Pennsylvania man guilty of killing, dismembering parents
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Western Pennsylvania man has been convicted of killing and dismembering his elderly mother and stepfather before putting their body parts into plastic bags.
An Allegheny County jury took less than three hours Tuesday to convict 49-year-old Frederick Harris III of first-degree murder and abuse of corpses.
The conviction carries an automatic life prison sentence without parole, though that must be formally imposed Jan. 3.
Prosecutors say Harris went to his mother’s Penn Hills home on Dec. 13, 2014 and killed her, 73-year-old Olivia Gilbert, and her 76-year-old husband, Lamar.
Harris allegedly killed the couple with kitchen knives, then went to a Home Depot store to buy trash cans he used to store their body parts, which were wrapped in plastic garbage bags.