Cumberland County Double Homicide Suspect Kills Himself

Posted in related deaths

6-16-2011 Pennsylvania:

Robert Liddick's Body, Truck Found Near Susquehanna River

HAMPDEN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A man and a woman were killed in a Cumberland County home early Wednesday morning and the suspect in the double homicide has killed himself.

The homicide happened in the 3900 block of Brookridge Drive in Hampden Township (see interactive map below).

Paul Johnson, 34, who lived in the home, and Wendy Royer, 36, of South 30th Street in Camp Hill, were killed. Both were shot to death.

Robert Liddick, 41, of South 30th Street in Camp Hill, was wanted for questioning in the killings. He shot himself in the head before authorities reached him. His body was found in the Conodiguinet Creek not too far from the Susquehanna River. An apology note was found near his body.

A truck matching the description of Liddick's vehicle was found in the West Fairview Area, according to Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed. A high-powered rifle matching the description of the one used in the killings was also found.

Police Say Suspect Called 911

Liddick called 911 from the Summerdale Diner at 1:40 a.m. Wednesday and said a child was unattended inside the home on Brookridge Drive, according to Freed. Police used a garage door opener from a car at the house to get inside and found Johnson and Royer dead on the kitchen floor.

The killings have "all the hallmarks of a domestic incident," Freed said. There was evidence of "extreme violence" in the kitchen, he said.

Officers found an 18-month-old boy upstairs. He was not harmed. Freed said he thinks the boy is the son of Johnson.

The victims were shot multiple times and the ammunition appears to have come from a high-powered rifle, Freed said.

Royer and Liddick are the parents of another child.

Neighbors said Royer and Johnson were in a relationship.

On Wednesday afternoon, investigators served a search warrant at Liddick and Royer's house on South 30th Street in Lower Allen Township. ..Source.. WGAL.com

Retired Officer's Alleged Killer Says Man Was Child Molester

Posted in Related Deaths

1-25-2006 Pennsylvania:

Testimony Revealed Thompson Believed Man Raped Family Member

PHILADELPHIA -- Startling new information was revealed in court Wednesday about the slaying of a retired Philadelphia police officer.

Detectives said that the accused killer, Galvinus Thompson (pictured, left), has confessed, claiming the man he killed was a child molester.

During an hour of testimony, a detective said that Kenneth Brokenborough was shot to death because Thompson believed he had raped a young member of Thompson's family seven years ago.

Police also said that Thompson, 24, confessed he went to Brokenborough's home on Friday Jan. 13 to confront him with the rape allegations, but Thompson lost his courage. The detective went on to say that Thompson returned three days later, on Monday Jan. 16, and confronted Brokenborough while he was exercising and fatally shot him.

"When you shoot somebody 11 times, you run out of bullets and two of those shots are to the back, you wanted to kill the person. It's not an accident," said Carlo Vega, the prosecutor.

The defense argued that Thompson did not intend to commit murder. They said that Thompson was angry over Brokenborough's denial of the accusation. In his confession, Thompson claimed Brokenborough said, "Get out of here. What are you talking about? I'm not going to jail."

"Voluntary manslaughter is intentional killing, which 10 shots clearly is, but it's motivated by a sudden rage or resentment or anger brought upon by the conduct or the actions of the deceased," said Jack McMahon, Thompson's attorney.

McMahon said that Thompson has expressed remorse and even led police to the gun he dumped in the Schuykill River in Manayunk.

"He's a heck of a kid. By all accounts, this is a fine young man. He's never been arrested before, ROTC, went to high school, did good," McMahon said.

However, the judge disagreed and said that Thompson did intend to kill the man his mother once dated.

"He came armed, fully loaded, and he emptied out that gun," Vega said. ..more.. by NBC10.com

---

Man held in ex-officer's death

Authorities last night charged the son of a Philadelphia police officer with murder in the slaying of a retired officer who authorities say used to date his mother.

Galvinus E. Thompson, 23, of Philadelphia, allegedly fired several rounds from the .40-caliber handgun that killed Kenneth Brokenborough, 52, of the 100 block of Washington Lane, Monday as the former officer did his early-morning exercises, police said.

