The Keeffes Murdered in Their Home (Pennsylvania)

$118,000 - strange amount for a reward or a ransom.

 

Oh my god. $118,000 reward? I feel another Tracey croc coming on....

 

Almost seven months now...

This case is becoming really cold. No news from PA. State Police on what they are doing to solve the double murders of David and Carol Keeffe.

Meanwhile, Carol's dad has also passed away. He was David's law partner, and was in his nineties.

http://www.thedailyreview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18390822&BRD=2276&PAG=461&dept_id=465049&rfi=6

 

Triple Murder in No. PA.

Can this be related to the Keeffe murders?

Three Found Dead in Bradford County Home


Thursday, August 9, UDPATED: 12:08 p.m.
By Ryan Leckey


Investigators in Bradford County still aren't saying how three family members were killed or if there is a murderer is on the loose.


Click for larger image
Joseph Colegrove was a barber in Laceyville and treasurer of the Good Will Fire Company.


Police discovered the bodies of Joseph Colegrove, 60, his wife, Marlene, 56, and their son, Michael, 36, Wednesday in their home near Laceyville.

The triple homicide has rocked a community and the Laceyville Good Will Fire Company. A black cloth drapes the outside of the fire house, a sign firefighters are mourning their deaths. Joseph Colegrove was the department's treasurer. His wife and son were also members.

Marlene Colegrove drove a school bus for the Wyalusing Area School District for years. One of her passengers, Daniel Brown of Springhill, thought of her as much more than just his bus driver.

"She just pretty much acted like she was my mother. She was always there when you needed her," Brown said.


The news of a triple homicide also hit hard inside the Wiser Choice Restaurant in Laceyville, a place, folks said, Joseph Colegrove visited almost daily. His waitress, Heather Winters, knew him well.

"He'd come in here five to six days a week. He would always order a swiss mushroom onion burger and all you would have to write was 'Joe's SMOB,'" Winters recalled.

The name Joseph Colegrove really stood out in the community of Laceyville. Not only was he a firefighter, but also a barber in town.

Workers at Eb's Market said the entire family would come in to pick up groceries. Cashier Debbi Kunkle said this day would be different.

*********

Autopsies to be done tomorrow. If they were killed with a shotgun, we will have a similar MO to the Keeffe murders. Nice people, liked by everyone, no enemies, found slain in their rural home.

Does PA. have a mad dog killer running around in its northernmost counties?

 

Close enough...

It is 38.64 miles from Athens, PA. to Laceyville, PA., scene of the current murders.

 

This report says all three were shot...

...with a shotgun, just like the Keeffes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ex-fire chief, wife, son shot to death in rural northeastern Pa.

The Associated Press

LACEYVILLE, Pa. - A former fire chief, his wife and their son were found slain inside their rural northeastern Pennsylvania home and each had been shot in the head with a shotgun, state police said.

The bodies of Joseph Colegrove, 60, his wife, Marlene Colegrove, 56, and their son Michael Colegrove, 36, were discovered Wednesday night by a woman who went to their house to check on them, state police said in a search warrant affidavit filed a few hours after the bodies were found.

Police were searching for blood, weapons, phone and electronic records and other items related to the triple homicide.

Bradford County prosecutor Albert Ondrey on Thursday declined to comment on whether there is a suspect or provide any other details about the murder scene outside Laceyville, a rural town of 400 situated 30 miles northwest of Scranton.


Joe Colegrove spent 40 years with the Goodwill Fire Company in Laceyville, including 13 years as chief, and owned a barbershop across the street from the fire hall. Marlene Colegrove was active with the ladies' auxiliary and drove a Wyalusing Area School District bus for about two decades.

"You couldn't ask for a better family," Goodwill Fire Chief Scott Fisher said Thursday. "They've done a ton for the community."

He said Michael Colegrove had been active in the fire company when he was younger, and more recently had suffered from health problems.

"Everybody knows everybody," Fisher said. "It's a tough thing right now on the town. Not just the department, the whole town."


