pennsylvania | My Crime Library

Thomas James Niarhos Charged With Murder

Thomas James Niarhos is an alleged teen killer from Pennsylvania who has been charged with the murder of Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins, 39.

According to police reports Thomas James Niarhos was involved in an altercation with Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins as Niarhos believed that Hawkins had sexually assaulted his girlfriend behind a dumpster.

The fifteen year old Thomas James Niarhos would pull out a gun and fatally shoot Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins in the face. Niarhos would be detained at the scene by a witness and soon after was placed into custody by the Pottstown Police Department

Thomas James Niarhos has been charged as an adult in the murder of Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins

Thomas James Niarhos News

A teen has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man in Pottstown Wednesday afternoon, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.

According to court documents, officers responded to South Hanover Street at Security Plaza around 12:07 p.m. and found a man – later identified as 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins – with a gunshot wound to his head.

Hawkins was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials stated.

Officials said the suspect – later identified as 15-year-old Thomas James Niarhos of Stowe – was held by a witness and immediately taken into custody by police.

A gun was recovered from the scene and officials said it was later determined to belong to Niarhos’ father.

Upon further investigation, detectives discovered that a fight had ensued between Niarhos and Hawkins.

Surveillance video showed that Niarhos had extended his arm out toward Hawkins and in return, Hawkins swung a tire attempting to knock a gun out of Niarhos’ hand, according to officials.

Officials said Niarhos then fired a single shot at Hawkins, fired another round, dropped the gun and was then detained.

An autopsy report stated that Hawkins had been shot once in the side of his face at close range, officials said.

According to court documents, Niarhos has now been charged as an adult with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing a firearm by a minor, possessing an instrument of crime and other charges.

Officials said Niarhos is being held at the Montgomery County Youth Center with no bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Nov. 30.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/15-year-old-charged-with-murder-in-deadly-shooting-of-man-in-pottstown/3704738/

Thomas James Niarhos More News

A 15-year-old from Stowe who is the son of the executive director of the homeless advocacy agency Beacon of Hope has been charged with first-degree murder in the daylight shooting of a homeless man just yards from the borough police station.

Thomas James Niarhos of East Race Street is accused of shooting 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins, who was experiencing homelessness, near the Norfolk Southern train tracks at South Hanover Street and Security Plaza, which is also the hub for the Pottstown Area Rapid Transit bus routes.

The motive in the shooting may be related to an alleged sexual assault of Thomas James Niarhos’ girlfriend four months earlier, according to investigators.

Court records indicate Thomas James Niarhos told police on July 13 that Hawkins had raped his 16-year-old girlfriend, whose name has been withheld, behind the dumpster in Security Plaza near the Norfolk-Southern railroad tracks. Police investigated that accusation but received no cooperation from the girl’s family, and her mother told police the next day the family did not wish to press charges.

Police were dispatched at 12:07 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22, and arrived to find Hawkins lying on South Hanover Street with an obvious gunshot wound to the head, according to a press release issued jointly Saturday morning by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Pottstown Police Chief Michael Markovich.

Hawkins was transported to Pottstown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Thomas James Niarhos was being held by witnesses when police arrived and he was immediately taken into custody by police.

Several witnesses told police Thomas James Niarhos dropped the gun after shooting Hawkins and started running through Security Plaza toward the parking lot of The Blue Elephant restaurant before he was restrained by bystanders until police arrived.

A .40 caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic firearm was recovered on the scene, according to the press release issued by the D.A.’s office. Detectives later determined the firearm belonged to the defendant’s father, who declined to make a statement to MediaNews Group when contracted on Saturday.

However, the accused’s father, told police he kept his gun in a locked nightstand in his bedroom, but kept the key in another location in the bedroom, according to court records. He told police he found a note in his son’s bedroom saying he planned to run away, along with a packed bag of clothing and a phone charger.

A joint homicide investigation by Pottstown Police and Montgomery County Detectives found through multiple witness interviews and review of surveillance video that Thomas James Niarhos had sought out Hawkins, and the two males were standing close together arguing when Niarhos extended his arm toward Hawkins.

