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2002 homicide resolved

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: October 30, 2009

DADE CITY - One of east Pasco County's oldest pending criminal cases was resolved Thursday when Michael Louis Berencsi pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Berencsi, 56, of Hudson, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing Roger Ware, an Ohio truck driver who was found beaten in the parking lot of the Dixie Boy Truck Stop on Nov. 4, 2002. Ware, 59, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he died the next day.

It took Pasco County Sheriff's Office detectives more than a year to track down Berencsi. They found him in Plymouth County, Mass., living with his girlfriend's daughter. Officers there arrested him on a second-degree murder charge on Nov. 24, 2003.

Berencsi was returned to Pasco County and posted $200,000 bail. He remained free until entering the guilty plea Thursday. Berencsi was scheduled to go to trial on the second-degree murder charge Monday.

Authorities said the brawl arose from a domestic disagreement. Ware's ex-wife, Rosemary, told authorities that Berencsi told her he "lost his cool" and beat Roger Ware, leaving him in a pool of blood, according to a court document.

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