Washington Twp., Fayette Co., PA Police Officer, Father, Charged with Murdering 92 Year-Old Woman

From the Observer – Reporter Newspaper -Washington, PA, July 25, 2011

A police officer charged in the slaying of his 92-year-old neighbor in California Borough spent large sums of her money, knowing his father was stealing the cash from her in the months leading up to the homicide, police allege in a court record.

David James McClelland, 36, a part-time officer in Washington Township, Fayette County, admitted to initially being given nearly $26,000 in moldy, older bills from his father, David A. McClelland, in June 2010, state police noted in the affidavit supporting the arrests of the McClellands early Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were charged five days after Evelyn Stepko was found in her basement face-down in a pool of blood after having been stabbed twice in the neck. A fingerprint found on a bloody latex glove in her 1076 Pike Run Drive house connected the 56-year-old father to the homicide, state police said.

Armed with a search warrant Friday, police entered the younger suspect’s small, two-story frame house at 12 School St. and found a lock box hidden under his bed. The box contained nearly $2,000 in old, musty $50 bills, which were consistent with the large amount of money police found in Stepko’s house, the affidavit indicates.