State Police have charged four people with abuse of a corpse in connection with an incident from last year.
Police say on April 30th of 2016, around 5:30 PM, a passerby found 22-year-old Tyler Eckenroad of Commodore lying on the shoulder of Wissingher Hill Road near Allen Bridge Road in Cherryhill Township. Troopers responded to the passerby’s call, and Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman, Jr. pronounced Eckenroad dead at the scene. It was later determined that Eckenroad overdosed on heroin.
An affidavit of probable cause states on April 29th, Eckenroad, 25-year-old Brittany Trausi of Coral, and 29-year-old Ronald Eiselman, Jr of Indiana went to a Sheetz in Indiana to purchase heroin after drinking at a bar in the downtown area. 26-year-old Robert Pardee of Indiana and his cousin, 33-year-old Bryan Harper of Indiana bought beer from a six-pack shop, and they all met at Trausi and Eiselman’s home, where Harper and Pardee drank and Eckenroad, Trausi and Eiselman consumed the drugs. When the four woke up the next morning, they found Eckenroad unresponsive and presumed he was dead. The four then wrapped Eckenroad’s body in a blanket, and put him in the trunk of Trausi’s vehicle. They then drove to Wissinger Hill Road near Two Lick Reservoir, and laid him on the bend of a dirt road. Before they went home, Trausi threw Eckenroad’s ID card in a drain pipe in Chevy Chase, while Eckenroad’s wallet was thrown in the dam at Blue Spruce Park.
Pardee, Haper, Trausi, and Eiselman all face charges of abuse of a corpse, reckless endangerment, and tampering with or fabricating evidence. Charges were filed with District Judge George Thachick’s Office. No word yet on when preliminary hearings will be held for the four of them.
