A Pennsylvania man allegedly brutally murdered his neighbor with a chainsaw while wearing a Scream mask before returning home to watch a movie, police said.
The victim, Edward Whitehead Jr., 59, was found dead Monday afternoon with severe cuts to his head and arms and defensive wounds on his hands, state police told local media. He was found at his home in Lehighton and pronounced dead.
Whitehead was “struck multiple times with a knife and a battery-powered chainsaw,” State Trooper Anthony Petroski said. told WFMZ.
“The suspect was wearing an all-black outfit with a mask of the Scream character from the movie from a few years ago,” the officer said.
Police quickly zeroed in on the suspect after CCTV footage showed Zach Moyer, 30, who lived next door to Whitehead, exiting the back of the deceased’s home. Lehigh Valley Live reported.He quoted the authorities as saying.
Mr. Moyer then began communicating with officers via notebook, making wild claims that Whitehead was involved in the crime. It read, “Ed murdered a woman and a child. Eddy Jr. murdered a woman and a child last summer.”
Petroski stressed to Lehigh Valley Live that outlandish allegations are “not something we’re investigating.”
Moyer eventually turned himself in, wearing a red hoodie instead of the Scream costume he was said to have worn during the terror attack.
Moyer’s sister told police he had talked about killing his neighbor a week before the horrific crime, according to police records cited by Lehigh Live. Moyer said he had talked about killing his neighbor a week before the horrific crime. saw.
He also hid a battery-powered chainsaw and a knife, which police found with the costume, according to police records.
A photograph of Moyer’s face showed a red wound and a bandage mark under his eye, which the suspect claimed was the result of being punched by the alleged victim.
Megan Barnoski, Mr Whitehead’s niece, described the crime as “mind-boggling”.
“I don’t think anyone really accepts everything at this point. What actually happened and what happened, it was horrible,” she said. told WNEP.
The suspect was arraigned before District Judge Eric Schranz on a charge of murder and transported to the Carbon County Jail, where he is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 3.
The day after the arrest, police were called to the scene again amid reports that Moyer’s father, Francis, had been harassing the Whitehead family.
According to WNEP, the elder Moyer was arrested on harassment and related charges.
“I don’t know how anyone in this world could do something like that. It’s sad,” Jennifer Whitehead, another niece of the victim, told the program.
