Mercer Co. man pleads guilty to 2008 killing

MERCER, Pa. — A Greenville, Pa., man who was charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Hempfield Township man last year has pleaded guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge.

Michael V. Matter, 52, appeared in Mercer County Common Pleas Court last week. He will be sentenced March 9 for the killing of Howard Urquhart, 60, who was reported missing by a family member Jan. 17, 2008. Urquhart’s body was found Feb. 20, 2008, in a wooded area off Bandy Road in Greene Township. He had been shot in the neck.

Matter told the court last week that he accidentally shot Urquhart while the two men were poaching deer. He also pleaded guilty to forgery, theft of Urquhart’s truck, access device fraud for using Urquhart’s credit cards to buy gas, and abuse of a corpse for not notifying authorities of Urquhart’s death. In the days after Urquhart’s disappearance, Matter used his credit cards and forged a check to himself from Urquhart’s bank account.

Matter was found in North Carolina with Urquhart’s truck Jan. 20, three days after the shooting.

Matter is expected to receive between 16 and 32 years in prison, said Mercer County District Attorney Robert Kochems.