Berkeley Springs man to be tried for murder in death of father

April 19, 2010|By TRISH RUDDER

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- A Berkeley Springs man charged with one count of murder and one count of concealment of a body in the death of his father was arraigned Monday in Morgan County Circuit Court.

The jury trial for Stephen J. Tamburo III, 39, of Shanghai Road in Berkeley Springs, is to begin Aug. 3 in Morgan County Circuit Court.

The date was set by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Gina M. Groh.

Groh said the trial will "piggyback" on one for Tamburo regarding 15 counts of prescription fraud between September and December 2008. He was indicted on those charges in April 2009.

Tamburo was represented by Francine H. Phillips of the public defender's office in Martinsburg, W.Va., who requested he be released on a $100,000 bond. Morgan County Prosecutor Debra MH McLaughlin said she did not want Tamburo released, especially since he had to be extradited from Florida.

Groh denied the bond request because of "the nature of the charges" and because law enforcement had to return Tamburo from another state, she said.

After the arraignment, Rosemarie Tamburo Martin of Westminster, Md., the sister of the deceased, said, "This is very hard. It's slow and a long process, and it's hard on the family. We don't have a brother, and our nephew is in jail for the murder. We pray that justice will be done."

In December 2008, Stephen J. Tamburo Jr., who was 62 at the time, went missing. In April 2009, a body later determined to be Tamburo was found in the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management area close to the Morgan County-Berkeley County line, authorities said.

Stephen J. Tamburo III was taken into custody in Miami by U.S. Marshals in late August and extradited to West Virginia. He was taken to Eastern Regional Jail in Martinsburg on Sept. 10.

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