Private investigator Ed Martino is taking a different path in the Jonathan Luna case.
Instead of tracing Luna's Baltimore connections, Martino has been focusing on figuring out why Luna's body wound up in Lancaster County early in the morning of Dec. 4, 2003.
Luna left the federal courthouse in Baltimore shortly after 11:30 p.m. the night before, leaving an unfinished plea deal on his desk, along with his glasses and cell phone. His vehicle was traced on a circuitous route through Delaware, New Jersey and Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The spot where Luna was found, face down in a stream in Brecknock Township, is a short distance from the Turnpike.
"I think we may have figured it out," Martino said, adding that last week he turned over information to the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia, which has jurisdiction over the Luna investigation, and also briefed the office of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Specter is the ranking Republican, has been asking questions about the stalled Luna probe.
"I have more than a person of interest," Martino, who is based in Blue Ball, said. "I asked them to get into his cell phone records. They don't seem to be too interested."
Martino also is trying to review parts of Luna's autopsy records. Earlier, he went to court to force Dr. G. Gary Kirchner, the previous coroner, to open the file, without success.
In the process, Martino learned that Kirchner, who lost a re-election bid in November, had not filed any of his coroner's records in the county prothonotary's office, as required by state law.
Kirchner's successor, Dr. Steve Diamantoni, said after taking office that he will comply with the county code, but he won't be filing autopsy records.
That's not going to help, Martino said.
"What he's going to send is what we already know — cause and manner of death," Martino said.
Open or closed?Dr. Barry Walp, who was the coroner until the end of 2003, ruled following a postmortem that Luna's death was a homicide and that the cause of death was traumatic injuries and drowning. The assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore had 36 stab wounds, news reports said.
Although FBI agents tried to convince Kirchner, who took office in 2004, to change the ruling to suicide, Kirchner refused.
Kirchner did not file any of his records, including Luna's, with the prothonotary during his four years in office. The County Code, a state law covering county government, requires that coroners send their records annually to the prothonotary.
Diamantoni said Feb. 8 that he had not yet reviewed the Luna file. He said he will file coroner's records going back to 2004 in the courthouse as soon as possible.
But those will not include autopsy details, he said, adding that he is following guidelines from the state coroners' association on which documents should be public record.
"We're interested in protecting the privacy and dignity of the decedents," he said, in addition to complying with state open-records laws.
Some autopsy details contain medical information that shouldn't be available to the public, Diamantoni said.
"We need to respect as a society an individual's right to privacy," he said.
Martino has written a letter to Diamantoni, asking for any notes surrounding the determination of Luna's manner of death and any notes that government officials might have written about Luna.
Diamantoni said his response to Martino will depend on whether he determines that Martino has more standing in the case than any other member of the public.
Martino said he will go to court again, if necessary.
"We're not looking for information on somebody's grandmother," he said. "[Luna] is a highly placed public official."
Helen Colwell Adams is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962. 