Man charged over role in student's murder

Saturday, August 26, 2006 The West Finley, Pa., man is also charged with perjury and lying to a grand jury. PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania man has been accused of hindering the investigation into the 1997 murder of an Ohio medical student whose death was initially considered to be a suicide. Douglas Frank St. Clair, 57, of West Finley, was arrested at his home Thursday on a warrant from Belmont County, Ohio, accusing him of giving false information to investigators last September in the December 1997 killing of Anthony Proviano, 29, according to a copy of the warrant obtained by The Associated Press. Besides obstruction of justice, he also is charged with perjury and accused of lying to a Belmont County grand jury in November. The charges do not specify what kind of information St. Clair is accused of providing. Proviano's body was found on an abandoned road in St. Clairsville, near the Ohio-West Virginia line. Proviano's family reported him missing when he did not show up to visit relatives near Pittsburgh at Christmas. What happened The death was originally ruled a suicide, but his family pushed for further investigation, and a Pennsylvania woman, Marlene "Slim" Smith, 50, was charged in 2004. She was convicted and sentenced this year to 18 years to life in prison for her role in shooting Proviano in an Ohio hotel room. Authorities have said St. Clair once had a relationship with Smith. Smith's ex-husband, Douglas R. Main, 44, previously had been charged with murder in the case. The charges were dropped in November. Special prosecutor Thomas Hampton declined to discuss the charges. St. Clair faces extradition within 30 days. He did not have an attorney when he appeared in court Thursday, and he may need a public defender, said Claysville District Judge Jay Dutton, who arraigned him on the warrant. The exact circumstances surrounding Proviano's death still remain unclear. The coroner originally declared the death a suicide. During Smith's trial in February, the prosecution and defense argued over whether the case was a homicide or a suicide. Hampton argued that Smith killed Proviano, a second-year medical student at the University of Cincinnati, when he reneged on an agreement to pay for sex with drugs and money. Proviano's family has said they believe he met Smith while trying to help her and was killed instead.