Hawkins, who was on a bike and holding a spare tire, swung it at Thomas James Niarhos attempting to knock the gun out of his hand, but Niarhos fired a single shot at Hawkins’ face, and the victim fell immediately. Niarhos fired a second time, then dropped the firearm and walked away, when he was detained by bystanders, the press release said.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, as Niarhos was being escorted to the police station, an officer’s body camera recorded him shouting at first responders trying to save Hawkins, “he’s a rapist, don’t be sorry for him” and “he raped a 15-year-old girl, don’t help him.”

An autopsy was conducted on Hawkins’ body by Dr. Khalil Wardak, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, which found that Hawkins had been shot once in the side of his face at close range.

Dr. Wardak determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was homicide.

Niarhos was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing a firearm by a minor, possessing an instrument of crime and other charges.

Niarhos was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Margaret Hunsicker on Nov. 22. No bail is available for first-degree murder, and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Youth Center.

Anthony Colavecci, who is also experiencing homelessness, told MediaNews Group Wednesday after the shooting that Hawkins, whom he called “Jay,” was his former roommate “and he saved my life. I slipped in the bathroom and I kept saying I was fine, but he insisted that the ambulance take me to the hospital.”

Colavecci said Hawkins had become addicted to drugs in the last few months.

“I keep trying to tell myself I don’t care, but there are people who will miss him and I’m one of them,” Colavecci said.

A preliminary hearing for Niarhos is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Nov. 30, before Magisterial District Judge Scott T. Palladino.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant Chief of Trials Lauren Marvel and Assistant District Attorney Anne O’Connell.

The accused shooter’s father has come to be well-known in the borough since 2020, first as the executive director of the first Al’s Heart Warming Center that operated a winter nighttime warming center for those experiencing homelessness when the COVID epidemic forced area churches which had performed this function to cease operations.

For two years Niarhos, who previously experienced homelessness himself, ran the center out of the former St. Aloysius parish school on North Hanover Street. When that arrangement ended in 2022, the agency, now named Beacon of Hope, operated a warming center in St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, which brought them into conflict with the borough as a zoning violation that was ultimately withdrawn.

Niarhos has been the local face of the agency through its efforts to use $1.3 million in federal COVID funds to win the 2022 zoning approval for the construction of a permanent 45-bed shelter at Glasgow and West High streets along the western border of the borough

Son of homeless advocate charged with murder of homeless man in Pottstown [updated]

Heather Pressdee Charged With 2 Murders

Heather Pressdee was a nurse from Pennsylvania who has been charged with two murders and has admitted to attempting to kill nineteen more people

The alleged medical serial killer Heather Pressdee was arrested earlier this year for the murders of two patients and according to authorities she has admitted to attempting to kill nineteen others

Heather Pressdee was working as a nurse at the Quality Life Services nursing facility in Chicora Pennsylvania when she was charged. Now the former nurse is facing charges of two counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person

Apparently the medical serial killer would give patients in her care a lethal dose of insulin. The patients ranged from 45 to 103 years old

Authorities are still investigating as a large number of patients died under her care and are trying to determine how many victims she may be responsible for

No word yet whether prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty in this case

Heather Pressdee News

A Pennsylvania nurse is facing additional charges after prosecutors say she admitted to trying to kill 19 patients in her care, according to the state’s attorney general.

Heather Pressdee, 41, was already facing charges after Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Michelle Henry said the registered nurse from Natrona Heights confessed to intentionally administering a lethal dose of medication to three patients at the Quality Life Services nursing facility in Chicora, a borough in western Pennsylvania. She was charged in May with homicide and attempted murder after two men, ages 55 and 83, died and a third was hospitalized, Henry said in a news release.

On Thursday, Henry’s office filed additional charges related to the mistreatment of 19 other patients Pressdee treated between 2020 and 2023 at five different care facilities, Henry said in a news release. The new charges include two counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, according to the release.

In total, 17 patients who were being cared for by Pressdee died, Henry’s office said

Heather Pressdee’s defense team told CNN she is “cooperating” with prosecutors and investigators. She hasn’t entered a plea in any of the charges, attorneys Jim DePasquale and Phil Di Lucente said. “The goal from the very beginning of these matters was to not have the death penalty imposed. We are in pursuit of that goal,” the attorneys said.

