Coroner: Women's deaths are homicides

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The deaths of two women found late last summer in the woods off of Pa. Route 168 have formally been ruled homicides, according to Lawrence County Coroner Russell S. Noga.
The bodies of Mandy Sue McLaren, 24, of Sciota Street, and Tammie Mullins, 36, of Morris Street, were discovered Aug. 31 by a man searching for scrap metal in an area popular as a trash dump. Police said Mullins had been there for three to four weeks and McLaren's body was there for two to four days before being discovered.
Authorities have said both women were prostitutes. Noga said both were killed by manual neck compression.
Noga said his ruling on the cause and manner of death was delayed because Pennsylvania State Police asked for more time to investigate and police asked the coroner's office to retest blood samples from the women for additional substances.
Investigators from the state police did not return calls to comment on the investigation.