August 9, 2007 2:53 PM

 

I think this was on Nancy Grance tonite, Lurker. I just caught the tail end of a segment, and it sounded like this case. Someone said it was a rage murder.

 

They were shot in the face...

...just like the Keeffes. Yet investigators are saying it was not random.

Report from local news channel:

Investigators: Family Targeted

Stephanie Esposito


Three people were shot to death in their Bradford County home on Wednesday. Now Pennsylvania State Police investigators say they're collecting as much information as possible about the Colgrove family, hoping it will lead them to their killer. The Colgroves were a popular and respected family in their community, yet police say they're fairly confident someone they knew pulled the trigger. Investigators say they are looking for a pick-up truck.

They don't know the color, make or model but neighbors in the vicinity told us they saw some type of pick-up truck fly down the Colegrove's street in the four o'clock hour Wednesday morning.

“What we call victimology, the victims past the victims life usually helps us solve the crime. Most homicides there's interaction between the victim and the suspect,†says Lt. Frank Hacken, of Pennsylvania State Police.

Police say Joe, Marlene and Michael Colgrove were each shot in the face or head with a shotgun between midnight and 6 am Wednesday morning. It was about 12 hours later their bodies were discovered.

“A friend came to the house that supposed to meet with one of the individuals and when the friend went in she immediately saw that there was a problem," says Lt. Hacken.

Neighbors say Amanda Davis went to the house because Marlene was making her a quilt. Investigators found all three bodies on the second floor of the house, in different rooms.

“It's flabbergasting that something like this happened so close to home,†says neighbor Sandra Myhand.

Neighbors we talked to say they never used to lock their doors or keep their guns loaded, but last night they did.

“We're a lot more vigilant to watch our surroundings and a little bit more now that what I’ve done in the past.â€

Police wouldn't say if there was any sign of forced entry, but tell neighbors not to worry, this crime was personal. They hope the community will show their love for the family by giving as much information as possible to police.

“Sometimes they're a little bit afraid to talk to us. Or they feel ‘my information if not important.' all information is important,†says Lt. Hacken.

Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward to anyone who offers information that leads to an arrest. If you have any information, call 1(800) 4PA-TIPS.

 

This is an interesting article on this case:

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=6915006&nav=5ka4Pfv9

It is similar to the Keefe murders , isn't it? Very strange. How did this person/these persons get three people in three different rooms and shoot them without one running? A shotgun is a lotta' persuasion, but maybe there was more than one killer. Were the victims tied up, like the Clutter family? LE seems to think it's personal, but won't say why.

 

Son arrested.

Son Arrested for Family's Murder
Saturday, August 11, 10:45 a.m.

State police in Bradford County arrested a man Saturday morning in connection with Wednesday's triple homicide.

Police arrested 31-year-old Steven Colegrove, of New York, and charged him with three counts of homicide for the deaths of his father Joseph, 60, his mother Marlene, 56, and his 36-year-old brother Michael. The three were found shot to death in their home on Kirk Road in Tuscarora Township on Wednesday.

Steven Colegrove is locked up in the Bradford County Correctional Facility.

Investigators have scheduled a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

More details on the case will be available on Newswatch 16 at 6 p.m.
http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=6918492

 

Wow, that's so sad, What on earth makes a person murder their whole family?

 

What a shocker!

The younger son did it. Motive: he wanted to get the house, the farm, and other property (according to local reports). He had to kill all three in order to inherit.

Damn fool! Didn't he know he would be a prime suspect?

UPDATE: Son arrested in Bradford County triple murder case

By: ASSOCIATED PRESS 08/11/2007

Police charged a 31-year-old man Saturday with the shotgun slayings of his parents and brother in their rural Bradford County home.

Steven Carl Colegrove of Deposit, N.Y., was being held without bail in the killings of his father, Joseph Colegrove, 60, mother Marlene Colegrove, 56, and his 36-year old brother Michael Colegrove, state police said.

Police had earlier said that Steven Colegrove and another surviving brother, Robert, had been cooperating in the investigation.

