AKRON, Ohio -- Dr. Gulam Moonda was not happy in his marriage despite his widow's assertions that they had a "perfect marriage," the physician's nephew testified this morning.
Dr. Faroq Moonda said he and his wife helped consol Donna Moonda a few hours after Gulam Moonda's fatal shooting along the Ohio Turnpike on May 13, 2005.
"She said she didn't know why this happened. (She said) they had a perfect marriage. They were so much in love. (He was) the best thing that ever happened to her," Faroq Moonda testified.
Faroq Moonda, who was raised by his uncle from the age of 14, testified in the second day of testimony in the trial of Donna Moonda, 48, of Hermitage, who is charged with murder-for-hire and related crimes.
Donna Moonda told police her husband was killed by a highway robber who apparently saw him flashing large amounts of money at a rest plaza as he traveled with his wife and mother-in-law to meet Faroq Moonda in Toledo.
Damian Ray Bradford, 25, of Center, later admitted that he and Donna Moonda were having an affair and that he shot the doctor after she promised to give him half of her share of the multi-million estate.
Bradford is cooperating with prosecutors.
Under cross-examination today, defense attorney Roger Synenberg asked Faroq Moonda: "Isn't it true that Dr. Moonda was not happy in his marriage?"
"You could say that," Faroq Moonda replied.
Lt. Judy Neel, commander of the Cleveland investigations office of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, testified that troopers received two tips on May 19, 2005, that Donna Moonda and Bradford were having an affair and that Donna Moonda and her husband were getting a divorce.
One of the calls was from a Pittsburgh homicide detective who got a tip from a confidential informant.
The other was from Pennsylvania State Police, who got a call from a woman calling herself Charlene Farr. It was later learned that Charlene Farr was Bradford's fiancee, Charlene McFrazier, of Leetsdale.
Synenberg told jurors on Monday that McFrazier also called Dr. Moonda in 2004 to tell him that his wife was having an affair.
