Deaths Bear Out Relative's Fears

TAMPA - Amy Croce went to church Sunday to pray for her cousin, who was reported missing Friday.

But knowing that Wendy Dusza was in a volatile relationship with a controlling, violent man, Croce believed her cousin was already dead.

Hillsborough County deputies said Dusza was killed by her boyfriend, who stashed her body in a storage shed at the couple's Beach Walk Condos complex in Tampa. Her body was found late Saturday night. About 24 hours later, Trevor McGinty shot himself in the head in Gainesville hotel room as police were about to serve him with a murder warrant.

Investigators said it appears Dusza, 34, was killed a week earlier, either the night of Oct. 25 or the morning of Oct. 26.

McGinty, 30, was found dead Sunday night.

There were injuries to Dusza's upper body, Hillsborough deputies said.

McGinty was physically and emotionally abusive to Dusza, and her family considered him a jerk, Croce said.

He pulled Dusza's hair and choked her, Croce said.

"She wasn't allowed to speak to her family often, and when she did speak, it would be on the speakerphone, and he would be in the background," she said.

Several times during the couple's three-year relationship, Croce told Dusza to leave him. Dusza was afraid for her life with him but went back to him repeatedly, Croce said.

"I spoke to her about a month ago, and she said she was going to move, that she wanted to start her life over," Croce said. "She missed her daughter, who lives in Buffalo, N.Y.. She was upset and missed her daughter."

Jealous of the time Dusza spent with her family, he shot up their home on Thanksgiving Day, Croce said.

McGinty fired a 12-gauge shotgun several times in their Hernando County home on Nov. 23, a Hernando sheriff's office report states. A deputy found holes in their home's ceiling and in multiple walls, as well as several spent shotgun shells throughout the home and backyard. A turkey fryer found in the backyard also had been shot.

In February, McGinty was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery on Dusza.

"Trevor pulled her hair and slammed her on the ground," the sheriff's office report states. "She advised he threw her around like a 'rag doll' and pushed her."

In that incident, McGinty pushed Dusza's daughter out of the way and threw her dog across the room, according to the report.

McGinty pleaded no contest in March in Hernando County to charges of domestic battery, discharging a firearm in public, use of a firearm under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence and resisting arrest without violence, records show. He spent nine days in jail.

Last year, Croce said, McGinty threatened to kill himself if Dusza attended an uncle's funeral. Dusza went, and Croce was proud of that.

Single Gunshot Heard

A Gainesville police officer spotted McGinty's vehicle Sunday evening at a Holiday Inn. A SWAT team verified McGinty was inside a sixth-floor hotel room and tried to contact him several times by phone. The SWAT team knocked on the door about 11 p.m.

Before police could do anything, they heard a gunshot, Gainesville police spokesman Keith Kameg said. The team entered the room and found McGinty bleeding from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"I'm sure there will be an autopsy," Kameg said. "But the cause of death was quite clear: He shot himself in the head. There was no one else in the room."

Craig Hudson, manager of First Mutual Mortgage's Tampa office, said he knew the couple through Dusza's brother, Russ. The couple performed loan work out of their house but didn't do much, he said. Russ Dusza repeatedly tried to get his sister to leave McGinty, Hudson said.

Keith Scheerer, the couple's neighbor in Hernando County, said he saw the pair recently. They told him they were having financial problems and were packing their bags, preparing to start new lives in Chicago, where McGinty's father is a lawyer.

A young woman in Pasco County said she and her brother were renting an Embassy Hills home from the couple.

Brittany Parish, 22, and her brother paid the security deposit and for the past week had been trying to track down the couple so they could pay their first month's rent on the Crabtree Lane home. But neither Dusza nor McGinty answered their cell phones, which she thought was odd, she said, because every previous time they called, the couple answered.

Crime Scene Units Move In

Kevin O'Malley, the couple's condominium complex neighbor, saw "an amazing amount of activity" from the sheriff's office this weekend at the complex.

"Crime-scene units rolled in Saturday morning carrying out bags of belongings throughout the day," he said. "It was amazing how much they were carrying out. In the bags, there were some bed linens."

Dusza's family members had not heard from her in a week so they drove Friday to her condo, which she shared with McGinty.

They found the couple's pets alone and hungry and alerted the Hillsborough sheriff's office.

The couple's cat, Mario, will go home with one of McGinty's relatives, according to Hillsborough County Animal Services. The couple's dog, a hound-mix named "Lucky," will go home with one of Dusza's relatives.

Dusza leaves behind the 14-year-old daughter, who lives with the girl's father, Croce said. Dusza's body will be flown to Buffalo, N.Y., where funeral services will be held.

Croce said she was supposed to be maid of honor at Dusza's wedding but that the couple never followed through with marriage plans.

She said she considered Dusza a sister.

"She was everything to me," Croce said. "I just can't believe this happened."