Background: The home in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where the killing reportedly occurred (Google Maps). Insets (from top to bottom): Alysha Riggans and Terry Newland (Fayette County District Attorney's Office).
A man and woman extended their stay at a homeowner's Pennsylvania property — and when he demanded they leave, they stabbed and beat him to death, authorities say.
Alysha Riggans, 30, and Terry Newland, 58, have both been charged with criminal homicide, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse, per court records reviewed by Law&Crime. Riggans also faces charges of theft by unlawfully taking and using an access device to obtain or attempt to obtain property or services.
The two defendants are accused of killing 71-year-old Ralph Brown, the Fayette County District Attorney's Office announced on Monday.
Riggans and Newland lived with Brown at his home on Crow Avenue in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, a city of some 10,000 people located south of Pittsburgh. But as authorities tell it, the defendants were more like squatters, refusing to leave even months after Brown wanted them out.
"They were going to basically take a room for a short amount of time, ended up changing their address to a point where he couldn't really get them out," Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said, according to regional NBC affiliate WPXI.
The pair was fighting with Brown about money last week, the DA added. At some point, Riggans and Newland allegedly hatched a plan to kill the homeowner and steal money from him.
Riggans reportedly said that on April 1, when Brown returned to the Crow Avenue home, she saw Newland stab him in the neck with a knife and then beat the victim in the head with a table. She further claimed that she and Newland then tied a bag around Brown's head, wrapped his feet with cords, and stored the body in the home's basement for two days.
Early Saturday morning, the two defendants allegedly dropped Brown's body — wrapped in a blanket — "along an active railway near Kerr Street," the DA's office said. The victim's remains were discovered on Sunday.
Authorities identified the body as Brown's and determined that Riggans and Newland had stolen money from his bank accounts, area CBS affiliate KDKA reported. Investigators went to his home and "met with our two defendants," Aubele said. "And as soon as we walked into the house, we noticed items of forensic value, including potential blood."
Riggans and Newland were arrested and had their preliminary arraignment in court on Monday. They are expected to return to court on April 20.
They have been denied bail.
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