
RUTLAND — The widow of the Boston truck driver shot dead in Rockingham during an apparent road rage incident in 2019 has filed a wrongful death suit against the defendant in the pending murder case.
Dr. Jozsef Piri, who has as vacation home in Londonderry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Roberto Fonseca-Rivera, who was driving a produce delivery truck from Boston to various Vermont restaurants when he was shot and killed on Route 103.
Xiomarra Morales-Arrufat, the widow of Fonseca-Rivera, 40, filed the unlawful death lawsuit against Piri last year. She had been appointed by a Massachusetts probate court to be the “personal representative” of Fonseca-Rivera’s estate.
Her suit seeks an unspecified amount for damages, including medical bills and expenses, and funeral costs, as well as her “pain and suffering” for the loss of her husband’s “society, companionship and consortium.”
While the suit doesn’t list a monetary amount, it seeks what is “fair and just” and seeks a jury trial.
Piri is being represented by Burlington attorney Pietro Lynn, who has filed denials to the allegations included in the lawsuit, which lists the location of the shooting as on Route 103 in Mount Holly, which is in Rutland County. The lawsuit was filed in Rutland Superior Court.
Morales-Arrufat is represented by several lawyers from the Keches Law Group, a Boston-based firm, and a message seeking clarification on the location listed in the lawsuit was not returned on Wednesday.
Piri, now 52, posted a $250,000 bond after his December 2021 arrest on the second degree murder charge, and his murder case has been slowly working its way through the system. A year ago, a judge in the case predicted the trial would be held in 2024.
This week, Windham County Deputy State’s Attorney Steve Brown, who is handling the criminal case, said the case is still proceeding.
Piri is being represented by the Marsicovetere and Levine Law Group in White River Junction.
Vermont State Police, through a detailed investigation, was able to trace the roadside shooting back to Piri, who at the time was driving back to his Connecticut home from his Londonderry vacation home, which was undergoing repairs.
Police were able to trace Piri back to the Rockingham location via his cell phone and GPS markers for his Toyota pickup truck, as well as private cameras along Route 103, and FBI cameras on Interstate 91, installed for an unrelated drug investigation.
Piri, a native of Romania and a naturalized American citizen, practiced medicine in both Connecticut and then Florida before his arrest. He moved to Florida after the shooting and before his arrest.
Fonseca-Rivera worked for Katisiroubas Brothers, and the produce firm became alarmed when he didn’t return to Boston on time. The company, using its truck’s onboard GPS, was able to trace the truck to the Rockingham location and alerted police.
Fonseca-Rivera had been on his cell phone with a friend when police believe he was shot, and was able to pull over to the side of the road before losing consciousness. He had complained to his friend that another driver in front of him had been harassing him.
Police have claimed that Piri shot Fonseca-Rivera in the face from the cab of his pickup truck, but his attorneys have challenged the police scenario as improbable, and said that Fonseca-Rivera, who had a criminal record, was likely the victim of an “alternate shooter.”
Police were able to identify Piri shortly after the shooting due to FBI cameras along Interstate 91, and they interviewed him the day after the shooting. A review of his cell phone later showed that he had searched on his phone for news about a Vermont shooting, even before Fonseca-Rivera’s body was found.
The lawsuit noted that the unlawful death lawsuit was filed well within Vermont’s statute of limitations of such suits.
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