by Jack Davis
Brown’s face bypassed surprised and went straight to embarrassed, then to angry.
Morley was beyond caring. After a few administrative notes, he ended by cautioning everyone in the room, “We know Antonescu wasn’t the one who signed the rental car receipts and hotel guest logs, but we don’t know that he wasn’t working in conjunction with the killer. Let’s not make any assumptions about his guilt or innocence in this whole case just yet.”
As everyone filed out of the room, Brown grabbed Morley by the arm, “You and I need to talk!”
Morley looked at Brown’s hand and then into his eyes. Brown released his grip.
“Yeah, Tommy, we do need to talk, but I’m a little busy right now. It’ll have to wait.”
He turned, leaving a speechless and once-again embarrassed Brown standing alone.
The next hour was spent getting authorization from the US Attorney and debriefing Antonescu.
The Romanian explained everything in great detail. Detail that left no doubt in anyone’s mind he was telling the truth.
“Mr. Lublin say he vork for US government. He go on trips on secret assignments. He need Mihai help him. Mihai told to be staying at Mr. Lublin’s house vhen he on trips…and he and Mihai change cars.
“Mr. Lublin very strongly tell Mihai, Mr. Lublin house must look like he living there vhen he gone.
“He tell Mihai has vork remote vhile at Mr. Lublin house. No can go into office.
“Mr. Lublin say he can’t tell Mihai about trips, Mihai not have secret, secret…clearance.” Mihai smiled after remembering the exact term. “Mr. Lublin say if Mihai make mistake, Mr. Lublin in danger.
“Mihai happy to help Mr. Lublin. He Mihai boss, and…” Mihai stumbled though the next words. “…and Mihai’s friend, Mihai thought.” He looked at his hands in his lap.
Morley put his hands on Antonescu’s shoulders. “It’s okay. Lublin’s fooled a lot of people.”
Antonescu looked up and gave an embarrassed grin. “I don’t tink so much as Mihai.”
When the agents had gotten everything they could from Antonescu, Morley explained what they needed next.
“Mihai, we need you to call Mr. Lublin and try to get him to admit to at least part of your story…” Morley briefly thought about trying to explain entrapment to Antonescu but decided against it; he’d take his chances.
“…anything from you staying at his house to saying he worked for the government, or even that he traveled a lot.”
Morley looked at Antonescu to make sure he understood.
The Romanian nodded briskly.
“Mihai, Mr. Lublin is probably going to deny everything. Do you understand that?”
More nodding.
“You have to be ready for him to lie to you. Are you?”
“Yes, Agent Patrick.”
“Good. Lublin may even say he is working on getting you out, but are you going to believe him?” Morley prompted Antonescu by shaking his own head.
“No, Agent Patrick.”
“Good. Whatever happens, we’ll be right here to help you.”
Antonescu gave a grateful smile when Morley said, “Okay, let’s start working to make things right.”
Greere had pulled Lublin’s work cell number from the SUNY directory. The recording device had been tested, and the header with the case number, date, time, participants, telephone number called, etc., had been made. Greere dialed six numbers and handed the phone to Antonescu. Morley told him to relax and asked him if he was ready—he nodded. Greere hit the last number and the phone started ringing.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Mr. Lublin. Is Mihai.” There was silence on the other end. Antonescu spoke again.
“Mihai sorry to call to you, but special police are arresting me and today Mihai said to judge no guilty. Mihai need you please help me. Please.”
To Morley’s ear the last “please” sounded sincere and desperate. Morley knew that Antonescu might be holding out hope that Lublin had been telling the truth.
“Mihai, I’m sorry, I was distracted and couldn’t hear you in the beginning. How are things going for you? I saw on the news that you were arrested. I hope it’s nothing serious. I have called network security and had them make you a DNA until we get more information. I’m sure it will get cleaned up, and once you are cleared, we can discuss getting your job back.”
“Mr. Lublin, you say you would help Mihai.”
