GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — The trial against James Prokopovitz, the man accused of killing his wife Victoria, who has been missing since 2013, continued Wednesday in Brown County Court.
Among the evidence shown was a video in which James was seen reacting with frustration over continued police questioning three and a half years after Victoria disappeared.
“If you guys think I did something, then Goddamn arrest me and haul me in!” swore a visibly upset Prokopovitz in the 2016 recording.
The lead detective in the investigation, Brown County Sheriff’s Detective Roman Aronstein took the stand for a second time, and the prosecution played a phone interview between him and Victoria’s friend, Sarah Youngs, who talked about the last time she heard from her.
“She had left a voicemail on my phone…and I didn’t return her phone call for a while…and then she went missing,” Youngs said in the recording. “It breaks my heart, it kills me.”
Youngs did recall the last time she had spoken to Victoria, about three or fourth months before she disappeared.
“She thought, at one point, that [James] was having an affair on her,” Youngs told Aronstein.
James Prokopovitz did, just a month after Victoria’s disappearance, begin dating another woman: Kathryn Friday. Friday was charged alongside James with lying to investigators last year, but passed away before sentencing.
The defense argued, in their opening statement, that is was more likely that Victoria, who had a history of mental health issues and who was increasingly isolated in her final months, committed suicide.
Aronstein’s testimony, in part, seemed as though it was an effort by prosecutors to cast doubt on that idea. He testified that, in his experience, suicide victims bodies are found. Victoria’s never has been.
“Based on my training, the wood line at or near the residence is often a place a despondent person would go [to commit suicide],” Aronstein told the jury.
Friday’s son, Jason, also testified Wednesday that he didn’t trust James Prokopovitz and refused to welcome him into their home.
Another confidential witness also took the stand. They testified that James Prokopovitz, while in jail, told them that he did not miss Victoria and that she ’caused trouble for everybody.
Comments