Remains ID’d in 2002 Pa. case

June 2, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

YORK, Pa.

A skull and other scattered skeletal remains found on remote state-owned land near the Susquehanna River have been identified as those of a crack-cocaine dealer killed in 2002, police said Tuesday.

They also asked the public for help in solving the fatal shooting of a second man with ties to the killing.

DNA samples collected from Hopethan Johnson’s relatives in New York matched the remains discovered in March 2008 at the bottom of an overgrown and steep incline in southern York County, York Area Regional Police said.

A conclusive match to Johnson was made four weeks ago through the University of North Texas’ Center for Human Identification.

Duane L. Frey, 41, serving a life sentence after being convicted of Johnson’s killing, once told detectives that Johnson’s remains were “crab bait,” according to prosecutors during Frey’s April 2003 trial.

Johnson had been Frey’s drug dealer, and Frey acknowledged that he was angry over paying Johnson $13,000 for crack, police said at the time.

Johnson’s head and back had been riddled with what were apparently shotgun pellets, authorities said.

Jeff Conrad, Frey’s attorney, said his client hopes the new details about Johnson will help clear his name. He said he planned to ask a judge to order police to release details about the body and Johnson’s cause of death.

“This may be exactly what our client needs to prove his innocence,” Conrad said.

Regional Police also said Tuesday that they continue to investigate the shooting death of Stacey J. Farmer about a month after Johnson’s death. Frey was convicted of killing Johnson in Farmer’s backyard outside Red Lion, in a rural area roughly halfway between York and the location where Johnson’s remains were found.

Farmer was found shot in the face in his own driveway a few days after he had been released on bail to await trial on charges of hindering apprehension and evidence tampering. Authorities alleged he helped Frey cover up Johnson’s homicide by lying to a police officer and helping load Johnson’s motorcycle onto a pickup truck.

A set of search warrants issued to a Regional Police detective in February indicated police were investigating whether Farmer’s drug-dealing ties to another man had led to his killing. Those search warrants sought information about a long list of numbers from various phone companies.

York Area Chief Tom Gross declined to go into specifics about the Farmer investigation.

The York County coroner’s office announced it planned to issue a death certificate for Johnson and return his remains to his family. The coroner’s office has never ruled on Farmer’s manner of death, but police are investigating it as a homicide and describe it as a homicide in court documents.