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Editor’s Note:?Due to a production error, part of this story was missing from Friday’s edition. The following is the full story.
WARREN, Pa. – Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder of an 18-year-old Russel, Pa., resident, missing since Feb. 5.
Pennsylvania State Police said a body found Thursday morning at a 275 Abraham Hollow Road residence in Brokenstraw Township is presumed to be that of Marcus Mattson.
James Anthony McDaniel, 25, Russell, and Gary R. Williams, 22, North Cambria, were taken into custody following a series of events and interviews, with McDaniel as the prime suspect. He was interviewed Wednesday night, when police said he confessed to killing Mattson.
McDaniel was arraigned before District Justice Todd Woodin on Thursday and charged with criminal homicide; reckless burning or exploding; conspiracy – reckless burning or exploding; theft by unlawful taking; abuse of a corpse; and tampering with physical evidence.
Woodin read the charges to McDaniel and explained that the maximum penalty on the lead charge – homicide – is “death or life in prison.”
He was taken to Warren County Jail.
“By statute, you are not entitled to bail,” Woodin told him.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Wayne Kline said that Williams, who was taken into custody in Cambria on Wednesday, was arraigned by District Justice Glenn Carlson on Thursday afternoon at the Warren County Jail as well on charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, reckless burning or exploding – all felonies – as well as misdemeanor abuse of corpse and tamper with/fabricate physical evidence.
Carlson set bail at $200,000 for Williams and encouraged him to seek legal counsel as soon as possible.
He told Williams that these are “very serious charges against you” and said he would be committed to the Warren County Jail until he posts bail or the case is resolved.
According to police, Mattson was reported missing on Saturday, having been last seen the day before.
On Sunday, police responded to a report of a burning vehicle off of Murray Hill Road in Brokenstraw Township.
That vehicle was examined by Pennsylvania State Police vehicle fraud investigators and determined to be the one last associated with Mattson.
Three people who shared the vehicle with Mattson looked it over Tuesday at the state police barracks in Starbrick, Pa. They told police the rims on the torched vehicle were different from the ones last seen on it Friday, Feb. 5.
The interviews led police to contact the Ebensburg barracks in Cambria County to contact Williams, who reportedly told police the rims were given to him by McDaniel on Sunday and that they had been in a garage at 275 Abraham Hollow Road.
On Wednesday, police contacted the owners of that property, Clifford and Ingrid Adams, who reported that McDaniel had had access to the property.
Later that day, state police interviewed Ailasha A. McDaniel, James’ wife. She told police that James told her he had “taken care of the problem” and that she knew he meant he had killed Mattson.
James McDaniel told police Mattson met him at 275 Abraham Hollow where “a drug transaction involving money was to occur,” police said. He then told police Mattson tried to rob him of $2,500, at which point McDaniel said he went for a gun in the crawlspace of the residence. Police reported that McDaniel said he shot Mattson when he followed him into the crawlspace. McDaniel told police he couldn’t move Mattson’s body so he and Williams then tried to burn it where it was in order to dispose of it.
Police said during the interview McDaniel confessed to the murder of Mattson and implicated Williams in the arson of the vehicle even stating the defendant is the one that burned the vehicle. It is alleged McDaniel also implicated the defendant in moving, burning and punching holes in the body of Mattson with a wooden dowel at the residence with intent to dispose of the body.
The two then drove separate vehicles, including the Ford Explorer driven to the scene by Mattson, to Murray Hill Road, according to police.
McDaniel said Williams dumped turpentine on the vehicle seats and used a road flare to ignite the fluid before they fled the scene together.
“The actions of James McDaniel was a planned premeditated murder, not the results of a ‘drug deal gone bad,'” said Rob Greene, Warren County district attorney. “That’s what McDaniel says as his excuse for taking an innocent life. We have no evidence that a drug deal was occurring at the time the homicide occurred. This was cold-blooded murder.”
Ed Lloyd, Warren County deputy coroner, said a positive identification was expected to be made at an autopsy scheduled for Friday in Erie, Pa.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m., Tuesday.
Lloyd said Mattson’s autopsy will be conducted by forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Vey at the Erie County Morgue.