“I know, and I will, as soon as the charges are taken care of. Based upon—”
Now Mihai did something he found extremely difficult—he interrupted. “Excuse Mihai Mr. Lublin; you say you explain to special police ve vork together.”
“Mihai don’t interrupt me again,” scolded Lublin. “Yes, I explained to the Secret Service yesterday that you worked for me. I was extremely generous in my portrayal of you as a good employee. If they have any further questions, I’ll certainly tell them the same.”
“Mr. Lublin sir, vere you tellink dem how Mihai vork for you…for other vork…and Mihai no do crime dey say Mihai do?”
“Mihai, I explained you worked for me and I did tell them I didn’t think you would do anything illegal. I don’t know what else I can do.”
Even knowing the purpose of the call, Mihai seemed nervous and his tone was slightly more desperate. “Mihai sorry. Mr. Lublin tell the special police other vork you do and how Mihai help you?”
“I’m not sure I understand what you are saying.”
“The special vork you do; vork vhere you travel.”
“Mihai, I told them you had to travel for your work, and I allowed you to work remotely.”
Morley saw that Mihai was twisted in knots. “Mr. Lublin, no, no. You please to tell special police you vork for US government and Mihai help you vhen you go trips. Mihai stay at you house vhen you to travel for government!”
“Mihai, I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve never stayed at my house, and other than the state of New York, I don’t know what government work you’re talking about.”
“Mr. Lublin, please tell special police Mihai vork for you in special government vork. Special police trust you. Special police listen to you. Please.”
“Mihai, I’ve covered for you in the past with your pornography problem—”
Mihai again cut in, “Mr. Lublin, Mihai no have problem vit…”
“I TOLD YOU NOT TO INTERRUPT ME! EVER!” Screamed Lublin. Then in a lower decibel but just as sternly, he said, “I covered up your porn addiction, out of the goodness of my heart, because I felt sorry for you, and this is how you repay me? This is different. This is a criminal offense. I don’t know what you’ve done, but don’t try to involve me or anyone else. Take responsibility for your actions. Don’t call me again unless you have been exonerated of all charges. Then I might consider taking you back.”
The line went dead.
Even though Mihai had been warned that it might happen, he was still dumbstruck. While still holding the handset, he turned to Morley.
“Mihai no have problem to pornography. Mr. Lublin no telling vhat true. Mihai never have problem at vork. Everybody tell you Mihai not having problem at vork.”
Morley realized Lublin had used the phone call to his advantage. He assumed it was being taped and knew if the prosecutors tried to use it against him in court, they would also hear Lublin’s assertion that Antonescu had an addiction to pornography.
Morley tried to help Antonescu. “We know he’s lying. Don’t worry. We have what we need. Are you convinced now about what he is doing?”
“Yes, Agent Patrick. Mr. Lublin no saying truth. Tank you. Vhat can Mihai do?”
“Nothing right now. We have some things we need to take care of first. We would like you to agree to stay here in jail until we work out a few more details. We need Mr. Lublin and others to think you are still under arrest so we can try to catch them before they get rid of evidence. Do you understand?”
While Mihai’s expression and body language did
n’t appear to indicate it, he said, “Yes, Mihai understand. Mihai do vhat Agent Patrick say. Anything, just tell Mihai.”
“We need you to think about everything you know about Lublin and everything you did for him and with him. Agent Greere and Agent Scott will talk to you today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes to get all the information. Take your time and don’t leave anything out.”
Mihai grabbed Morley’s right hand with both of his hands and shook it firmly. The Romanian looked him in the eyes as he spoke, “Tank you for help Mihai. Tank you for believe Mihai.”
Antonescu’s eyes were starting to mist over as he looked down again.
Morley was embarrassed. “It’s okay, Mihai. It’s okay.” He quickly changed the subject, rubbing his hands together briskly, he said, “Mihai, first things first—it’s dinner time, what would you like to eat. It’s your choice. The rest of us will have whatever you have. It has to be takeout; we can’t have you out in public for a while. What’ll it be?”
