Cabbie says partner One of two men charged with bludgeoning a taxicab owner to death with a sledgehammer and stabbing him repeatedly with a hunting knife says he is being wrongfully blamed for the 1999 murder.
trying to frame
him for murder
The pair were arrested in the
1999 killing of the man from
whom they rented their cabsBy Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comKeith Murauskas, 45, contends his friend Edward Wallace Martin realized he could not get away with murder and shifted the blame to save himself and obtain a deal from prosecutors, said Keith Shigetomi, Murauskas' attorney.
Murauskas went on trial yesterday on charges of second-degree murder, attempted first- and second-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of Paul Salazar on April 5, 1999.
He faces life without the possibility of parole if convicted of killing Salazar, 33, and attempting to kill Salazar's wife, Virginia, at the couple's Magellan Avenue home.
Salazar owned several taxis and had rented one each to Murauskas and Martin weekly. At the time of his murder, the two owed a substantial amount of money to Salazar for back rent.
Martin has admitted striking Salazar in the head with the sledgehammer about eight times and has said Murauskas told him to wait for Salazar's wife until she got home and kill her, too.
Martin has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and second-degree murder and is expected to testify against Murauskas.
Money apparently was the motive for Salazar's slaying, said Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter.
According to Martin, he and Murauskas devised the plan to kill and rob Salazar. Murauskas came up with the idea to trick the taxicab owner into letting them into his apartment, kill and rob him and his wife, then steal the couple's cars, Van Marter said.
Murauskas provided equipment -- including hacksaws, a sledgehammer, a hunting knife, trash bags and duct tape -- to be used to dismember and dispose of the Salazars' bodies, Van Marter said.
Unable to open Salazar's safe, Murauskas bashed Salazar's head repeatedly with the sledgehammer as he lay bound and gagged on his bedroom floor with Martin sitting on his back, Van Marter said.
Martin admitted to striking Salazar six to eight times in the head and hearing cracking sounds. Murauskas took back the sledgehammer for a second series of blows on Salazar, who continued to moan and apparently was still alive, according to Van Marter.
Worried the neighbors might hear, Murauskas allegedly pulled out his hunting knife and stabbed Salazar repeatedly in the upper back and the back of his neck, puncturing his lungs and severing his aorta and spine.
Impatient because Salazar's wife took too long to come home, Murauskas left with the safe in Salazar's car and instructed Martin to wait for her and kill her when she arrived, according to Van Marter. Martin called police instead, Van Marter said.
Murauskas was arrested the next day. Police recovered $45,000 on him that reportedly had been in Salazar's safe.
Under a plea deal, Martin escapes a life term without parole. He will be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, with a mandatory minimum of 20 years for second-degree murder and kidnapping.
Prosecutors have agreed to drop remaining attempted first-degree and attempted second-degree murder charges against Martin in exchange for his testimony.
"That is the path the bulldozer cleared for himself to come to court and blame Keith Murauskas," Shigetomi said.
The trial, in Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario's courtroom, will resume Monday.