Formal arraignments are scheduled in Indiana County Court today for three defendants charged in three separate homicide cases. The prosecution filed information in all three cases yesterday.
63-year-old Charles Cook is charged with criminal homicide and robbery in the killing of 76-year-old Myrtle McGill at her South 6th Street home in Indiana. Cook was tracked down in Minnesota last fall, 25 years after the murder. Prosecutors say he was released from an eastern Pennsylvania prison and was supposed to report to a halfway house in Philadelphia, but instead rode a bus across state to Indiana, shot McGill, and stole her car, which was later found in Pittsburgh. DNA evidence led to Cook’s identification as the suspect in the killing and he was extradited to Indiana County in March.
20-year-old Matthew McNevin of Rayne Township will be arraigned on charges of criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide, two counts each of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, plus a firearms violation and receiving stolen property, the gun used in the fatal shooting of Carlos Recalde-Campos and the wounding of Samantha Riley during the IUPattys event on March 25th in Indiana. Police say bad blood between McNevin and Recalde-Campos led to the shooting.
Former IUP student 19-year-old Brady DiStefano of Johnstown will be arraigned on charges of criminal homicide and aggravated assault in the strangulation death of his fraternity brother, 20-year-old Caleb Zweig of Rockville, Maryland. The two were involved in a fight on the night of February 3rd in the 800 block of Wayne Avenue. A witness pulled DiStefano away and applied medical aid until ambulance personnel arrived, but Zweig never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead early the next morning at the Indiana Regional Medical Center.
Today’s court session, which also includes ARD court, begins at 8:30 AM.
