Leslie Buck died of strangulation and head trauma, a Florida medical examiner testified Tuesday, and the scene of her death appears to have been altered before her husband called 911 eight years ago.

Dr. Barbara C. Wolf, the second of three medical examiners the state plans to call at the murder trial of Charles F. Buck at New London Superior Court, said it is her opinion, "to a reasonable degree of medical certainty," that Leslie Buck died of blunt head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression.

Investigators consulted numerous experts as they looked into the death of the Stonington teacher, including medical examiners in New York and Florida and the renowned crime-scene reconstructionist, Henry C. Lee.

Prosecutors Paul J. Narducci and Lawrence J. Tytla are calling some of the experts to the witness stand in an effort to convince a panel of judges that Buck murdered his wife on May 4, 2002. Police arrived at the couple's home at 77 Masons Island Road in Mystic to find Mrs. Buck dead at the bottom of a staircase. Stonington police suspected Buck immediately but did not obtain a warrant for his arrest until January 2009.

Buck pleaded not guilty, retained prominent defense attorneys Hubert J. Santos and Hope C. Seeley and opted for a trial before three judges rather than a jury.

The case has frustrated investigators because Dr. Malka Shah, the state medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Leslie Buck, ruled that head injury was the cause of death but said that the manner of death - whether homicide, suicide or natural causes - could not be determined. Shah testified last week.

Wolf serves as a chief medical examiner for five counties in Florida, holds board certifications in three forensic specialties and has lectured, taught and consulted widely on the topic of unnatural deaths. She was hired first by attorney Shelley L. Graves, who has brought a wrongful death lawsuit against Charles Buck on behalf of Leslie Buck's estate. The state then consulted with Wolf, agreeing to pay her $400 an hour for the time she spends on the case plus $3,000 for each day she is away from home.

Wolf said she met with Shah, reviewed all investigative reports, photos and video and examined microscopic samples of Leslie Buck's heart and brain. She concluded that the death scene appears to have been altered because there were no sharp objects on or around the stairs that could have caused the deep laceration to Leslie Buck's forehead. Also, Wolf said, the bloodstains on Leslie Buck's clothing indicate she was upright when she suffered the wound.

"A wound like this bleeds according to gravity," she testified. "At some point after she had it, she had to be in a position that her head was up. ... If indeed the staining happened as she fell, there would have been blood on the stairs."

Wolf also testified that Leslie Buck would have had injuries over a larger portion of her body had she fallen down the stairs.

The state alleges that Charlie Buck, an electrical contractor who was obsessed with a younger woman, clubbed his wife with a heavy length of copper wire that he told others he kept for his own protection. Leslie Buck suffered a skull fracture in the back of her head and a small area of bleeding on the brain, but she did not have a visible brain injury, according to Shah and Wolf.

Wolf said Leslie Buck also had a neck abrasion, and noted that Charles Buck had referred to a neck injury when he called 911 to report that his wife was unresponsive. Wolf conceded the neck injury was minimal but said asphyxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain, sometimes leaves no physical findings.

"It is a diagnosis we have to make in light of the scene and circumstances," Wolf testified.

Complicating the case further, Dr. Steve Downing, a cardiovascular specialist from Yale University who was consulted by the state, has opined that Leslie Buck died of myocarditis, a heart condition. His opinion, rendered this summer as the case headed to trial, resulted in a reduction in Buck's bond from $2.5 million to $1.5 million.

Wolf testified that she "respectfully" disagrees with Downing. Like Shah, she said that Downing might not have had all of the information he needed when he reviewed the case. Wolf said the heart samples indicated only a scattering of diseased tissue. She said it is not unusual for someone to have a disease, but to die of other causes. She said she autopsied the pilot of TWA Flight 800, which exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Long Island in 1996.

"His heart was riddled with myocarditis and that had nothing to do with the downing of the plane," Wolf testified.

Some time after Thanksgiving, the state is expected to call Dr. Michael Baden, a New York medical examiner who has served as an expert in cases involving John Belushi and O.J. Simpson. Baden also contends that Leslie Buck was a victim of strangulation. A representative of the state crime lab who worked with Lee on the scene reconstruction also is expected to testify.

When the trial resumes today, Carol Perez Stephens, Buck's alleged romantic interest, is expected to undergo cross-examination. Stephens, a bartender at the now-defunct Drawbridge Inne in Mystic, testified last week that Buck spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her, purchasing two cars, a home, a diamond ring and other gifts.

k.florin@theday.com