands said she would sit in the bay window of the Meshoppen home she and Fassett shared, sipping tea from Fassett’s favorite coffee mug, waiting for her sister to come home.

“I sat in that window until June 5, 2003,” Sands said. “Until this day, I still drink tea in her mug and think of her. Sometimes at 2 in the morning, sometimes at 4 in the morning when I can’t sleep.”

Sands said she has trouble sleeping. She began experiencing nightmares soon after a preliminary hearing in June 2006, where she decided to stay in the courtroom when prosecutors displayed photographs of the shallow grave and autopsy.

“They told us we had to leave, but as a family, we decided not to,” Sands said.

Sands said she now wishes she would have left the courtroom when the photos were shown.

Despite the delays, Sands said she has confidence in District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll, and assistant district attorneys Mike Melnick, Jarrett Ferentino and Dave Pedri. She praised county Detective Lt. Gary Capitano for being nice and open to her and her family. Musto Carroll is the lead prosecutor in the case, and is seeking the death penalty for Selenski, if convicted.

Musto Carroll said she is prohibited by a court order from making public comments about Selenski.

Sands described Paul Weakley, 40, who was charged for his alleged role in the homicides, as a coward for pleading guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to engage in racketeering in January 2008. Homicide charges that were filed against Weakley were withdrawn.

“He saved his own ass,” Sands said about Weakley, who was sentenced to life in a federal prison.

Sands said she and her family are prohibited at the time from contacting Weakley.

“Actually, we would really like for (Selenski) to come up here. There are a few of my dad’s brothers and a bunch of our cousins, and my brothers and myself personally, who would like to hang him out to dry,” Sands said.

Selenski was convicted by a Luzerne County jury in March 2006 of abusing the corpses of two men, whose remains were found at the Kingston Township home in June 2003. He was acquitted by the jury of criminal homicide, and a mistrial was declared on a second count of criminal homicide.

Selenski was sentenced to two to four years upon the conviction by the Luzerne County jury. He was convicted by a Monroe County jury in July 2009 of the violent robbery of jewelry store owner Samuel Goosay in January 2003.