And then a light went on.

Well it's been a LONG time since I updated my blog and began to question why I'm doing this in the first place. Then I read some of my stories and reminisced over some untold ones and I began thinking (look out), this is essentially a public diary, (albeit an obscure one... But one none the less) and also a good way to catalogue my adventures. So here is one that I was thinking of the other day as I was in East LA watching a storm form over the desert. I call it, "And then a light went on". It was a stormy day back in the mid-90s Erie Pennsylvania. I would remember the Electrical storms that would form up at record speeds and shake whatever building you happened to be in almost to the ground. As a child I was deathy scared of lightning and I would remember my sister and my parents coming into my bedroom to watch the evening storms because my window had the best view. (actually I think that's what they told me but really they were there to help calm my nerves) One of the most peculiar storms I ever experienced were humidity storms where you could see flashes of light but there would be no claps of thunder. In retrospect it could have been the northern lights but I was a kid so who knows for sure. Then there was Walking around south shore or sneaking into the peninsula at 1 or 2am to watch storms form over Lake Erie which became a past time. It was like I finally made my peace with the monster under my bed and had a healthy respect for the noise of eating his captures as long as I wasn't next on the menu. It would be years later that I would finally realize that I wasn't the main course, but I would be first on the desert menu. It was a Wednesday or Thursday evening if I remember correctly. Or maybe it was a Monday, Tuesday, friday Saturday or Sunday. I know it was one of them for sure. What I also know for sure was what happened next. A light went on. Louie DeFonsey and I were driving to wegmans on upper peach street and there had to be one of the biggest storms playing in the background. It was like a mix between fusion jazz and death metal. We finally get to the parking lot and decide to wait a few minutes to let the rain die down so we didn't get soaked. So as we were talking, it just went white. Have you ever turned on a light and have it burn out immediately when you flicked the switch? You know that flash? Imagine the sun was a lightbulb. Simultaneous to the flash was an instant CRASH of thunder. Not instant like instant oatmeal, but instant like "Eurika!!" instant. So we knew lightning struck SUPER CLOSE BY. At the same time I felt a numbness and tingle go down my right arm and louie felt the same down his left leg. Mind you I said tingle not tinkle. I looked over at him and I said "I think we just got hit by lightning!" Sure enough when we got out of his truck, people by the wegmans entrance said that lightning hit the light post, traveled down and hit the truck we were in. The tires grounded us. Wow, what an experience. To this day One of my favorite movie quotes is from Bergis Meridith from Rocky when he tells Sylvester Stalone that he was going to "Eat lightning and crap thunder..." Suffice to say to this day I can still do neither.

Always in Three's

Ok, I've decided to tell another story about my brushes with death. I have titled
this story "Always in Three's" since I have an appreciation for Drama. I've never
had a passion for writing but I've always loved to tell stories. Especially stories I've been through since no one else has shared similar experiences with me.

Now If I were to choose a writing style it would have to be based in the 1950's Era, Ala Hitchcock. The way he would write would always suggest either a deep seated fear of losing your berring of a serious situation or being in a predicament in normal surroundings where your own life is suddenly at stake and/or you can empathize with those involved. Hence I call this post "Always in Three's" in an effort to produce a sense that anything can happen next, at anytime... although my brush with death are only two in number.

What you are about to read is true. In every detail.

It was the first snowfall of the season in Erie Pennsylvania. Everything fell silent. Only a few lines of tire trails litered the street plush with the newly fallen snow. I was trying to get the last 2 of 90 hours in the ministry as I was Regular Pioneering at the time and I was calling back on the interest shown on previous calls. I've always felt peacefull in the snow. Not many like it, but personally I love it. Even at the age that I am now... given the opportunity, I would build a snow fort and just lie down and listen to the sound of silence as it reverberates off the inner crusted shell.

Slowly walking across the street and taking it all in, I muster up my senses to climb the 3 stories of a brownstone to an attic that was rented out. Knocking on the door I was greeted by a smiling face. "Come in man! How's it going?" the warm voice cried from behind the door. It's the kind of warmth that only exists east of the Mississippi offered to complete strangers. I've been there before though. I left a few magazines and wanted to see if there was anything that sparked his interest.

Climbing the stairs to an attic that was once part of a family home in the late 1800's felt like home to me. Growing up in an old brick home myself and going to the attic was always a treat for me as a kid. In fact, we had an old hatch on our roof that I used to open late at night and sneak on to the roof and look at the top of the homes and the stars of the heavens and think about life, pray and see how far to the edge of the roof I could go without freaking out.

So I felt safe.