The Ledger (10/19/09, 1800 hours)
After dinner with Antonescu, Morley passed the word that at 1800 hours he wanted everyone together to go over the case. The familiar conference room had become the meeting and eating spot for the past few days, and the group, now including Brown, all filed in shortly before the appointed time. Carpenter, Posada, Pencala, Peyton, FSD, and Shaw were all on the conference bridge.
Morley introduced Brown, who, to everyone’s amazement and Morley’s consternation, spent the next five minutes in a rambling introduction/biography/pep talk. It was as ill-delivered as it was conceived and received. By the end, the junior agents looked confused.
Looking satisfied, Brown sat and took a long drink of Diet Pepsi, confident he had solidified his place on the team and provided inspiration.
Morley continued. For the benefit of those on the phone, and to get back on track, he led off with a short overview of what had happened that day before opening the floor to others.
The SAIC of FSD started by telling the group about the preliminary analysis of the voiceprints from Western Union, WoW, and Mihai’s conversation with Lublin. It was a match. He stressed that his expert would complete the analysis over the next day to have it ready for court.
Morley took the opportunity to let the technicians in FSD know that his team was still looking for native handwriting from Lublin. “Lublin does almost everything online; we’re having trouble coming up with much of anything. We’ll keep at it.”
Kruzerski was the next. “We sent out Lublin’s DMV photo and fingerprints, which fortunately enough were on file with SUNY, to the task forces set up to investigate the murders. They’ll show the photos to anyone who might have come in contact with the killer in an effort to get a positive ID. The fingerprints’ll be compared to any found at the crime scenes and other locations.”
Then, reiterating what everyone knew, he said, “Based on what hadn’t been found in Savannah and Cleveland we aren’t holding out a lotta hope there’ll be a match. Still, gotta do it, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.”
When no one else had anything new to add, Morley said he wanted to go through the case item by item and get everyone’s thoughts.
Greere started and with support from both Swann and Posada, explained that Antonescu couldn’t have written the complex code they’d encountered. “Antonescu’s not old enough to have been taught that type of coding, at that level, and in the languages we’ve seen.”
“Mihai would have had to gone to school in the eighties and attended one of the few schools with that curriculum,” added Swann for context.
When Morley asked if Antonescu could have taught himself, all three confirmed it was highly unlikely. “There were no books or manuals anywhere in the house indicating Mihai had studied coding,” said Swann.
“Doc, Antonescu’s box at his house had files containing multiple hacking programs. How do we explain that?” Morley asked.
“Those programs could’ve easily been put there by someone else. It’s a common tactic among elite hackers,” explained Swann. “I reviewed the log files, and they showed the codes had only been accessed remotely, never directly from the machine itself. They were planted.”
“Lublin on the other hand,” continued Swann, “is the right age and mindset to produce the hacking codes. He has the type of methodical, meticulous personality needed to develop code that intricate.”
When Morley looked at the only other person who’d met Lublin, Kruzerski spoke up, “Doc’s right. The guy’s bizarre.”
Peyton added, “I’m one hundred percent sure that code wasn’t written by someone with English as a second language.” Then, he reiterated portions of his initial profile of the suspect. While it didn’t completely fit Lublin, it certainly eliminated Antonescu.
“Agent Peyton, this is AUSA Carpenter, have you ever been called to testify in court as an expert witness on subject profiles?”
“Yes, three times.”
“Excellent, can you, or someone up in Johnson City please forward me a soft copy of the profile?”
“Will do,” said Morley. “Anything else, Chris?”
Carpenter prefaced his next question. “The killer obviously chose his victims based upon their behaviors. He used the internet to identify them based upon their websites. Has a thorough review of the subscriber lists been conducted to search for similarities or commonalities?”
“We’ve done some looking, but hadn’t found anything,” replied Morley.
Swann quickly added, “Any hacker worth his cpus would never pay for a subscription they could hack into for free.”
