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January 27, 2007

Morey Family: Two arrested in Fishkill murders

Drugs appear to be the primary link between the father of a slain Fishkill family and a pair of reputed cocaine and marijuana dealers arrested and charged with murder in the case, police said.

Mark S. Serrano, 29, of Fishkill, and Charles W. Gilleo Jr., 31, of Hopewell Junction, were each charged with a single count of second-degree murder in the death of Manuel “Tony” Morey, 33, authorities said at a Friday evening news conference.

More charges are expected after evidence is presented to a grand jury, beginning next week.

“We do not believe this was a random act,” said state police Maj. William Carey, head of Troop K in Millbrook. “We believe that we have the two people who are responsible for it and they’re currently behind bars.”

Authorities said forensic evidence and statements made by Serrano and Gilleo are part of the case but would not elaborate.

Morey and his wife Tina Morey, 30, were each fatally shot while two of their children were stabbed multiple times and the youngest, age 6, was killed by a blow to the head. The family was found Jan. 19 after a 3 a.m. fire in their rented Route 82 home, and police have said the blaze was intentionally set to cover up the killings.

Tony Morey’s car was found, burning and abandoned, less than a mile from the family’s home and, as it turns out, about a mile from Gilleo’s home on Oak Drive in the Town of East Fishkill.

A cousin of Tony Morey’s declined to comment on the arrests Friday night. Relatives of the Morey family have kept low profiles since the killings were discovered.

Police had described Tony Morey as a crack cocaine user and “low-level” drug dealer. State police Capt. Keith Corlett said authorities believe drugs were the key to Serrano, Gilleo and Morey’s relationship.

“They were acquaintances through their drug connection,” he said, noting the drugs in question were cocaine and marijuana. “It was a business relationship.”

Responding to a media report from earlier in the week, Cary stressed there was no evidence the Morey children — Antonio, 13, Adam, 10, and Ryan, 6 - were tortured.

“There are no indications that any of the children were tortured,” he said.

Serrano, an employee of Royal Carting in East Fishkill, was arrested at the state police barracks in Wappinger, either late Thursday night or early Friday. He had come in for another interview with state police, one of several authorities said they conducted with him, and was arrested during the course of the interview. Police said Serrano did not turn himself in.

Gilleo was arrested early Friday morning at his home, where state police spent the day executing a search warrant. At times, investigators appeared to be concentrating on a backyard area. It was one of several search warrants state police conducted Friday, they said.

Neighbors said Gilleo and Morey were friends, and often rode their all-terrain vehicles together around the neighborhood.

Serrano and Gilleo were being held without bail at the Dutchess County Jail. The suspects are expected to appear in Fishkill town court Thursday. Serrano also faces a charge of first-degree robbery, according to the jail - though authorities refused to address whether robbery played a part in the slayings.

The pair are accused of working together in the killings, Corlett said. Police would not say whether one man acted as a driver or what role either played during the night of the homicides.

“These two individuals acted together,” he said, adding it would be “difficult to say” if one or the other had a larger role.

Authorities refused to discuss a motive in the case, what evidence tied Serrano and Gilleo to the Morey family’s deaths or the chain of events leading to the grisly crime, which shocked the community and sparked an intensive investigation that will continue next week. They would not say if a weapon or weapons had been recovered, though earlier in the week state police had said they had an idea of what caliber weapon was used to shot Tony and Tina Morey.

Dutchess County District Attorney William Grady said authorities will seek to indict the pair on further charges in the coming weeks.

“This issue as to other additional counts and other victims will be in a future indictment,” Grady said.

State police would not comment on why troopers could be seen Friday picking through the rubble of the Morey family home, which was knocked down the night before. The house had been an active crime scene for nearly seven days when it was destroyed Thursday in less than an hour, after dark. The landlord had been given permission to demolish the building.

The gruesome crime shook the community and launched a weeklong, round-the-clock investigation by state police that included hundreds of leads.

“This was certainly not an average homicide,” Carey said. “The Morey family was attacked and viciously murdered within the confines of their home.”

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/NLETTER02/70126046

Posted by Nealus at January 27, 2007 04:17 PM

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