I-Team 10 update: Cold case suspect arraigned Monday | Crime

He was the suspect all along. A man already in prison for life is charged with the 1991 cold case murder of a Greece music teacher. It’s a story I-Team 10 broke on Friday.

On Monday, 59-year-old Edward Laraby was arraigned on a two count indictment charging him with the murder of Stephanie Kupchynsky.

Laraby was arraigned at the prison because he is terminally ill and his health is really a motivating factor behind his cooperating with police. Terminally ill, Laraby was in a wheelchair when he pled not guilty to the charges.

From a prison hospice at Wende Correctional Facility, a 59-year-old Edward Laraby was charged with two counts of murder.

He suffers from ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. His declining health and a desire for a private burial convinced him to provide investigators with an incriminating statement about a crime that occurred 21 years ago.

Robert Napier said, “His now dire health issues has really changed his focus in life to one of the after-life, in effect and where his final resting place will be is a primary objective.”

Stephanie Kupchynsky of Greece disappeared without a trace in August 1991. Her car was found at the airport, but no one would ever hear from the 27-year-old school music teacher again. In 1998, some boys found her skeletal remains in a remote area along a creek in Orleans County.

Investigators immediately focused on Laraby, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex where Kupchynsky lived. He had a history of violent felonies, serving time for rape, sexual abuse and armed robbery. Authorities confirm that upon his arrest on sexual abuse charges in 1993, Laraby offered to take authorities to Kupchynsky’s body in exchange for leniency.

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said, “At that point, based on the information that was provided to us, we did not want to make a deal with him. He was looking at a severe charge and we wanted to prosecute it, and there was no reliability of what he was offering at that time."

Recently, investigators were able to get a statement from Laraby in which he admits his role in the murder of Kupchynsky. Greece Police say it took several years of developing a relationship with the violent felon.

Greece Police Chief Todd Baxter said, “What occurred overtime was letters, correspondences, work with lawyers and personal appearances by the detectives on numerous occasions to the correctional facility.”

Currently serving two life sentences, another arrest now, it isn’t likely to change anything about his freedom. What it does though is give the family of Stephanie Kupchynsky some closure.

Doorley said, “Regardless of how much time has transpired, every single crime victim in this community deserves justice and I hope we can finally bring justice to Stephanie."

Laraby’s attorney says he did not want to be buried on state prison grounds. Greece Police were able to make arrangements for a private burial in return for his statement.

A trial date is set for February of next year, but given Laraby’s health, it isn’t clear if that will ever happen.

To watch the full news conference with Greece Police and the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, click here.