PA police officer-father arrested in death of woman www.privateofficer.com

 

Washington County PA July 24 2011 A police officer and his father were taken into custody this evening in connection with the killing of an elderly Washington County woman.

David A. McClelland, 56, of Coal Center, has been charged with criminal homicide and burglary in the stabbing of Evelyn Stepko at her home in Coal Center. She was 92.

The son, David J. McClelland, 36, a Washington Township police officer, was arrested but not yet charged in the killing, authorities said. Both men lived near Ms. Stepko.

His father had been cutting the victim’s grass for the last year and a half. Over that stretch, Ms. Stepko had reported at least four burglaries. David A. McClelland was linked to the crime scene by a fingerprint on a bloody latex glove found there, according to authorities.

District Attorney Steve Toprani said Ms. Stepko was “a captive in her own home.”

Mr. Toprani believed the men had “unfettered access” to her house and that Ms. Stepko kept significant amounts of cash in the house.

David A. McClelland was arrested at a Sam’s Club in Washington, Pa., about 7:30 this evening. David J. McClelland surrendered to state police at 4:30 this afternoon.

Neighbors, concerned that they hadn’t seen Ms. Stepko, contacted law enforcement officers who found her body on Monday.

Ms. Stepko, a retired crossing guard, lived alone in a house on Pike Run Road and didn’t drive.

Neighbors said that there had been a number of recent break-ins in the area recently, and last week Ms. Stepko called a neighbor to say there were people behind her house. A neighbor chased them away with a shotgun. At some point, too, the woman’s phone lines were cut, police said

Souce:www.post-gazette.com