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Around 3:15 p.m., Doug Burdick finally convinced defendant to call the
police. At one point, defendant was placed on hold and became very upset. He hit
the kitchen cabinet with his fist, and exclaimed, “Ah fuck. Here we go again.”
During the conversation with police, defendant reported that his wife and daughter
were missing and that his wife had failed to show up for work at 11:00 a.m.
Contrary to his statement to Mary Burdick, defendant claimed that he last saw his
wife at 7:30 a.m., before he took Ashley to school. He also told the police that he
did not think his wife was going to take his daughter to work with her, that he
expected her to return home after running errands and before going to work, and
that he had called hospitals and had been doing yardwork.
At the Kopatzes’ house, Burdick saw two rings next to the bathroom sink.
At trial, he described the rings as having “a similar cut” to Mary’s wedding ring
and as being “very, very similar” to Mary’s anniversary band.
Defendant’s brother, Alan Kopatz, arrived at the Kopatzes’ house about
3:20 p.m., after learning that Mary was missing. Alan asked what Mary had been
doing that morning. Defendant responded that she was going to Sav-on to pick up
a prescription and then run a few errands. He stated that he had called Sav-on to
see if Mary had been there, but was told that she had not picked up the
prescription. 4 He stated that he had called the police and hospital emergency
rooms.
Alan Kopatz announced that he was going to Sav-on to search for the
family’s van. He grabbed defendant’s keys, in case he found the van. Defendant
4 Several Sav-on employees testified that they worked on the morning of
April 22, 1999, but did not recall defendant calling to ask whether his wife picked
up a prescription. One employee testified that such a phone call would have been
unusual, since defendant was the one who usually picked up prescriptions from the
store.
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