“So, no one should be looking into any of your online subscriptions is what you are telling us?” quipped Pencala.
Swann cleared his throat and continued, “It should be reasonably easy to confirm Lublin wrote the hacking programs responsible for the network intrusions. There has to be plenty of Lublin’s legitimate code resident on the SUNY network for review and analysis. At his level of sophistication, it’s much like handwriting or fingerprints. It’ll be that unique. Comparing the known Lublin code to the unknown hacking codes found in the intrusions will be time consuming, but not difficult.”
Carpenter was quick to point out that Swann’s opinion wasn’t validated in court yet. “You have to be able to produce clear evidence. Evidence a New York jury could understand.”
Swann assured the potential prosecutor he’d have his evidence. “I’ll develop charts and graphs so simple they’ll make Sesame Street look like the Human Genome Project.”
Following the string, Murray spoke up, “If Antonescu was the killer, it didn’t make sense he would go to all the trouble of wearing disguises, traveling out of town, spending weeks stalking the victims, and then keep the evidence right there in his apartment.
“There’s no reason to have the half-empty date-rape bottle in the drop ceiling and child pornography on the computer, unless he wanted someone to find it. Plus, the first thing a smart criminal does is demand a lawyer. Antonescu not asking for a lawyer doesn’t fall into the uber hacker and undetected-for-a-decade-serial-killer mold.”
To bolster the case for Antonescu being set up, Swann pointed out that the child porn had been accessed routinely, but not as if someone was looking at it for their own pleasure. “The logs indicate the file was being updated and refreshed regularly. That way, if they were found, they wouldn’t be completely stale. They were never accessed from Antonescu’s machine, always remotely through a vpn.”
“A real pedophile wouldn’t have the impulse control to only view the images once a month,” Peyton added. “Statistically, a pedophile will view images or video at least once a week, some more often. There were no other manifestations of pedophilia in Antonescu’s background or personality.”
“Someone as smart as our killer would have a better alibi than,” Kruzerski hesitated, “none. Someone as smart as our killer would set someone else up. Antonescu is a perfect dupe.”
“We have good cor
roborating evidence in the form of the frequent flyer accounts,” Morley added. “The flights lined up with the dates of the murders. Someone associated with the killings was transiting the upstate airports. Antonescu’s car was at the airport during the most recent murders; we just can’t prove who was driving it.”
“From what we know about the intricacy of the murders,” Pencala added, “the perpetrator needed a lot of time to prepare for and commit the crimes. There aren’t too many jobs out there that lend themselves to that type of planning and execution. Both men had that type of job: one where they could work remotely for days at a time.”
There was a pause before Posada chimed in. “All the hacking evidence we have is based on Alvaro. It’s circumstantially corroborated by both the patterns developed by WoW and the Western Union accounts. And through these accounts to the murders.”
“That’s a problem,” said Carpenter. “Alvaro’s not the most…cross-examination proof witness. Building your case with a gangbanger as your key witness, isn’t the ideal way to build a prosecutable case, but I don’t see any other options at this point.”
Then, much more to Carpenter’s liking, Morley moved to the hard evidence—albeit what they didn’t have. “We don’t have Antonescu’s prints—voice or finger—as a match. We don’t have a match on his handwriting, or a positive visual identification.
“For Lublin, we have the voiceprint. We probably won’t have any fingerprints since all the ones found have been accounted for. We may have a handwriting match, but we won’t know for a while yet. I doubt we’ll get a positive visual for him either. To top it off, we have the word of another possible prime suspect implicating him. Last, I can guarantee if Lublin has been setting up Antonescu, we aren’t going to get any kind of confession.”
“Not exactly the slam dunk I’d hoped for Saturday morning,” said Carpenter. “In the short term I’d like to go step by step. First, if we can get a positive on the handwriting, I can get a search warrant for his house and computers. The voiceprint alone only proves he’s associated with the WoW and Western Union accounts. For all we know, he has an alibi for that setup also.
