Two ordered to stand trial in McKees Rocks killing

Testimony provides details of complex case

Jeffrey Tyniec received a call early one February morning from a woman he knew well.

Sheila Wagner, 45, told him she needed to talk.

“Something bad happened,” she said.

The story she told Mr. Tyniec now is at the center of a McKees Rocks homicide investigation. Mr. Tyniec’s recounting of that story, combined with testimony from a lead investigator, was enough to persuade a district judge Friday to hold Ms. Wagner and 60-year-old Robert Davies for trial in the February death of 51year-old Ronald Peless.

The case is a complex one, involving accusations of rape, a prior assault and possible elements of self-defense. It’s complicated further by the fact that Mr. Tyniec’s memory is sometimes affected by a stroke and seizures.

Mr. Tyniec, who faces a charge of abusing a corpse, told District Judge Linda Zucco that shortly after he received the call from Ms. Wagner, he met her outside. She told Mr. Tyniec that Mr. Peless had tried to rape her, for a second time.

Mr. Tyniec was famliar with Mr. Peless — police had arrested him in January on a charge that he assaulted Mr. Peless after Ms. Wagner made the first accusation that he had raped her.

Mr. Tyniec and Ms. Wagner began walking toward Mr. Peless’ home on that Thursday morning. He testified Friday that he thought he was going to beat up Mr. Peless. Partway there, Ms. Wagner told him that Mr. Peless was dead.

Mr. Tyniec said Ms. Wagner told him that Mr. Peless tried to assault her, so Mr. Davies hit him in the head with an iron. Ms. Wagner told him that Mr. Peless continued to threaten her, so she punched him but he kept coming. At one point he fell, and Ms. Wagner cut his throat with a box cutter, Mr. Tyniec said. He said he had previously given Ms. Wagner the box cutter for protection.

When Mr. Tyniec and Ms. Wagner arrived at Mr. Peless’ apartment, his body was in the

bedroom, where Mr. Davies was sleeping, he said. Mr. Tyniec said he helped them wrap Mr. Peless’ body in bedding and tie it with an electrical cord.

Police found Mr. Peless’ body and the box cutter when they responded to a request to check on his welfare because his family had been unable to reach him.

Allegheny County homicide Detective Todd Dolfi testified that police also found partial handprints in the room that matched Ms. Wagner’s.

Defense attorney William Brennan argued that his client, Mr. Davies, shouldn’t be held for trial because the iron strikes didn’t cause Mr. Peless’ death — stabbing or cutting wounds did. A prosecutor later argued that his actions made it possible for Ms. Wagner to kill Mr. Peless.

Chris Eyster, Ms. Wagner’s attorney, argued that Mr. Tyniec’s testimony supported a self-defense claim. But assistant district attorney Chelsie Pratt argued that the number of wounds Mr. Peless had was not consistent with such a notion.

“Thirty stab wounds — that’s not self-defense. That would simply be overkill,” she said.