Defense attorney David Hoose, right, introduces himself, his law partner Luke Ryan, center, and their client, Cara Lee Rintala to potential jurors during the jury selection for her retrial on Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court 1. (Photo by Kevin Gutting, Daily Hampshire Gazette)
By BOB DUNN
Daily Hampshire Gazette
@BDGazette
NORTHAMPTON — After emerging as a main character in the first murder trial of Cara Lee Rintala — and painted as a possible suspect in opening arguments this time around — Mark Oleksak took the witness stand in her retrial Tuesday.
Rintala, 47, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in connection with the strangulation death of her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, 37, in the couple’s Granby home March 29, 2010.
In his opening statement Jan. 9, Rintala’s defense attorney David Hoose said just as good a case could be built against Oleksak, 48, as his client, based on the evidence.
On the witness stand yesterday, Oleksak said he and Annamarie sometimes had talks about how, if she wasn’t gay and he wasn’t married, they might date and eventually, perhaps, get married themselves.
“I believe I had a financial affair with her,” Oleksak said. “I had an emotional affair with her.”
His name was mentioned repeatedly in Rintala’s first trial, which ended last March in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury, but he was never was called to testify until now. His testimony was to continue today, the ninth day of testimony.
Under questioning yesterday by prosecutor Steven Gagne, Oleksak, a full-time firefighter in Westfield and a part-time paramedic with American Medical Response, said he and Annamarie Rintala met at work in 2002 or 2003 and quickly discovered they worked well as a team.
From that point, Oleksak said, a friendship developed and they became “very close” friends, over time.
Oleksak said the pair would go to movies, golfing, out for drinks and other activities around their work schedules, but he kept that information from his wife.
Despite the closeness of the relationship, Oleksak said it never became sexual or even physical, beyond hugs and light kisses on the sides of their mouths.
Oleksak said he would sometimes buy flowers for Annamarie and sent her a card once with the inscription: “I will always love you, whether we date or just stay friends, know that I will always love and care about you.”
Oleksak said he and Annamarie Rintala worked about 40 to 50 hours a week together and during that time, they shared personal information. They discussed their respective relationships and financial matters. During the course of the friendship, he said, he allowed her to be an authorized user on three of his credits cards in an effort to help her rebuild her credit after she declared bankruptcy.
Oleksak said he had taken steps to ensure the statements for those cards didn’t reach home, but, despite that, his wife became aware of one of the accounts and became “quite upset,” he said.
Oleksak said his wife believed Annamarie Rintala was using him and was not the good friend she claimed to be.
His wife later became aware of one of the other accounts when she tried to apply for credit at a furniture store and was denied due to a high outstanding balance, Oleksak said, which upset her further.
“She still has no trust,” Oleksak said of his wife. “I broke the trust in her.”
With the credit Oleksak had provided her, Annamarie Rintala purchased Christmas gifts, including a surround-sound system for her wife, and paid for a cruise for her parents, Oleksak said.
He said he made an arrangement with Annamarie Rintala to be given money every month to pay off the balances on the cards, an arrangement he said she honored until she couldn’t keep up with the payments.
When the balances got too high, Oleksak said, he took her name off the accounts.
Falling out
Oleksak said he had also helped Annamarie get a cellphone, believing it wasn’t safe for her to be working late at night without a phone.
The pair had a falling out, he said, in July 2009 when the Rintalas were each beginning divorce proceedings, which were later dropped, and Annamarie had moved in with a former girlfriend.
Oleksak advised her against re-establishing the relationship, saying it could negatively impact how the divorce case got settled and could affect custody of the Rintalas’ young daughter, who was about 2½ when Annamarie was killed.
About that same time, Oleksak said, he canceled the phone account he’d set up for Annamarie Rintala.
They reconciled their friendship around Feb. 14, 2010, after Annamarie wished him a happy Valentine’s Day via text message.
Oleksak said he also lent her $350 toward the purchase of a dog she wanted, despite his belief that she probably couldn’t afford it between repaying him and her car payment and other bills at home.
Oleksak said she was scheduled to repay him on her next payday which was a few days after she died.
Hoose has suggested that someone other than Cara Rintala may have had motive to kill her wife over money owed.
Oleksak said he and Annamarie Rintala purchased a sleeping bag to be used during overnight shifts at work when one or the other was working.
Sleeping in that bag was cited as one of the suspicious behaviors that Hoose suggested made Oleksak someone worthy of more scrutiny.
Oleksak testified he had attended physical therapy the morning of Annamarie Rintala’s death and then went shopping and ran errands with his wife and daughter, with records and some receipts to back those claims up.
He also received some text messages from Annamarie, asking if he would hold a place for her in line at Best Buy for a new iPad model that was going to be available the next Saturday.
In the texts, Oleksak was promised a “big kiss” and an “Easter prize” for waiting in line.
Oleksak said he didn’t actually think he was going to be kissed, but instead, thought it was a flirtatious way for her to compel him to go and wait in line.
“I probably would have stood in line if she offered me nothing,” Oleksak said.
The prize, he was told, was an item Annamarie Rintala had made for him and asked that he come up with a story about having won it in a raffle so he could display it at home without raising more suspicion from his wife.
Those communications went on throughout the morning until Oleksak sent an unread and unanswered text to Annamarie Rintala about 1:53 p.m. informing her that his sister had become ill.
During a sometimes-contentious cross-examination by Hoose, Oleksak agreed he deceived his wife on virtually a daily basis about his relationship with Annamarie Rintala.
Oleksak said he wasn’t completely forthcoming with investigators when they interviewed him a few days after the killing because he was upset and hadn’t been sleeping much since then.
“My closest friend, someone I cared about and loved was … passed away,” he said.
During a second interview in November 2010, Oleksak detailed his whereabouts the day of Annamarie Rintala’s death.
Oleksak testified he turned over DNA, fingerprints, bank and financial records and phone records to investigators when requested to do so.
Bob Dunn can be reached at [email protected].
