MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) – A Wausau man will go on trial this week on charges he staged his mother’s drowning last year so he could collect more than $1 million in life insurance.
Chase Boruch’s trial will begin with jury selection tomorrow in Merrill. Prosecutors could give their opening statements as early as tomorrow afternoon.
Boruch’s mother, 63-year-old Sally Pergolski, died June 6, 2010 along the shore of Moraine Lake. An autopsy found mild features of drowning, including fluid in Pergolski’s lungs. But forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Corliss “did not find any information to suggest that Pergolski’s death was due to natural causes,” a criminal complaint said.
Instead, as Corliss testified at a preliminary hearing in February, he found evidence of a brain injury that Pergolski suffered at least two hours before she died. He said that type of injury would have immediately rendered someone unconscious.
Boruch said he picked his mother up early that morning from her Wausau home to go fishing. He said he got sick and had her drive. The next thing Boruch remembered was nearly crashing into the lake. He eventually pulled Pergolski from the truck and dragged her to shore where she died.
But sheriff’s deputies testified at the preliminary hearing in February that there were inconsistencies with Boruch’s story. Deputy Andy VanderWyst said it looked like the pickup truck had made a controlled descent “based on the turns that were made and the fact that there were tread marks from the tires, instead of skid marks or slide marks.”
Deputies at the crime scene also said the truck had its front tires in the water and back tires on the bank of the lake. The truck was tilted with about two to three feet of water covering the passenger side seat cushion. The driver’s side was mostly dry. And the driver’s side window was open.
One key witness will not even testify in person. Lincoln County Judge Glenn Hartley will allow prosecutors to use a videotaped deposition of medical technologist Elizabeth Erhardt because she will be out of the country.
Erhardt will testify that Pergolski told her during a physical exam for a life insurance policy the month before she died that she “did not understand why she needed an insurance policy and that her son had purchased the policy for her.”
Hartley has also ruled that prosecutors can use a copy of Pergolski’s will that police found and maps of lakes in the area to build their case against Boruch.
Detectives also found at least three separate life insurance policies that were issued less than a month before Pergolski’s death. Boruch was listed as the sole beneficiary.
