Jan 13, 2015 2 min read

GREENSBURG – A Fallowfield Township man was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his father-in-law, whose body was found in an overheated car along a Western Pennsylvania highway.

Jurors in Westmoreland County deliberated for about two hours Monday before convicting 41-year-old Michael A. Martin in the August 2013 slaying of 67-year-old Earl F. Weygandt, also of Fallowfield. He faces a mandatory life term without possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said he lured the victim to Donegal Township by saying he needed a ride, then got into the sport utility vehicle and stabbed him nine times. Authorities said Martin was angry because Weygandt stopped giving him money.

Martin contended he acted in self-defense after the older man threatened him with a gun.

Defense attorney Brian Aston said his client will appeal the conviction.

Weygandt, however, sensed he was in trouble with Martin as he left the campground in Champion where he was staying at the time.

As he was leaving, he told a security guard his stepson-in-law “was having car trouble and he was going into Donegal to pick him up and take him to a hotel because he did not want him at his trailer because he would cause problems,” state police said.

Weygandt and Martin both lived in the same house on Old Route 71 with Weygandt’s wife and her daughter. However, the U.S. Army veteran spent most of his time in his trailer in Champion.