Authorities believe the three were shot in the early morning hours Wednesday. Their bodies were discovered later that day by a friend who went to their home in Laceyville, a town of about 400 residents approximately 30 miles northwest of Scranton.

Police did not immediately comment on a possible motive.

Joseph Colegrove spent 40 years with the Goodwill Fire Company in Laceyville, including 13 years as chief. He owned a barbershop across the street from the fire hall and had been working two days a week on a neighbor's farm, friends said.

At a news conference Friday, authorities said the victim's bodies were found in separate rooms of the two-story gray wood home, each bearing trauma from a gunshot wound to the face. Investigators declined to say whether there was any sign of forced entry or whether anything had been taken.

For additional details read tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Voice.

 

More on motive, etc.

Documents shed light on Pa. homicide investigation
By Larry Wilson
LACEYVILLE, Pa. -- Three members of a Laceyville family were killed execution-style Wednesday by their 31-year-old son and brother, state police at Towanda said today.

Police arrested Steven Carl Colegrove of Deposit early today on three counts of criminal homicide.

They said his possible motive was to inherit money and property.

The victims -- Joseph Colegrove, 60, Marlene Colegrove, 56, and Michael Colegrove, 36 -- were found dead about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at their home on Kirk Road in Tuscarora Township, Bradford County. Police said they believe Steven Colegrove killed them sometime before 7 a.m. that day.

He was arraigned before District Justice Fred Wheaton in Wysox today and sent to the Bradford County Correctional Facility. Colegrove sat calmly during the arraignment and did not speak. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

In a 22-page criminal complaint, troopers George Confer and James Kerrick said Steven Colegrove shot his father and brother as they slept and killed his mother as she tried to leave her bedroom. All three were shot in the head and face with 3-inch magnum cartridges from a 12-gauge shotgun, police said.

Marlene Colegrove was also shot in the hand. Police said she apparently put her hand in front of her face or attempted to grab the gun.

State police said they recovered a letter from the Colegroves' gun safe that said when the couple died, their son Robert was to get only $1.

"Steven Colegrove would be the only child to receive benefits from ... the death of his parents and his brother Michael Colegrove," the troopers said.

On Friday morning, during a press conference at the Bradford County Courthouse, investigators said the surviving family members were cooperating with police and were not suspects in the killings.

The scene police found in the home had the appearances of a robbery gone bad, according to information contained in the criminal complaint.

The complaint said two doors were found unlocked at the Colegrove home and a third was locked. In one of the unlocked doors, the lower right glass pane had been smashed from the outside. The inside of the double-pane window remained intact, however.

Wires leading from the phone box on the exterior of the house were cut.

Also, Marlene Colegrove's wallet was sitting on top of her purse, according to the complaint.

"This appeared to have been done to create the appearance of forced entry or robbery/burglary," the complaint stated.

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070811/NEWS01/708110356

 

So I don't guess this had anything to do with the Keeffes. And it reminds me of the 1973 Cass County, Texas, Butts triple homicide. The man was charged and indicted by a grand jury, but never tried and walks free to this very day.

From an old Journal article, (Charles E.) White is charged with the mass slaying of his estranged wife, Iris, 33, her father, Odis Butts, 65, and her mother, Minnie Butts, 60, in the Butts home on the Knight’s Bluff Road near Atlanta last weekend.

All of them were shot to death.

 

Wow, JC, are you saying there was ANOTHER BUTTS FAMILY MURDERED in Cass County? And THAT'S been unsolved, as well? Or am I totally confused?

 

Yes, you aren't confused.

http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8550

And it was solved, just never prosecuted.

 

I doubt Steven Carl Colegrove will get away with a triple homicide like Charles White did.

 

Why isn't someone investigating this DA Birmingham? He seems to have been either completely incompetent or corrupt to the bone.

 

I don't know; maybe someone is, but Birmingham will most likely pass on before anything could be done to him.

 

I doubt anyone is investigating him, because it's like any other self-policing profession in this country: they won't go after one of their own. Too bad. Wonder how many people suffered for how long at the hands of criminals while Birmingham looked the other way.