We sat for over an hour pouring over the Bible and him talking about his faith and how he felt about the Pope and the impact he had on him as his "spiritual" leader. Over the course of our conversation, being the gracious host he kept offering me something to eat or drink, which as a rule I always turn down. This came from 6th grade when all the kids came to school talking about the movie Halloween where a kid bit into an apple and there was something in it that I'm not going to mention but freaked me out. (as a side note, when I was walking to school in 7th grade... a friend of mine from my Congregation found a bag of candy under a mailbox and started eating it. He asked if I wanted any and I said no! "are you crazy!!!" He died last year. Not from that candy, but from too much stake and fatty foods. Ok, are we good? Ok, now back to the story) :)

So after that conversation I really felt I met a meek person. Someone Teachable! I couldn't find him again. I tried for months. Periodically I'd get him at the door, but he was always too short. "WHO IS IT???" "NOWS NOT A GOOD TIME!!!"

As persistant as I was I really wanted to find someone who wanted the truth vs. being force fed so I gave up on him.

In the meantime I was getting very interested in the local news. I've always been facinated by weather but more and more the news of what was happening locally kept taking me over.

Over and over there was a story of an old woman who was shopping at the Millcreek Mall that had been missing for weeks. It was being played over and over again on all the stations. She was the Charlie Sheen of her time.

But finally it happened.

It was there.

Her Body was found in a ditch off of I-79.












Her Poor family.









Her dreams.







Ripped away. So sad.





Her life.....




Ending so tragically at a mans hand.







On the small 15 inch Television... in the privacy and security of a 17 year old childs bedroom was her killer.

Taken away in handcuffs... was the man I was preaching too alone.


Now I've been in situations before where I've felt Jehovahs protection, but never did I realize how much so till recently.

Over the past few years I've been through a lot. And as my friends will attest to... Jehovah has been there for me.

But 2 years ago I met a guy at my work. And he told me about a close-in-counter a friend of his had in Wisconsin. Walking home late on night, he was offered a ride by a guy driving the same route. He turned him down although it was tempting. Weeks later the same man was on TV for the grosest acts against humanity. His name was Jeffery Dahmer.

When I heard his story, my mind immediatly shot back to what I went through. And how I, (I believe) was this persons intended victim.

So the moral of this story?

There is none. Given the same situation, I would do it again. In fact, in my last congregation I found myself in the same situation from time to time, working alone in the ministry. But every door I've come to, I know that I'm really not alone. This work is under heavenly direction. Maturity has told me that everything I do must now must be done with a "spirit of a sound mind" so I'm more cautious. However the brushes I have with death don't compare with the brushes with life I'm presented with each day, along with the hope of living forever.

I hope one day I will be found worthy to tell this story personally to the lady who lost her life at this maniac hands.

May that be your hope as well.


As told by Tom Petroff

Nothing New

Ok, I'm going to tell my next murder story but not too many subscribed so i hope this isn't a waste of time. I'll tell it by the end of next week. Spread the word. :)

Free Dessert

Ok, This isn't as much strange but a bad thing I did as a kid.

The Schools in the East Coast have coat rooms for the cold rainy days that inhabit Erie more than 50% of the year. So in First grade I remember everyone in class doing their schoolwork and being that I was in the back row I could sneak in the coat room unnoticed and hide in the coats for whatever reason.

One day I saw someone's lunch and opened it up and saw that they had some Little Debbie chocolate cakes. Unable to pass them up I took them, went back to my seat and asked the teacher if I could use the bathroom. She let me and I gorged myself with all the chocolate goodness I could grasp, by the toilet.

Satisfied with my crime I walked back to my classroom and not too much later, noon hit. LUNCHTIME!!!

Sitting at the table with my friends I heard a loud whimpering voice just under the point of sheer crying "I thought my mom gave me some chocolate cakes!!!". Boy was his mom in for it when he got home! I felt soo bad I never did it again.

The End!

By the way, 20 years later I became a victim of a similar crime. As many of my East Coast friends know, it pretty much was party time every weekend at my place. Making crazy movies, watching them, Walks around South Shore, etc... Fun! So one day (I wont say his name, but it rhymes with Jeremly Raice) 2 of my friends made the pizza run to Lil'Caesars for the group and with the special came a side of Spaghetti. They returned with only pizza. "Where's the Spaghetti?", "oh... they must have forgot to give it too us." So I called LC to chew them out and they said they thought they gave it to us and apologized. So we ate the pizza and were satisfied. Years later my friend confessed to eating the spaghetti. That probably explains why he didn't stay while we ate the pizza. He must have had a lot weighing on his mind... or possibly stomach.

That's what I get.

Ok, i'll tell one Murder Story to start off

This story is Completely True. I changed nothing from the facts you are about to read.

It was one of those Hot summer days in June 24 1988 when I was in my backyard watering the lawn. As I was watering I heard my neighbor from the upstairs apartment yell "I can't believe you killed her!" I looked up and then hurried into the house.

