Ex-coroner sticking to suicide theory
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio -- The Ohio coroner who initially ruled Anthony Proviano's December 1997 death a suicide told a jury Wednesday that he still believes the medical student from Baldwin Borough shot himself in the chest on an abandoned road, then walked 100 feet before collapsing and dying.
Former Belmont County, Ohio, coroner Manuel Villaverde, testifying in the murder trial of Marlene "Slim" Smith, said performing an autopsy on Proviano would have been a waste of money and time.
Villaverde's testimony came after the lead investigator in the case testified that Villaverde dismissed his suggestion of an autopsy "to save the county some money."
Smith, 50, formerly of Washington, Pa., is accused of killing Proviano, 29, near a St. Clairsville motel.
Proviano was reported missing by his parents after he failed to show for Christmas Eve dinner at their Baldwin Borough home Dec. 24, 1997, from Cincinnati, where he was in medical school.
He was found dead Dec. 28 on an abandoned road below a Days Inn motel with a bullet wound in his torso from his .25-caliber handgun.
Special prosecutor Thomas Hampton claims Proviano was killed in a fight with Smith after the two had agreed to have sex and do drugs. Defense attorney John Vavra is arguing that the prosecution can't connect Smith to the crime and that Proviano likely killed himself.
Villaverde testified that he changed his ruling from suicide to undetermined on Oct. 23, 1998, for the sake of Proviano's parents, who believed their son's death was a homicide.
"My honest opinion is that it was a suicide, and for humanitarian reasons I said it was undetermined," Villaverde said.
A single set of footprints found at the entrance to the road and the placement of the shot directly below the heart supported his opinion, Villaverde said.
Olen Martin, former chief deputy of the Belmont County Sheriff's Office, testified yesterday that other details at the scene pointed to homicide: The gun was found 100 feet from Proviano's body, one of his shoes was found several feet away, and there were bruises on his body.
Martin said he tried to get Villaverde to change his mind about an autopsy during an inspection of Proviano's body at an Ohio funeral home, but the coroner wouldn't budge.
"He said, 'Maybe we'll save the county some money'" by not ordering the autopsy, Martin said. "I told him we needed to do an autopsy."
Martin said that when he interviewed Smith at a Pennsylvania prison in Lycoming County, he placed a photo of Proviano in front of her.
"Her eyes welled up with tears when she saw it and she said, 'I'll have to talk with Doug,'" Martin said. Martin said he understood Smith was referring to her ex-husband, Douglas Ray Main, 44, who also was charged in the case. Those charges were dropped last year.
