Death Investigation Underway In Westmoreland Co.

[Frenchy]

Death Investigation Underway In Westmoreland Co.


Police are investigating several deaths Westmoreland County
People identifying themselves as relatives of the victims say a shooting happened at Ferguson Glass Company outside Saltsburg, not far from the Loyalhanna Dam.

They say four people may have been shot and believe three people are dead.

State police detectives and the Westmoreland County Coroner are at the scene, but so far, no official details have been released.

Stay with KDKA for the latest details.
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http://kdka.com/westmoreland/Saltsbu....2.992955.html

This story seems to say Carbon Monoxide, but an other story talks about a shooting

[HiredGoon]

UPDATE

Relative questioned in killings at business
Saturday, April 25, 2009
By Torsten Ove and Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

State troopers yesterday were questioning a Westmoreland County auto glass repair shop owner in the shooting deaths of his sister, his mother and his aunt, who were all found shot in the head inside a garage at the business on Thursday evening.

Kevin Murphy, 48, who owns Ferguson Glass in rural Loyalhanna Township, had not been charged.

But police requested that he turn over his clothes and provide a blood sample to compare to trace DNA taken from a .22-caliber pistol found at the scene. Police say Mr. Murphy told them he hid the gun in the shop the day before.

The dead women were identified as Edith Tietge, 81, who lives across the street from the glass shop; her sister, Doris Murphy, 69, of Leech Avenue in Saltsburg, Indiana County; and her daughter, Kris Murphy, 43.

Kris Murphy and Kevin Murphy lived with their mother and both are listed in state records as owners of the glass business, housed in two buildings on a family farm above Loyalhanna Lake.

Kris Murphy, her mother and her aunt all worked at the shop, which neighbors said did a steady business despite the remote location.

Police said the three women were at work Thursday when they were shot. A family member, identified in a search warrant affidavit only as "Martin," called 911 at about 6 p.m., saying he'd found the bodies lying on the floor "with blood all over the place."

An initial report relayed to the dispatcher that the deaths somehow involved the gas furnace proved unfounded.

Troopers, who were joined at the scene Thursday night by Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck and county detectives, discovered the handgun near a rear door shortly after midnight.

Another employee at the shop, identified as Donald Shondelmyer, told police that Kevin Murphy brought the gun to the shop on Wednesday, although it's not clear why.

Mr. Shondelmyer, who lives in Saltsburg, could not be reached for comment yesterday. A woman believed to be his mother was at his house and he may have been there, too, but she refused to answer the door.

"Kevin Murphy himself told us that he hid the .22-caliber handgun in the shop," police said in their affidavit to search the glass shop and an adjacent trailer, "and the only people who knew where the handgun was were Kevin Murphy, his mother and his sister."

Troopers yesterday expanded their search to some barns and another building on the farm behind Edith Tietge's farmhouse, where neighbors said she lived with her husband. One neighbor said he didn't know the family very well but knew the man who lived in the farmhouse as "Martin," who may be Edith's husband.

At the scene yesterday, Trooper Jeanne Martin would say only that police were investigating a homicide but would release no other details of the case, including a possible motive.

In addition to the searches, troopers were interviewing customers who had visited the glass shop on Thursday.

As police combed the area, a group of people gathered near the crime scene tape across Loyalhanna Dam Road and huddled together next to their cars, some talking on cell phones. They were apparently relatives or friends, but refused to talk to reporters.