The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-11-14
Zukauskas Charged With Woman's s Murder
tcontinued from Page l,

covered the body with leaves. Driv- ing back to Waterbury he noticed that the front window opposite him was cracked and contained a bullet hole, whereupon he knocked 1t out with the butt of a gun. He then drove to the vicinity of the Con- Lumber Company on High land avenue where, beneath loose tree stump, he concealed the cloth ing of the victim, the towel and a blanket that had covered the front | seat of the car, all of which were | bloodstained. From that point he | drove to his house where Mrs. | Zukauskas left the car and returned to her home.
 zukauskas, knowing that the owner of the car was employed nights and that he, while so employ ed parked his car at the parking lot on North Elm street, and believ- ing that Mrs. Plungls had taken her husbands car from this lot, then drove the car to this parking lot, left it there and walked to his home, taking precautions to avoid being seen and recognized, especially by police. Arising at 500 8. m., at which time 1t was dark and ex- tremely foggy, he procured shovel from his cellar and without his mothers knowledge, borrowed his mothers car for which he had a set of keys, proceeded to Middle bury, where he had earlier conceal ed the body, placed the body in the car and drove to bridle path in an isolated section of Middlebury where he dug a shallow grave and buried his victim. Before burial he struck the deceased repeatedly upon the face with the shovel, bashing in her face. He now felt that this, with the absence of all clothing and personal effects would make identi- fication impossible, if and when the body were found. He clavorlv no''- cealed the fresh earth of the grave by covering 1t with brantuc. o4 dried leaves which he had chopped from tree opposite the grave. He then returned home.
 In the meantime, Anthony Plum gis, husband of the deceased. fin ished work at his place of employ ment at TOO a. m. on the morning of November 2. Going to his car with a fellow worker he observed the absent front window and blan- ket and blood stain on the front seat. Not attaching any import ance to these discoveries, it was not until early afternoon when he found a bullet imbedded in the post above the drivers seat that he communi- cated with the police. A search was immediately instituted for zukaus- kas, who was ascertained to have been the last person that saw Mrs. Plungis.
 After burying the deceased and on his return home, zukauskas re- ceived telephone calls from the hus- band and girl friend of the de- ceased, inquiring as to her where abouts. Zukauskas became alarmed that the guns and bloodstained clothing might be found and in the early part of the same afternoon again took his mothers car and procured the blanket and clothing of the deceased from beneath the stump where he had hidden them in
 the early morning. He then drove
 to spot on Spring Lake Road, in Middlebury, where he dug round hole and buried the blanket and clothing. He covered the spot with leaves so that it would show no ap- pearance of having been disturbed. Here also he destroyed Mrs. Plungis factory identification card. He
 threw and scattered in the woods in all directions removable chamber
 from one of the guns, all fired and unfired bullets and all keys belong ing to the deceased. He attempted to eradicate the serial numbers of
 the buns by rounding them with a rock and tried to break gun with out success. Taking the guns with him he then drove to the Nauga- tuck-Beacon Falls road where, justI south of the Beacon Falls town line,
 he threw the guns which he had
 used into the Naugatuck River, se-
 lecting a spot which looked dark and deep to him. He then returned home where his wife informed him that the police were seeking him. He was taken into custody by De- tective Sergeant Mccarthy in the Brooklyn section of Waterbury and
 brought to the police station where he was placed under arrest. After
 steadfastly denying all knowledge of the demise and whereabouts of Mrs. Plungis. finally, on November 4, he mare confession of his &C.,
 tions to Chief Inspector Joseph Bender. He thereafter retraced his movements and actions which are recited above.
 An autopsy performed on the body of the deceased showed that a number of bullets had been fired into the arm, shoulder, neck and head of the deceased, one of which penetrated the brain. The fatal bullets were fired on Bradley ave- nue, in Waterbury. Death was caused by a bullet wound of the skull, compound fracture and lacer- ation of cerebellum, medulla ob- longata and cerebral hemispheres, and multiple bullet wounds of the body.
 While Mrs Zukauskas accomnan-