Death Of Man Held Hostage With Wife For 36 Hours Ruled A Homicide

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A 64-year-old man's death in which he was held hostage with his wife for 36 hours was ruled a homicide, the Medical Examiner said Thursday.

Doru Vaduvescu, 64, died Friday from a heart attack due to complications from injuries after being beaten with a wooden club by Truman Dulaney, 46, officials said.

The Medical Examiner ruled Thursday the manner of death was a homicide.

Vaduvescu was found a week ago with injuries after a woman screamed for help inside their Lower East Side apartment at Henry and Clinton streets, police said. He died a day later at a nearby hospital, police said.

Sources told the New York Daily News, which first reported on the brutal beating, that Dulaney had masqueraded as a CIA agent. Though police could not confirm that Dulaney had pretended to be a CIA agent, officials told Patch Vaduvescu met Dulaney on Facebook and Dulaney moved into their home at 213 Henry St. about three months ago.

Dulaney held Vaduvescu and his wife in a room for about 36 hours last week in which he threatened to kill them and beat up Vaduvescu with a wooden club, the criminal complaint says.

Dulaney demanded their debit card, the pin number and an EBT card, the criminal complaint says.

He left to go purchase cigarettes, upon which Vaduvescu's wife screamed for help, officials said.

The criminal complaint says cops found Vaduvescu with brutal injuries that doctors determined where fractured wrists, ribs and head cuts.

An officer asked who was responsible for the brutal injuries at the apartment, and Dulaney said, "I am," the criminal complaint says.

Dulaney was arraigned Wednesday, and the case will return to court September 23, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said. He was charged with murder, kidnapping, assault and robbery, according to the District Attorney's office.

Dulaney's lawyer Mitchell Schuman of the New York County Defender Services said in an email that the Medical Examiner's report has not yet been shared with defense.

"My understanding is that Mr. Vaduvescu was admitted to the hospital with broken ribs and suffered a heart attack the following day. In any criminal case, that fact pattern raises serious issues of causation which will have to be litigated in this case," Schuman said.

This article has been updated with comment from Truman Dulaney's lawyer.