Police declined to elaborate on a motive for the shooting or say what led them to the suspect.

Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman, said last night that "something" in the past may have led to Monday's shooting, but he would not elaborate.

In recent years, Brokenborough had been dating Thompson's mother, Officer Dana Thompson, who was... ..Source..

Man convicted of killing step-grandfather

Posted in Related Deaths

2-24-2009 Pennsylvania:

An Allegheny County jury convicted a Forward man of first-degree murder this afternoon in the killing of his step-grandfather.

Timothy Large Jr., 31, was acquitted of burglary but also convicted of theft, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and abuse of a corpse.

Mr. Large, who was expressionless as the verdict was read, will be sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison May 27.

This morning, defense attorney Veronica Brestensky, of the Office of Conflict Counsel, asked jurors to convict Mr. Large of voluntary manslaughter -- and not a more serious murder charge -- because he killed 71-year-old Vernon Hayden Sr. in a fit of passion.

Mr. Large testified that he had been sexually abused by Mr. Hayden as a child, and he accused Mr. Hayden of abusing his grandmother and sister as well. When Mr. Large went to Mr. Hayden's Elizabeth Township home the night of Dec. 7, 2007, he testified, Mr. Hayden made a sexual advance and slapped Mr. Large when he turned him down.

"It's not self-defense, but at that particular time, everything welled up and he lost control," Ms. Brestensky said.

In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone argued for first-degree murder, saying that Mr. Large broke into Mr. Hayden's home with the intention of stealing his truck. When Mr. Hayden caught him, she said, Mr. Large decided to kill him.

Mr. Hayden's corpse was found more than a month later in Bedford County, after Mr. Large finally revealed its location. Mr. Hayden had been struck twice with a hammer and shot twice with a rifle.

Mr. Large never had mentioned sexual abuse in interviews with police, Ms. Capone said.

"I find it offensive and insulting," she said. "He's murdered him in cold blood and now he's going to say he's a molester on top of everything else. . . . He's a liar." ..News Source.. by Daniel Malloy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Man, 12-year-old daughter found dead

Posted in Related Deaths

5-31-2007 Pennsylvania:

A few weeks ago 12-year-old Mandie Coco told friends her father was molesting her.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mandie and her 41-year-old father, Christopher Coco, were found dead lying on his bed, both shot in the head, in an apparent murder-suicide, Stroud Area Regional police said.

Police said they were looking for a motive, but Mandie's friends and others in the Normal Street public housing development in East Stroudsburg said they always thought her father was an odd man who screamed at children and sported a pistol strapped to his hip.

The father and daughter were found about 2:30 p.m. in the front bedroom of their home at 453 Hill St.

Police went to the apartment to check on Mandie at the request of KidsPeace, where she was enrolled, because she had not been seen at school since Friday, Capt. William Parrish said.

Police got no response when they knocked on the door Wednesday morning and when an officer returned about six hours later and noticed flies clumped on inside windows, he became suspicious, Parrish said.

The officer got the Monroe County Housing Authority, which runs the development, to get him inside the two-story apartment, Parrish said.

The bodies were found upstairs next to each other, Parrish said, and a 9mm semiautomatic handgun was found under Coco.

Police were not certain how long they had been dead, but they believed it was more than 24 hours.

''I would not say it happened today based on what we saw inside,'' Parrish said.

There were no signs someone had broken into their apartment, Parrish said. The windows were locked and both doors were deadbolted from the inside, police said. One door had a snow shovel wedged under the doorknob and another door had a crutch jammed under the knob, police said.

Coco and his daughter lived alone in the apartment, police said.

Mandie's friends rode bicycles and gathered on the other side of the yellow crime scene tape around her apartment, which had a crucifix dangling above the doorway and what appeared to be big towels with pictures of angels hanging in the front windows.

They recalled Mandie as a happy girl and her father as someone to avoid, especially on the days when he screamed at neighborhood children.

''Something was wrong with that man,'' said Dannell Wallace, 30, of 466 Hill St. ''He was crazy. Everybody thinks he's crazy.''

Diana Abreu, 30, of 452 Normal St., said Mandie told her daughters that she was being molested by her father.

