Prosecutors in Cambria County have told Judge Tamara R. Bernstein that they will not seek the death penalty against a Mercer County man who is accused of killing a Blairsville woman five years ago and dumping her body near a hiking & biking trail in Johnstown.
46-year-old Christopher George Rowe is charged with raping and killing 26-year-old Kaylene Roedel, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, in August of 2016. The charges were filed last July by Johnstown police. Rowe is being held without bond in Cambria County on charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with an unconscious person, and false reports to police.
Roedel’s death came just six days after Rowe had been released from jail on bond on a domestic abuse charge. Investigators say he stalked and threatened her, and Blairsville police were called for another domestic incident between the two. After she disappeared, police again went to Roedel’s home, where they found Rowe and his new girlfriend loading belongings into a U-Haul and into Roedel’s SUV. The new girlfriend was from Johnstown, not far from where Roedel’s body was found.
Rowe entered a plea of not guilty yesterday via videoconference from SCI Mercer. Investigators have an overwhelming amount of evidence against him, including DNA matches and statements from others, including an ex-girlfriend who says Rowe took her to the site where he’d dumped the body.
Comments