Coroner testifies Gina Tenney was either smothered or strangled

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Bennie Adams

YOUNGSTOWN — Gina Tenney died either from her breath being take away from smothering or from being strangled from something being tied around her neck, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County’s forensic pathologist, told the jury in the Bennie Adams murder trial today.

Dr. Germaniuk, testifying as a substitute witness for Dr. Nathan Belinky, the deceased former Mahoning County coroner, said he agreed with Dr. Belinky’s ruling on the cause of death being asphyxia.

He based that opinion on seeing indications of smothering on Tenney’s face — bruising on her lip and marks on her chin.

He also found bruising and scrapes on other parts of her body, including her stomach, breast and arms. No bruising in the woman’s sex organs was mentioned in the autopsy report, Dr. Germaniuk said.

Germaniuk testified this morning in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the murder trial of Adams, accused of killing Tenney on Dec. 29, 1985. He was Tenney’s downstairs neighbor.

The autopsy showed found marks made by something about a quarter inch wide around Tenney’s neck and around her wrists, Dr. Germaniuk said.

Either the smothering or strangulation caused Tenney’s death, Dr. Germaniuk said.

He disagreed, however, with the method used by Dr. Belinky’s office to determine the time of death.

If convicted of killing Tenney, Adams could get the death penalty.

For the complete story, see Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.