Autopsy results on 2 are awaited

One victim starved her son to death; the other was convicted of theft.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA STAFF
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- More details about the deaths of two city women found in a wooded area of Taylor Township are expected next week.
Preliminary autopsy reports could not say how Mandy McLaren, 24, of Sciota Street and Tammie Mullins, 36, of Morris Street died, but other tests could yield some answers by Tuesday, said Matt Mangino, Lawrence County district attorney. There were no apparent gunshot or stab wounds, officials say.
The women were discovered Tuesday afternoon by a man searching for scrap metal in an unofficial dump off Pa. Route 168. He found one body and police discovered the second when searching for clues in the first death.
A week apart
Coroner Russell S. Noga said the women were dumped in the spot more than a week apart. Mullins had been dead for three to four weeks and McLaren was dead two to four days when found, he said.
Pennsylvania State Police did question a Taylor Township man who was arrested Thursday in an unrelated rape about the deaths, but Mangino said the man is not a suspect in the deaths.
Both victims led troubled lives.
Mullins pleaded guilty to theft charges in 2000 in burglaries of two homes operated by the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens, her former employer. Mullins most recently signed an arraignment waiver on a charge of receiving stolen property on Aug. 1. She was reported missing later that week by her husband, Jeffrey.
Starvation death
McLaren spent time in jail after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the starvation death of her 8-month-old son, James. He died of severe malnourishment in 1998. His twin brother was also malnourished, but survived.
McLaren was more recently charged with theft of leased property in May 2005. The matter had not been resolved before her death.
cioffi@vindy.com