The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
http://www.filipinoreporter.com/archive/3347/index.html
Tolarba owns up to grisly murder
GUILTY ADMISSION: Filipino handyman Charles Tolarba (c.) is
led in handcuffs by police investigators after confessing to
killing his girlfriend Mary Jane Leman and burying her
body in concrete. (Photo by Jeremy Sparig)
By EDMUND M. SILVESTRE
A 43-year-old Filipino handyman was arrested and jailed after reportedly confessing to killing his girlfriend in Brooklyn after a violent fight with her over another woman he was involved in, and then burying her battered corpse in concrete in Manhattan.
Charles Tolarba was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Mary Jane Leman, 41, as well as first-degree assault and tampering with evidence.
Leman has been missing since Oct. 17.
Police said Tolarba directed the police to an apartment building in Harlem, where they dug up around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 a body that had been wrapped in a plastic bag and buried in the windowless boiler room enclosed by stone walls in the subbasement.
Authorities say the incident has shades of the case of Filipino-American financial analyst Maria Pilar Cruz, whose body was allegedly buried in concrete in a Newark, N.J. garage by fake doctor Dean Faiello, shortly after Cruz died during a botched surgery in 2003. Cruz's body was discovered over a year later.
Faiello is now in jail and is awaiting murder trial.
A police source told a reporter that Tolarba feigned heartache before confessing to slaying Leman, a mother of five.
He was sitting there like a total gentleman, like he was concerned for her well-being, said a police source familiar with the investigation.
But after 10 hours of questioning, Tolarba broke down and told cops in detail how he beat Leman to death in her Brighton Beach apartment, a police source said. The attack followed an argument over Tolarba's other girlfriend, the source said.
Tolarba allegedly stuffed Leman's body into a garbage bag, drove it to a Sugar Hill brownstone at 536 West 150th Street, which is owned by the mother of Toralba's other girlfriend, Antonia Sanders, and where Sanders live.
Tolarba then dumped Leman's body in the building's unfinished basement. He poured concrete over the corpse, smoothed it over and neatly placed carpeting over the woman's body, police sources said.
Police haven't said if Sanders played any role in Leman's death, but she has not been charged.
Tolarba, who shared a basement apartment with Leman in Brighton Beach, used Sanders' sport-utility vehicle to transport Leman's body to Manhattan from Brooklyn.
Relatives of Leman claim Tolarba tormented her for months - once attacking her with a power drill and a metal hook. They said the abuse was so brutal that when Leman went missing about two weeks ago, her family immediately suspected Tolarba had killed her.
"I asked him what he did with the body," said Leman's brother, John Mick, 54, recalling a confrontation with Tolarba about a week ago.
Mick said Tolarba denied any wrongdoing and replied, "I'm looking for her, too. I didn't kill her. I love her."
Tolarba, who had no previous arrest history, appeared composed at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Catalano said the suspect admitted that he "repeatedly struck and kicked Leman and shoved her into a wall" in the fatal attack.
A Filipino immigrant, Tolarba has been in the U.S. 30 years, according to his legal aid attorney Susan Litts.
Aside from being a handyman, he is also a construction worker and makes a good living, according to police.
Leman's brother-in-law, Mike Schiller, said he warned Leman about Tolarba. "I told her he was going to kill her," said Schiller, adding that Leman had a black eye from a beating in July. "She said, 'Maybe he will.'"
Leman never filed a protective order, never called the cops and asked her relatives not to intervene.
"Her pain is over now," Schiller said. "Hopefully, his will begin now. I hope he suffers for the rest of his life."
Tolarba and Leman, both fixtures in Brighton Beach, had dated when they were teenagers. They got back together about two years ago after separating from their spouses.
News of Leman's grisly death quickly reached Macungie, Pennsylvania, where her five children, ages 16 to 21, and her estranged husband, Charles Leman, live.
Tolarba owns up to grisly murder
GUILTY ADMISSION: Filipino handyman Charles Tolarba (c.) is
led in handcuffs by police investigators after confessing to
killing his girlfriend Mary Jane Leman and burying her
body in concrete. (Photo by Jeremy Sparig)
By EDMUND M. SILVESTRE
A 43-year-old Filipino handyman was arrested and jailed after reportedly confessing to killing his girlfriend in Brooklyn after a violent fight with her over another woman he was involved in, and then burying her battered corpse in concrete in Manhattan.
Charles Tolarba was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Mary Jane Leman, 41, as well as first-degree assault and tampering with evidence.
Leman has been missing since Oct. 17.
Police said Tolarba directed the police to an apartment building in Harlem, where they dug up around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 a body that had been wrapped in a plastic bag and buried in the windowless boiler room enclosed by stone walls in the subbasement.
Authorities say the incident has shades of the case of Filipino-American financial analyst Maria Pilar Cruz, whose body was allegedly buried in concrete in a Newark, N.J. garage by fake doctor Dean Faiello, shortly after Cruz died during a botched surgery in 2003. Cruz's body was discovered over a year later.
Faiello is now in jail and is awaiting murder trial.
A police source told a reporter that Tolarba feigned heartache before confessing to slaying Leman, a mother of five.
He was sitting there like a total gentleman, like he was concerned for her well-being, said a police source familiar with the investigation.
But after 10 hours of questioning, Tolarba broke down and told cops in detail how he beat Leman to death in her Brighton Beach apartment, a police source said. The attack followed an argument over Tolarba's other girlfriend, the source said.
Tolarba allegedly stuffed Leman's body into a garbage bag, drove it to a Sugar Hill brownstone at 536 West 150th Street, which is owned by the mother of Toralba's other girlfriend, Antonia Sanders, and where Sanders live.
Tolarba then dumped Leman's body in the building's unfinished basement. He poured concrete over the corpse, smoothed it over and neatly placed carpeting over the woman's body, police sources said.
Police haven't said if Sanders played any role in Leman's death, but she has not been charged.
Tolarba, who shared a basement apartment with Leman in Brighton Beach, used Sanders' sport-utility vehicle to transport Leman's body to Manhattan from Brooklyn.
Relatives of Leman claim Tolarba tormented her for months - once attacking her with a power drill and a metal hook. They said the abuse was so brutal that when Leman went missing about two weeks ago, her family immediately suspected Tolarba had killed her.
"I asked him what he did with the body," said Leman's brother, John Mick, 54, recalling a confrontation with Tolarba about a week ago.
Mick said Tolarba denied any wrongdoing and replied, "I'm looking for her, too. I didn't kill her. I love her."
Tolarba, who had no previous arrest history, appeared composed at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Catalano said the suspect admitted that he "repeatedly struck and kicked Leman and shoved her into a wall" in the fatal attack.
A Filipino immigrant, Tolarba has been in the U.S. 30 years, according to his legal aid attorney Susan Litts.
Aside from being a handyman, he is also a construction worker and makes a good living, according to police.
Leman's brother-in-law, Mike Schiller, said he warned Leman about Tolarba. "I told her he was going to kill her," said Schiller, adding that Leman had a black eye from a beating in July. "She said, 'Maybe he will.'"
Leman never filed a protective order, never called the cops and asked her relatives not to intervene.
"Her pain is over now," Schiller said. "Hopefully, his will begin now. I hope he suffers for the rest of his life."
Tolarba and Leman, both fixtures in Brighton Beach, had dated when they were teenagers. They got back together about two years ago after separating from their spouses.
News of Leman's grisly death quickly reached Macungie, Pennsylvania, where her five children, ages 16 to 21, and her estranged husband, Charles Leman, live.
