Background: Factory Motor Parts on Bobali Drive in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Google Maps). Inset: Clifton Emerson (Swatara Township Police Department).
Workers at a Pennsylvania auto parts store entered their workplace to find a spilled cup of coffee, a pool of blood — and their boss's dead body, law enforcement officials say.
Clifton Emerson, 63, faces a charge of first-degree murder, according to Dauphin County court records reviewed by Law&Crime. He was detained Tuesday by Maryland State Police. The victim was identified by regional CBS affiliate WHP as Mary Kelly.
On Tuesday at about 7:30 a.m., employees arrived at Factory Motor Parts on Bobali Drive in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the state's capital city. They were not the first ones there, as Emerson and Kelly had apparently already arrived.
The workers reportedly saw a spilled coffee cup on the hallway floor and a large hole in the drywall next to it. When they looked further, they found a large pool of blood stretching into the office of their boss, Kelly.
Authorities say that when one of the employees looked through the window of the office, they saw Kelly lying on the ground. She appeared to be dead, and the workers went to call for help.
The Swatara Township Police Department reported getting a call around 8 a.m. about "suspicious activity called in by an employee who had just arrived for work." Responding officers found Kelly dead and determined that she had been killed, according to police.
Authorities said the victim had multiple stab wounds to her neck and head.
As investigators continued searching for clues, they found bloody footprints leading away from the shop into a warehouse next door. The footprints led to a garbage bin that held two blood-covered kitchen-style knives and what officers believed was hair, WHP reported.
Investigators also looked at video footage of the entrance to the business, finding that Kelly arrived around 7:15 a.m., followed soon after by a red SUV, which parked two spots away from Kelly's vehicle. The video allegedly then showed a man wearing a hat exit the red SUV and head toward the front entrance.
When Kelly arrived at work, she reportedly used a code to turn off the business's alarm.
Officers asked the employees who found the victim's body if someone drove a red SUV, and Emerson's name came up, with police allegedly later matching his registered vehicle with the one on the video. The co-workers said Emerson had worked at the shop for about four years, but, within the past week, had been complaining about not getting enough hours to work and struggling to pay his rent.
Emerson was arrested later that day in Maryland.
The defendant's case is currently listed as inactive, and he is awaiting a preliminary hearing. He has reportedly been a registered sex offender since November 2015.