Standoff ends peacefully in Wyoming County

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Homicide suspect Eleazar Yisrael allegedly tried to disguise his voice when he answered a few of the multiple phone calls made to Samuel John Vacante&#8217;s phone by Vacante&#8217;s girlfriend and son on Aug. 31, according to testimony Wednesday.</p><p>Jennifer Lyn Daley was frantically calling Samuel Vacante, 52, after their phone conversation abruptly ended that day, and Samuel&#8217;s son, Brandon, received a haunting text message from his father&#8217;s phone.</p><p>Their testimony during Yisrael&#8217;s preliminary hearing on an open count of criminal homicide before District Judge Daniel O&#8217;Donnell detailed their worst fears. The hearing was held at the Luzerne County Courthouse because of Yisrael&#8217;s stated belief that he is from a sovereign nation that does not recognize laws in the United States.</p><p>Before the hearing began, county sheriff&#8217;s deputies were forced to carry Yisrael, 29, of Hazleton, from the courtroom to a detention cage in the basement. Yisrael returned to the hearing about three hours after it began, with O&#8217;Donnell warning him he would be removed if he had an outburst.</p><p>Yisrael remained quiet for the remainder of the proceedings as O&#8217;Donnell forwarded the criminal homicide charge, as well as charges of robbery, burglary, tampering with evidence and abuse of corpse, to county court.</p><p>Butler Township police, state police at Hazleton and county detectives allege Yisrael snuck inside Samuel Vacante&#8217;s residence on Coventry Road, Butler Township, and shot him in the back. The shooting occurred as Samuel Vacante and Daley were having a phone conversation.</p><p>Daley testified she always talked with Samuel Vacante at the same time every day when she believed he dropped his cell phone.</p><p>&#8220;I was asking, &#8216;What was that? What was going on? Are you alright?&#8217; I assumed he fell then the call ended,&#8221; Daley said.</p><p>Daley said she repeatedly called Samuel Vacante with no immediate answer. When someone did answer, Daley said she heard water running and a muffled voice saying he hurt his chin and could not talk, before the call ended.</p><p>Repeatedly calling Samuel Vacante&#8217;s cell phone, Daley said one of her calls was answered by the same muffled voice, saying, &#8220;Hospital, stitches,&#8221; before the call terminated.</p><p>Daley said she drove to Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township and to Commonwealth Health Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, only to find out Samuel Vacante never appeared in any of those facilities emergency rooms.</p><p>Brandon Vacante testified he was in Philadelphia with friends when he received a text message from his father&#8217;s phone. He said the text message read, &#8220;Fed up with everything, going away for awhile, power of attorney should go to (estranged wife) Lisa.&#8221;</p><p>Brandon Vacante said the text message was a group text to 20 people and that his father would not have known how to set up the group texting feature on a cell phone.</p><p>&#8220;The way the text was written, I knew it wasn&#8217;t from my father,&#8221; Brandon Vacante testified.</p><p>Brandon Vacante called his father multiple times. When his father&#8217;s cell phone was answered, Brandon Vacante said he heard a man&#8217;s muffled voice saying he hurt his chin and could not talk.</p><p>Authorities said Yisrael was in a relationship with Samuel Vacante&#8217;s estranged wife, Lisa, that began in 2013.</p><p>Township police officer Gerald Palermo, who responded to Samuel Vacante&#8217;s residence after Lisa Vacante reported her estranged husband missing, said he noticed a thin blood line smeared on the garage floor and a pile of bleach-soaked rags hidden behind a lawn tractor. Among the rags were a blue latex glove and a .22-caliber shell casing, Palermo said.</p><p>Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross testified Samuel Vacante died from a .22-caliber gunshot wound, noting the autopsy showed the bullet had severed Samuel&#8217;s spinal cord and ruptured his aorta. Photos of the autopsy were shown on a display screen in the courtroom.</p><p>Vacante&#8217;s body was found Sept. 6, wrapped in a tent in a wooded area of Penn Forrest Township in Carbon County.</p><p>Wrapped with the body was a pillow that had hole similar in size to that made by a .22-caliber bullet. Investigators suspect Yisrael used the pillow to muffle the gunshot.</p><p>Samuel Vacante&#8217;s vehicle, a 2014 Kia Cadenza, was found parked on West Eighth Street in Hazleton, about a two-minute walk to Yisrael&#8217;s residence on West 10th Street, township police officer Jason Zoshak said.</p><p>The Kia&#8217;s license plate was found hidden in the trunk in the spare tire storage area.</p><p>Yisrael&#8217;s fingerprints allegedly were found on the license plate and around the driver&#8217;s side area of the Kia, according to state police.</p><p>Yisrael remains jailed at the country correctional facility without bail.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Eleazar-Yisrael-9-9-15.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Yisrael </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Eleazar-Yisrael-9-9-15.jpg</photo0><caption0>Yisrael </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Samuel-Vacante-missing-Butler-Twp.-9-3-15.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Vacante </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Samuel-Vacante-missing-Butler-Twp.-9-3-15.jpg</photo1><caption1>Vacante </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Ed Lewis at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TLEdLewis</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Details of Butler Township homicide emerge at court proceeding