Police: Man suspected of slaying ‘friend’ wanted her car
BRACKENRIDGE (AP) – The neighbor of a 63-year-old Pennsylvania woman found dead of a chop wound to the head and a stab wound to the neck said he killed the woman because he wanted to take her vehicle and leave Pennsylvania so he could “start over,” police said in a criminal complaint.
Allegheny County homicide detectives charged Justin Bartlett, 25, with criminal homicide, burglary and other crimes in the slaying of Linda McGinnis. She was found slain in her Brackenridge home Saturday, a day after relatives reported her missing.
Police found Bartlett in Fairmont, W.Va., on Monday, two days after police saw him in McGinnis’ vehicle in Mannington, W.Va., about 10 miles away. The vehicle was parked in a shopping center parking lot about 2 p.m., but Bartlett ran off when police tried to arrest him, the complaint said.
Police had used the vehicle’s On Star system, a GPS-based service, to trace the vehicle’s whereabouts.
Bartlett first denied killing McGinnis though he acknowledged he took her vehicle without her permission, the complaint said.
Bartlett doesn’t have a driver’s license or a car, but told police McGinnis – whom he referred to as “Grandma” – sometimes gave him rides for errands and that he helped her by doing odd jobs around her house.
Eventually, Bartlett told detectives he “did not mean to kill Linda and that she did not deserve what happened to her. He added he only wanted to get a car and leave Pennsylvania to start over,” police said in the complaint. Bartlett has an extensive criminal record, including charges that he assaulted and held a girlfriend captive after an argument in November. He told police he was “mentally sick,” not taking his medication and “needed help,” the complaint said.
Bartlett used a screwdriver to break into McGinnis’ home through the back door, authorities said. McGinnis was sleeping and had hearing problems. When her dog began growling at Bartlett, he panicked, grabbed a steak knife from her sink and attacked her with it while she lay in bed, the complaint said. Bartlett then found the vehicle’s keys and drove away, police contend.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Bartlett, who still must be extradited from West Virginia to face the Pennsylvania charges.