In the criminal complaint filed against Heather Pressdee, Henry’s office said that Pressdee admitted to “harming, with the intent to kill” all 19 patients named in the complaint whose ages ranged from 43 to 104.

The patients were being treated at numerous facilities, including Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, according to the complaint.

“Pressdee would often work the medication cart, administer insulin during the night shift when staffing was lowest and the facilities were quiet,” the complaint reads. “Pressdee often took steps to ensure her victims would expire prior to shift change so that they wouldn’t be sent to the hospital where her scheme could be discovered through medical testing such as C-peptide tests.”

Heather Pressdee also allegedly administered a second dose of insulin or would use an air embolism to make sure a patient died if she felt that they might survive, the complaint states.

In one instance, staff members at the Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center suspected that Pressdee was killing patients and alerted administrators, according to the complaint.

In response to complaints, Belair suspended Heather Pressdee pending an investigation but later said an internal investigation concluded there was “no identifiable evidence uncovered to support the concerns of Pressdee’s coworkers,” the complaint states.

CNN reached out to Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and Guardian Healthcare, which operates the facility, but did not immediately hear back.

Guardian Healthcare told CNN affiliate WPXI that everyone at the facility was “devastated and disheartened that someone entrusted to care for our patients could do something like this.”

Attorney Robert Peirce III, who is representing the family of Marianne Bower, 68, identified as “M.B.” in the criminal complaint, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in September against Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, where Bower died.

According to Peirce, Bower’s family initially believed Bower died of respiratory failure but were later approached by investigators who told the family that Bower was given a fatal dose of insulin even though she was not diabetic.

“The goal of the lawsuit is to determine how Heather Pressdee was able to work at 11 different facilities for a year period, where it is acknowledged and admitted by her that at least 17 of her patients passed away,” Peirce told CNN. “In the Belair facility alone, four individuals passed away even though there were multiple complaints from staff members that Pressdee was killing patients. Yet, Belair did a small investigation, determined she still could work and then she went to other facilities where more patients were harmed or passed away.”

In its statement to WPXI, Guardian Healthcare offered its “deepest sympathies” to those impacted, including Bower’s family.

“While we cannot comment extensively about Ms. Bower’s residency at Belair due to privacy laws and pending litigation, our top priority is always to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents and to employ qualified, caring staff to deliver the care our residents deserve,” the statement reads. “Belair has hiring policies and procedures in place that are designed to vet the qualifications and background of potential employees. Management at Belair or any Guardian site take seriously their responsibility not to employ an individual who has the potential to intentionally harm one of our residents.”

Heather Pressdee was arraigned Thursday for the additional charges. She waived her preliminary hearing and is being held at Butler County Prison without bail, according to Henry’s office.

“The damage done to the victims and their loved ones cannot be overstated,” Henry said. “Every person in a medical or care facility should feel safe and cared for, and my office will work tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable for her crimes and protect care-dependent Pennsylvanians from future harm.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/us/nurse-heather-pressdee-patient-deaths-pennsylvania/index.html

Robert Bowers Sentenced To Death In PA

Robert Bowers the man behind the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left eleven people dead has been sentenced to death in Pennsylvania and will head to Federal death row

According to court documents Robert Bowers would enter the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 and opened fire killing eleven people and leaving six people injured including four police officers who arrived at the mass shooting

Robert Bowers faced more than sixty charges related to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting and the jury would find him guilty on all charges

Now the jury has decided the only appropriate punishment for the mass shooting is the death penalty.

Robert Bowers More News

he gunman who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and killed 11 worshippers will be sentenced to death for perpetrating the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

Robert Bowers spewed hatred of Jews and espoused white supremacist beliefs online before methodically planning and carrying out the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where members of three congregations had gathered for Sabbath worship and study. Bowers, a truck driver from suburban Baldwin, also wounded two worshippers and five responding police officers.

The same federal jury that convicted the 50-year-old Robert Bowers on 63 criminal counts recommended Wednesday that he be put to death for an attack whose impacts continue to reverberate nearly five years later. He showed little reaction as the sentence was announced, briefly acknowledging his legal team and family as he was led from the courtroom. A judge will formally impose the sentence later.

