New Wilmington, Pa. woman faces three criminal homicide counts

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The woman whom a triple homicide suspect called his “mother” helped plan the robbery that led to the deaths.

City police on Friday charged Jody Hammer, of New Wilmington, Pa., with three counts of criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit robbery and hindering apprehension, according to a media release from the department.

Hammer was previously jailed for helping one of the shooting suspects, 19-year-old Anthony Cooper Jr., flee the state.

City police arrested Hammer on the new charges Friday. She was arraigned soon after and placed in the Lawrence County jail without bond.

The arrest comes after new details emerged in the Oct. 16 shooting deaths of 10-year-old Amariah Emery, her mother 31-year-old Nichole Pumphrey and 31-year-old Lawrence Cannon.

Police said they’ve learned Hammer and her housemate, 19-year-old Steven Procopio, had planned to rob Pumphrey at her West North Street home. During an argument, Cooper shot Pumphrey and Cannon, then handed the gun to Procopio, who shot and killed Emery. Police said Procopio fired the gun at another young girl who witnessed the shootings, but missed.

“It is believed that Procopio thought he struck that juvenile also,” the release states.

That girl positively identified Procopio as the man who shot Emery during the investigation.