Apr 3, 2013 2 min read

Former police officer David J. McClelland told state police in a 20-minute recorded statement that he received cash and gifts from his father and stepmother and “kind of figured it out” that burglaries at the home of their 92-year-old neighbor, Evelyn Stepko, were the source of the money.

But D.J. McClelland also told investigators he knew nothing of his father’s involvement in the murder of the Coal Center resident in a recording jurors heard Wednesday as part of the opening day of testimony in the younger McClelland’s homicide trial.

D.J. McClelland, who turned 38 Wednesday, faces charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy, burglary, receiving stolen property, dealing in the proceeds of illegal activities and aiding in the consummation of a crime.

In the recording, McClelland said he received between $22,000 and $26,000, often in musty-smelling older bills that his father, David Allan McClelland, said he had put aside from a defunct construction business. According to D.J. McClelland, his father and stepmother, Diane McClelland, would give D.J. McClelland between $1,500 and $2,000 monthly or every other month. He said he used the money to buy groceries, clothing and gasoline and to pay bills.

Stepko was stabbed to death on July 17 or 18, 2011, in her home, where police later found about $82,000 hidden away.

McClelland’s father, who did yard work for Stepko, pleaded guilty to the murder in October and is serving life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Diane McClelland, who was convicted last month of conspiracy and receiving stolen property, is awaiting sentencing.