Jurors were unanimous in finding that Bowers’ attack was motivated by his hatred of Jews, and that he chose Tree of Life for its location in one the largest and most historic Jewish communities in the U.S. so that he could “maximize the devastation, amplify the harm of his crimes, and instill fear within the local, national, and international Jewish communities.” They also found that Bowers lacked remorse.

The family of 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, who was killed in the attack, and her daughter, Andrea Wedner, who was shot and wounded, thanked the jurors and said “a measure of justice has been served.”

“Returning a sentence of death is not a decision that comes easy, but we must hold accountable those who wish to commit such terrible acts of antisemitism, hate, and violence,” the family said in a written statement.

The verdict came after a lengthy trial in which jurors heard in chilling detail how Bowers reloaded at least twice, stepped over the bloodied bodies of his victims to look for more people to shoot, and surrendered only when he ran out of ammunition. In the sentencing phase, grieving family members told the jury about the lives that Bowers took — a 97-year-old woman and intellectually disabled brothers among them — and the unrelenting pain of their loss. Survivors testified about their own lasting pain, both physical and emotional.

Through it all, Bowers showed little reaction to the proceeding that would decide his fate — typically looking down at papers or screens at the defense table — though he could be seen conversing at length with his legal team during breaks. He even told a psychiatrist that he thought the trial was helping to spread his antisemitic message.

It was the first federal death sentence imposed during the presidency of Joe Biden, whose 2020 campaign included a pledge to end capital punishment. Biden’s Justice Department has placed a moratorium on federal executions and has declined to authorize the death penalty in hundreds of new cases where it could apply. But federal prosecutors said death was the appropriate punishment for Bowers, citing the vulnerability of his mainly elderly victims and his hate-based targeting of a religious community. Most victims’ families said Bowers should die for his crimes.

Bowers’ lawyers never contested his guilt, focusing their efforts on trying to save his life. They presented evidence of a horrific childhood marked by trauma and neglect. They also claimed Bowers had severe, untreated mental illness, saying he killed out of a delusional belief that Jews were helping to cause a genocide of white people. The defense argued that schizophrenia and brain abnormalities made Bowers more susceptible to being influenced by the extremist content he found online.

The prosecution denied mental illness had anything to do with it, saying Bowers knew exactly what he was doing when he violated the sanctity of a house of worship by opening fire on terrified congregants with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, shooting everyone he could find.

The jury sided with prosecutors, specifically rejecting most of the primary defense arguments for a life sentence, including that he has schizophrenia and that his delusions about Jewish people spurred the attack. Jurors did find that his difficult childhood merited consideration, but gave more weight to the severity of the crimes.

Bowers blasted his way into Tree of Life on Oct. 27, 2018, and killed members of the Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations, which shared the synagogue building.

The victims were Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; Dan Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 87; and Irving Younger, 69.

Bowers, who traded gunfire with responding officers and was shot three times, told police at the scene that “all these Jews need to die,” according to testimony. Ahead of the attack, he posted, liked or shared a stream of virulently antisemitic content on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right. He has expressed no remorse for the killings, telling mental health experts he saw himself as a soldier in a race war, took pride in the attack and wished he had shot more people.

In emotional testimony, the victims’ family members described what Bowers took from them. “My world has fallen apart,” Sharyn Stein, Dan Stein’s widow, told the jury.

Survivors and other affected by the attack will have another opportunity to address the court — and Bowers — when he is formally sentenced by the judge.

The synagogue has been closed since the shootings. The Tree of Life congregation is working on an overhauled synagogue complex that would house a sanctuary, museum, memorial and center for fighting antisemitism.

https://news.yahoo.com/jury-resumes-deliberations-over-death-131602865.html

13 Yr Old Nolan Grove Charged With Murder

Thirteen year old Nolan Grove has been charged with the murder of twelve year old Kain Heiland before a planned sleepover

According to police reports Kain Heiland was fatally shot in the back by Nolan Grove near his home in Pennsylvania

The reason behind the shooting is not clear however it has been decided that Nolan Grove will be charged as an adult meaning he faces up to life in prison

Nolan Grove would surrender to authorities shortly after the murder. The alleged teen killer has been charged with murder in the third degree, involuntary manslaughter, carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm by a minor, and recklessly endangering another person amongst other charges

Nolan Grove News

A 13-year-old is charged with murder in the death of a 12-year-old boy in Red Lion, York County.

York County District Attorney Dave Sunday made the announcement at a Friday morning news conference.

“Decisions to charge anyone, let alone a 13-year-old with third-degree murder are taken with the utmost seriousness and care,” Sunday said.

Nolan Grove, 13, is charged with murder in the third degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. He is also charged with:

Involuntary manslaughter.
Firearms not to be carried without a license.
Possession of a firearm by a minor.
Recklessly endangering another person.

Grove is charged as an adult. He surrendered Friday morning and was arraigned.

A judge ordered Grove to be detained at a juvenile facility.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June.

Kain Heiland, 12, was shot and killed on Saturday, April 1, in Red Lion. Sunday said Grove shot him in the back.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, a witness told investigators that Grove made a joke about Heiland’s mother. Heiland told Grove to shut up, and then Grove allegedly shot Heiland once.

The district attorney said witnesses and video were key evidence for the grand jury.

Charging documents indicate surveillance cameras inside the home of a boy who was with Grove and Heiland captured Grove pointing the red laser light of the gun at Heiland and Heiland saying, “Take your finger off the trigger.”

Police also said a two-hour FaceTime call placed by the third boy showed Grove pointing the gun at Heiland while Heiland was on the ground and shielding his face.

The boy said he heard Grove say after the shooting, “I am so sorry, K.” K is apparently short for Kain.

Witnesses also told police Grove threatened other children.

At one point, he approached two girls who he thought had his friend’s scooter. One of the girls said Grove told them he wasn’t afraid to shoot someone and would if he could.

Another witness said Grove pointed the gun at the girls as he walked away.

Heiland’s mother believes the charges against Grove should be stronger.

“I think it should have been first- or second-degree murder because I feel like it was premeditated. I feel like he planned out to kill my son,” Devin Rexroth said.

She also has a question for Grove.

“I would ask him why he killed my son because I’m just not understanding why he would do that,” Rexroth said.

https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-york-county-13-year-old-charged-with-killing-boy/43804433#

Claire Miller Guilty Of Sisters Murder

Claire Miller was a fourteen year old teen killer from Pennsylvania who would murder her sister. According to court documents Claire Miller would stab her nineteen year old sister Helen to death in 2021. Helen Miller who had Cerebral Palsy was murdered as her parents slept. Apparently Claire Miller was jealous that her parents attention was focused on her older sister.

Before the trial was to begin Claire Miller would plead guilty to murder but mentally ill. With the plea deal agreement she will spend between 12 1/2 to 40 years.

Claire Miller More News

A Lancaster County teen has pled guilty but mentally ill to a charge of third-degree murder in connection with the stabbing of her sister in February 2021.

Claire Miller, now 16, of Manheim Township, will serve 12 1/2 to 40 years in prison, officials say.

“The events that bring us here today are incoherently tragic,” Judge Jeffery Wright said. “Mr. and Mrs. Miller sit here on the difficult challenge of supporting both the victim and the defendant.” A person who waives his/her right to trial may plead guilty but mentally ill.

“While all homicides are tragic, this case was particularly sad because the victim was her own sister and unable to defend herself,” District Attorney Heather Adams said. “The pain this must have caused the family is unthinkable. “The Commonwealth does not dispute that Miller suffered from a mental health event at the time of this offense, but it legally did not excuse the conduct. The sentence imposed today holds her accountable for the crime committed, but balances the nature of this offense, her young age, her mental condition at the time and the protection of society. The onus now rests with the Department of Corrections to appropriately treat her mental illness and only grant parole when it is clear that she is no longer a threat to the public.”

On February 22, 2021, Miller stabbed her 19-year-old sister, Helen, who had Cerebral Palsy, to death.

Police say the crime happened while their parents were sleeping.

The Lancaster County District Attorney says Miller will be committed to a State Prison to serve her sentence.

https://local21news.com/news/local/lancaster-county-teen-pleads-guilty-but-mentally-ill-to-2021-murder-of-her-sister