Concerned, I called one of my friends John Horvath and told him what I heard. He thought I was joking but said not to worry about it. I then called a brother, Juan Silva who was a special pioneer staying with us along with his wife and told him to come over. When he did, we decided to investigate further. (Now I used a cordless phone to make these phone calls and from time to time I could hear my neighbors too because there was no signal encoding to keep calls private on cordless phones back then. I could only assume he may have caught part of my conversation too)

So we walked over to his building and the screen was missing from the door and we rang his bell and thought of an excuse for our visit, like my cat had got loose and we wondered it she crawled up his stairs. When he came downstairs he was livid! "What do you want?" he demanded, holding his cordless phone. "We were looking for my cat and wondered if she crawled up your stairway." "There is NO cat here!" and he walked back up the stairs. At this point, Juan and I didn't give it a second thought, and shrugged it of and pretty much dropped the issue.

Later that night, around Midnight... I was getting ready for bed and I could hear what sounded like 3 people walking along the sidewalk of my house. Perched in my bedroom window I saw 2 men and a woman walk in the backyard and then stand in the exact spot where I was when I heard "I can't believe you killed her!!!" They looked up and saw me in the window and ran away. I wasn't going to be sleeping that night. (by the way my parents didn't make much out of my initial story of what I heard. I don't blame them. The whole thing seemed like it would have been making something out of nothing. But not any more)

I got out my dads video camera and started taping. It was an 8mm high 8 sony camcorder that could record everything as if it were daylight if it was pointed directly in the sun. In other words, it didn't record well in low light and now I was recording in the middle of the night. In fact, nothing I taped showed up. But what did I see? I could hear a lot of commotion coming from next door like a bunch of people running down the stairs, they had flashlights and were doing something in the trunk of their car. This part is hazy for me. I don't remember if they drove off or stayed but something serious went down in the trunk of that car.

Fast forward 2 days. In the Erie Daily Times Sunday edition was an article. 'Naked womans body buried halfway in the sand at the beach'. Her name was Janine Kirk. My parents told me it was time to call the police. The police came by, took my statement and had me go to the Courthouse to file another statement on Monday. A few days later my mother is doing yardwork and while sweeping along the curb in front of the house, she comes across sand. The same type of sand found on the beach at Lake Erie. She reported that to the police.

Nothing else came out of it for 14 years and I was now living in Studio City California. This is where it gets very strange.

My parents sold the house you see here and bought a smaller one because it was easier to care for. Unbeknownst to them they moved next door to Jim Leech. Mr. Leech was a detective who was fishing through some unsolved cases and prior to meeting my parents decided on the Janine Kirk case. Wow! My parents tell him the story and I get a phonecall from him to recount the whole story. When I was finished he said that my current statement was identical to the one I gave at the courthouse 14 years earlier. I thought I would have to fly home testify once it goes to trial. You can read what happened at the trial here: http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030723/FRONTPAGE/107230353

I was never called. In fact I got a hold of Jeff Kirk (Janine's Brother) over the phone and told him the whole thing and he said my testimony never showed up in the trial. James Fleming my old neighbor, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter so i assume my statement could neither help or hurt the case. It couldn't prove any intention.

Now it is about 2 years later I decide to go back home for a vacation. I'm working in service with Louie DeFonsey and he wanted to go see an old friend who lives about 20 miles away in Girard and give him a witness. We show up, knock on this guys door, he opens it... "Hey Louie hows it going? ", "Good, this is a friend of mine, Tom Petroff he lives in Sunny California", ""Hi... nice to meet you. I didn't get your name.", "Jeff... Jeff Kirk"

Doo dee doo doo Doo dee doo doooo

You have just taken your first ride in.... The Tom Zone.

The Magical Mystery Tour of My Strange Life

It was a Fall evening when I was at a party and asked to tell my Murder story. I asked which one do you want to hear? "How many do you have???" was shouted out by almost everyone at once. Faining interest ( I have told this story a million times) I said "two" and I told the story. Both of them. During my last trip to Erie (that's Erie, not Eerie) my home town in Pennsylvania I took a picture of the home where I possibly could have existed no more and sent it from my phone to those who were at that gathering and it immediately sparked the same interest that was at the party months earlier. That house IS pretty creepy. By the way, that is where I am now. Not the home of Murder, but visiting my parents in Erie, which by the way I'm surprised they never killed me with the things I did growing up. Anyhow, i'm getting off track.



I began to think of all the funny things and strange that I've gone through in life and thought I would create a blog so i can log these stories as they come to mind. So sit back, Enjoy and if you want to... subscribe. I do not think of myself as interesting, but my life has been a rollercoaster, a fun house, a buggy ride and a rocketship. So take a ride with me as we ride through memory lane or as some have come to call it... The Tom Zone. (do doo do doo)



*****note***** I am going to try to write in chronological order so if you come in the middle of a story, I recommend that you start from the beginning of my posts since it may explain a lot about me and why I ended up in such a predicament. Oh, by the way I just remembered. I have 3 Murder stories.