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Virginia Vertetis looks over the shoulder of defense attorney Edward Bilinkas at evidence photos as Howard Ryan, Co-owner of Highlands Forensic Investigations and Consulting testifies as an expert witness during Vertetis' murder trial in Morris County Superior Court. Vertetis is accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend at her home in Mount Olive in March 2014. March 16, 2017, Morristown, NJ(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

MORRISTOWN - A Long Island man who employed homicide victim Patrick Gilhuley at his private security firm told a Morris County jury Thursday that the victim had a "rocky" romantic relationship with Virginia Vertetis and often joked, even the day of his shooting, "She's gonna kill me some day."

Jurors heard from Gilhuley's friend and employer John Luongo, as well as hours of crime scene reconstruction testimony from retired State Police Lt. Howard Ryan, who now is a forensic operations specialist and consultant but oversaw the criminal investigation section of the Morris County Sheriff's Office when Gilhuley was shot to death on March 3, 2014.

Homicide victim Patrick Gilhuley, who was shot to death in Mount Olive on March 3, 2014.(Photo: Photo: Photo courtesy of Gilhuley family)

Called by Morris County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano, Ryan led the jury through the crime scene at Vertetis's home on Apollo Way in Mount Olive. Ryan described"flight paths" and "impact points" of the bullets that Vertetis admittedly fired from a .38 Special Smith & Wesson revolver at her lover, a 51-year-old retired New York City Police officer. But Ryansaid he could not identify the sequence of the shots, four of which struck Gilhuley, including the fatal shot to the midline of his back.

Calling a shooting a dynamic event, Ryan said "It's human nature to move around" - both for the shooter and victim.

Vertetis, 54, and a former Wharton Elementary School teacher, is expected to testify in the defense portion of the case that she endured years of abuse from Gilhuley and shot him in self-defense after he allegedly beat, choked and vowed to kill her the night of March 3, 2014. The prosecution's theory is that Vertetis was obsessed with Gilhuley and murdered him when he tried to break up.

Howard Ryan, Co-owner of Highlands Forensic Investigations and Consulting testifies as an expert witness during the Virginia Vertetis murder trial in Morris County Superior Court. Vertetis is accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend at her home in Mount Olive in March 2014. March 16, 2017, Morristown, NJ(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

Ryan testified that all the shots were fired at Gilhuley by the shooter standing at the top or near the top of a staircase from the house foyer to the second floor and pointing the weapon downward. Ryan said he also believes that Gilhuley was standing on the stairs for a part or most of the length of the shooting but was headedtoward the front door of the house, not upstairs, when he was struck.

Howard Ryan, Co-owner of Highlands Forensic Investigations and Consulting testifies as an expert witness during the Virginia Vertetis murder trial in Morris County Superior Court. Vertetis is accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend at her home in Mount Olive in March 2014. March 16, 2017, Morristown, NJ(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

Bilinkas has contended that Gilhuley was chasing Vertetis up the stairs and trying to catch her when she managed to retrieve the gun and fire at him from a position at or near the top of the stairs.

There was a shallow mark on the thumb pad of Gilhuley's right hand that the assistant prosecutor believes is more likely an abrasion while the defense believes it's the mark from a bullet graze, received as Gilhuley extended his hand to grab at Vertetis. Ryan on Thursday said the thumb pad mark, in his opinion, is consistent with Gilhuley being struck as he held his cell phone to his ear with his right hand.

The victim's oldest daughter, Jennifer Gilhuley, had testified last week that she received three short calls from her father between 9:38 p.m. and 9:42 p.m., when the last words she heard from her Dad were: "Holy (expletive), she's shooting!" before the line went dead.

Bilinkas was critical of the crime scene investigation, including questioning why all the bullet shell casings weren't found. Ryan had explained that one bullet went through the front door and glass winter storm door and the casing wasn't found outdoors. He said no one denied the shell casing wasn't found.

"The area outside was very large and very snow-covered," Ryan said. "I did not dig through the snow."

Bilinkas has hired celebrity forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, now 86, who was used as a consultant on the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Sharon Tate, JonBenet Ramsey and others. Wecht is expected to testify about 60 marks on Vertetis's body - alleged signs of abuse by Gilhuley - and about his conclusions of the crime scene.

Under questioning by Troiano, Ryan agreed that he read Wecht's report, including the opinion rendered by Wecht about the sequence of shots.

"It's my opinion that Dr. Wecht's report is reckless," Ryan said. He noted that Wecht is a trained medical examiner, not a crime scene reconstruction expert, and he made conclusions that are not supported by the evidence.

Howard Ryan, Co-owner of Highlands Forensic Investigations and Consulting testifies as an expert witness during the Virginia Vertetis murder trial in Morris County Superior Court. Vertetis is accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend at her home in Mount Olive in March 2014. March 16, 2017, Morristown, NJ(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)

John Luongo, the friend and employer of the victim, told the jury that Gilhuley frequently confided about a rocky relationship with Vertetis. Luongo said he always advised Gilhuley to break up with her.

"The relationship was a problem and he wanted to break up with her," Luongo said. "I gave him the same advice I always gave him. I said 'End it.'" Luongo said that Gilhuley sometimes would stay at a motel instead of returning to his home in Staten Island because he feared Vertetis would show up at his house.

Luongo said he last saw Gilhuley alive on March 3, 2014 - the day of his death - around lunchtime at a construction site in Manhattan where Gilhuley was supervising security measures. Luongo said he sat in a site trailer with Gilhuley and other workers, who were teasing Gilhuley about texts he claimed to be receiving that day from Vertetis.

"I recall him mentioning text messages coming in and he said 'She's gonna kill me some day,'" Luongo said. But he said Gilhuley said it in a joking way.

"He was laughing. Patrick always laughed," Luongo said.

He said that he realized around 4 a.m. on March 4, 2014 that Gilhuley had called him at 9:38 p.m. the previous night. But the message was garbled and, Luongo said, he couldn't decipher the words so he figured he would talk later to Gilhuley. But then he learned an hour later that Gilhuley had been killed.

Bilinkas, the defense lawyer, showed Luongo records of text messages and calls exchanged on March 3, 2014 between Vertetis and Gilhuley that show Vertetis never texted him on that day until 6 p.m. Luongo looked briefly dismayed and then said he doubts the records and believed that Gilhuley must have used a different phone.

Luongo said he recalled Gilhuley on March 3, 2014, staring at his cell phone, putting it down,shaking his head, laughing and saying: "She's gonna kill me some day."

"He was referring to Virginia," Luongo said.

The trial resumes Monday before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.

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