''I reported he was molesting her,'' she said. She said she called Monroe County Children & Youth ''a good five weeks ago.''

''I think his secret was going to come out,'' she said.

Wallace said she heard ''pop, pop'' sounds that sounded like gunshots Friday night after 11 o'clock but was half asleep and didn't give it a second thought until Wednesday afternoon when she heard what happened inside the Coco residence.

''I always thought he was a pervert because he was too protective of his daughter,'' Wallace said.

A friend of Mandie's, 12-year-old TaNiro Lundy, said he will always remember her as a ''nice, caring girl.''

''She was very confident in herself,'' TaNiro said.

But, TaNiro said, Mandie was always walking around with bruises on her arms and legs.

''You could tell he beat on her,'' TaNiro said. ''She always came outside with new bruises…and made-up excuses.''

About a week ago, he said, she started wearing a cast on her arm.

Eleven-year-old Arthur Malin said Mandie told him ''over 20 times'' that her father had molested her, and said it happened on birthdays and holidays.

Sometimes Coco made veiled threats to neighborhood children, warning them about what happened to his wife, Arthur said.

''He told us, 'I killed my wife,' '' Arthur said. ''He said: 'She's buried out in the back of the house.'''

It all added up to one thing, said 9-year-old Raven Stewart.

''He was mean,'' Raven said. ..more.. by Joe McDonald Of The Morning Call

PA- 4 shots, 2 deaths, no regrets

Very unusual circumstances. Sex offender meets woman, they begin a relationship, then, the woman's husband kills the woman and the sex offender. i.e., sexual circumstances.

9-17-2008 Pennsylvania:

Butler County jury hears man's account of killing his wife and her new lover

She told him she had found a new love and that their 24-year marriage was over.

She warned him that his medical insurance through her job as a convenience store manager would end when the diabetic ulcer on his foot healed.

She said she wanted to sell the family farm, a decision that would mean a new career for lifelong farmer James Raymond Borchert.

But the final thing out of Esther Borchert's mouth -- the thing that seemed to push her estranged husband over the edge -- was the laugh she shared with her boyfriend.

Mrs. Borchert, 42, and Lonnie Schwab Sr., 49, of Meadville, still were laughing when Mr. Borchert, now 51, grabbed his bolt-action rifle and fired two shots into Mr. Schwab as he stood in the kitchen of the Borcherts' Cherry Valley home. Then, as Mrs. Borchert fled out a door and onto a porch, he fired again. Twice.

"They were dead within seconds,'' said Mr. Borchert in an eerily matter-of-fact statement to police. "Honestly, I don't regret it."

That recorded statement, more than two hours in duration, was played yesterday in the Butler County courtroom of Judge William Shaffer on the second day of what is likely to be a three-day trial. Court conflicts called for a break in testimony today, with the trial set to resume tomorrow.

Mr. Borchert is represented by Butler attorney Alexander Lindsay. The case is being prosecuted by District Attorney Richard A. Goldinger and Assistant District Attorney Patricia J. McLean.

Mr. Borchert is charged with two counts of homicide. Though Mr. Goldinger will argue for a first-degree murder conviction, he changed course from his predecessor and announced several weeks ago that he will not seek the death penalty for the killings, which occurred Aug. 14, 2007.

On the first day of the trial, a jury of seven men and five women listened to a two-minute 911 tape of Mr. Borchert reporting that he had killed his wife and her boyfriend because he lost his temper. The recorded statement Mr. Borchert gave to police was played in court yesterday as the defendant sat beside his attorney, his hands folded, his demeanor calm.

"He was the closest to me. ... He tried to escape. I don't think he got a half a step. ... She made it out the door. She was at the top of the [porch] steps and [the shot] knocked her clear down." Afterward, he set the rifle atop a chest freezer on his porch, called 911, then fed his livestock while he waited for police.

Mr. Lindsay highlighted repeated statements from his client that he had not planned or premeditated the killings. The fact will play heavily in determining whether he is convicted of first-degree murder, which would mean a life sentence behind bars, or a lesser degree of homicide.

Mr. Schwab had been convicted in 1998 in Crawford County of indecent assault and was required to register as a sex offender. ..News Source.. by Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette