ALEXANDRIA, Va. - It took less than a week for law enforcement officials to capture the man they named Thursday as the primary suspect in the killing of Clymer Superintendent Keith Reed Jr.
According to Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace, Anthony R. Taglianetti II was located and apprehended by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and the Harrisonburg Police Department around 4 p.m. Friday in the state of Virginia.
Chautauqua County District Attorney David Foley said Taglianetti will be charged with second-degree murder.
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Suspect Caught
Earlier that same day, law enforcement had released a description of the vehicle Taglianetti may have been driving which was later spotted traveling near the Shenandoah National Park. Officers stopped Taglianetti and he was taken into custody without incident.
While Taglianetti was named as the primary suspect on Thursday, Chautauqua County District Attorney David Foley said he was a person of interest officials were searching for earlier in the week. So much so that Foley had his investigator track Taglianetti's cellphone activity.
"We were able to ping it and the last location we had was in Virginia on Wednesday morning," Foley said. "That was why we believed he was in Virginia as of Wednesday. We had reason to believe he was in Virginia prior to that. We were able to key in on that area and the Virginia authorities obviously did an excellent job locating him and making the stop and taking him into custody."
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David Foley, Chautauqua County district attorney, right, and Joe Gerace, Chautauqua County sheriff hold a news conference Friday night addressing the capture of Anthony R. Taglianetti, wanted for the murder of Keith Reed Jr., Clymer Central School superintendent.
Photo courtesy of Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office
As of Friday evening officials were in the process of obtaining a warrant for Taglianetti. Once issued the county district attorney will look to have Taglianetti extradited back to Chautauqua County.
"We haven't issued a warrant for his arrest yet - we just picked him up - so (the extradition) is something that is going to come once we do issue the warrant," Foley said. "We would have to extradite him from the state of Virginia, of course he has the right to waive extradition. If he does not we would have to file for a governor's warrant and then there would have to be an extradition hearing held down in the state of Virginia."
The process moving forward will depend on the suspect's cooperation as far as the extradition process is concerned. Foley said there is no way to determine the timetable moving forward without knowing what the suspect will decide.
"I have certainly had some dealings with out-of-state homicides. Honestly, they've been the opposite where people have been apprehended in Chautauqua County and were wanted for homicides in another state," Foley said. "We've managed and handled extradition proceedings for other states. This obviously has been one of the more involved situations with another state that I've had as district attorney. I can't say enough about how well the Virginia police authorities responded to our request for assistance."
Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace also praised the interstate communication between law enforcement agencies working on the case.
"Law enforcement agencies in Virginia that cooperated with us have been outstanding," said Gerace. "The Prince William County Police Agency, the U.S. Marshals have been tremendous assisting us. It was really fabulous. From the minute we began reaching out to other agencies to the point we're at now it was nothing but full cooperation."
When asked about the relatively quick turnaround from naming the suspect to his apprehension, Foley said, "You want to get the person as soon as possible because we really looked at this individual as posing a potential threat to the community."
Neither Gerace nor Foley would confirm various media reports of an alternative motive Friday night.