A former Shaler emergency dispatcher stood emotionless Monday as he was sentenced to three consecutive life prison terms for killing his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and her sister.
Michael Michalski, 23, who would have faced the death penalty had the case gone to trial, pleaded guilty in exchange for life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
Michalski went to the home of his ex-girlfriend Oct. 29, 2003, with a .357-caliber handgun, fatally shooting Gretchen Ferderbar, 18; her new boyfriend, Mark Phillips, 24, of Carnegie; and Gretchen's sister Linda Ferderbar, 27, in front of her 2-year-old son.
Common Pleas Judge David Cashman scolded Michalski, telling him he destroyed the lives of the victims and their families because of his own self-pity.
"And to think a 26-month-old child had to witness your brutality," Cashman said. "There's more than sufficient reason to put you to death. However, there may be solace in the fact you will never, ever, ever spend one free moment for the rest of your life."
Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said the victims' families did not want to endure a trial.
"These people did not want the last memories of their children to be gruesome statements that would come out in a trial," Tranquilli said. "They approached us and based on their input, we reached this agreement."
Clad in a shirt and tie, Michalski spoke neither during the hearing nor to reporters afterward. He was led away in handcuffs.
"Mr. Michalski feels anything he says would be an insult to the families," said his lawyer Lisa Middleman.
Mark Phillips' father, mother and sister all tearfully read statements to Cashman.
"I can only hope Michael feels as much pain as our family," said Phillip's older sister Linda Phillips. "I hope he sits in his cell every day and thinks about the lives he ruined."
Prosecutors said John Zachiarias, a stepbrother of Gretchen Ferderbar's, was upstairs watching television when Michalski began shooting about 3 p.m. at the Chipper Drive home.
The house is owned by Gretchen and Linda Ferderbar's father and stepmother, Joe and Denise Ferderbar, who lived there with both sisters and John Zachiarias, Brian Zachiarias and his girlfriend and Linda Ferderbar's son, Joseph Carmen, 2.
John Zachiarias has said he didn't recognize the sound of gunshots -- thinking it was doors slamming -- but went to investigate when he heard Gretchen Ferderbar's screams.
From the top of the stairs, John Zachiarias saw Michalski kneeling next to Gretchen Ferderbar and hitting her. John Zachiarias said he told Michalski to get off her, and Michalski looked up at him and reached for his gun.
Prosecutors said Gretchen Ferderbar screamed for Zachiarias to call police, which he did after turning back up the stairs and jumped through a rear, second-story window.
Michalski then fired into each of the victims' heads, killing Gretchen Ferderbar and Phillips instantly. Linda Ferderbar died a few days later.
Police found Joseph Carmen standing over his mother, telling her to wake up, prosecutors said. Relatives told the judge the child still has nightmares about the shootings.
Michalski and Gretchen Ferderbar had a rocky relationship for several years before she broke it off. Prosecutors said Michalski was forced to resign his job at Northwest Regional dispatch center in McCandless after supervisors learned that he had been using center computers to run background checks on Ferderbar and her new boyfriend.
"I have yet to have feeling toward Michael Michalski. I can't get over the feelings for my son," said Phillips' mother, Jean, who said she sleeps with his baseball cap and jeans. "Jail is nothing. May he suffer as I do every day."
