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Bloody boot trail leads 1,500 feet from homicide scene
GROVE CITY, Pa.
Two men are being held without bond in Mercer County jail after they were arraigned Tuesday on murder and robbery charges in the strangulation death of Michael Anthony Johns Sr., 60, of Irishtown Road, who was found dead Sunday outside his mobile home, with a 1,500-foot bloody boot trail leading away from the crime scene.
The suspects, Ryan Phyllip Bowers, 23, and Patrick Shawn McCamey, 39, both of Grove City, were jailed Monday and arraigned before District Justice Neil McEwen.
Bowers and McCamey are scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. next Wednesday.
After a Monday autopsy, the Erie County medical examiner ruled Johns’ death a homicide by asphyxiation through strangulation and smothering.
In the criminal complaint filed with the district justice, State Trooper Joseph Morris said the crimes were committed between 6:15 and 6:35 a.m. Sunday.
Morris said a neighbor notified Pennsylvania State Police after finding Johns’ body outside his residence, where he lived alone, at 3:19 p.m. Sunday.
Police found Johns, who was wearing slippers, lying face-down next to a large pool of blood and near a broken knife, with multiple bloody boot prints leading inside and throughout his residence and then away from the scene, northbound on Irishtown Road and west on Pa. Route 58.
The presence of several large pools of blood along the travel path indicated a suspect likely was injured in the altercation with the victim, state police said. Paper money lay near one pool of blood.
The 1,500-foot bloody footprint trail ended in the eastbound travel lane of Route 58, police said.
“Multiple doors and containers were left ajar and open, indicating that the actor entered the residence after the altercation with the victim,” Trooper Morris wrote.
After being treated for a leg injury at a Pittsburgh hospital and reportedly telling an extended family member he was “probably going to prison for a long time,” McCamey told state police he and Bowers drove to Johns’ residence to buy 2 ounces of marijuana for $600, but parked away from the residence.
Johns was dissatisfied with the sum of money and stabbed Bowers and McCamey, before McCamey wrestled with Johns and choked him, McCamey told police.
McCamey told police he then obtained cleanser from inside the trailer and poured it into a pool of blood in an attempt to destroy his DNA, but denied he went to Johns’ residence to rob him.
While walking back to the car, McCamey said he became weak and asked Bowers to get the car and pick him up.
Bowers told state police that McCamey planned to rob Johns of his money and marijuana and wanted Bowers “to act as a lookout and backup.”
McCamey knocked on Johns’ front door and lured him outside, where Johns and McCamey struggled, Bowers told police.
Bowers and McCamey were treated at separate Pittsburgh hospitals, Bowers said.
State police in Mercer are asking anyone who saw or heard anyone or anything Saturday evening or Sunday morning near the intersection of Irishtown Road and state Route 58 in Pine Township, Mercer County, to call them at 724-662- 6162.