Third person charged in stabbing death of a man in the West End
Another person has been charged in connection with the death of a man found beaten and stabbed earlier this year on the porch of an abandoned home in Pittsburgh’s West End.
Carlena Wells, 18, is charged with homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in the death of 37-year-old Marc Kovach.
Kovach’s body was found March 21 at the house on Steuben Street. A day later, 19-year-old Dominic Johnson was arrested based on witness statements and a shoeprint found on Kovach’s torso.
Charges against another man who said he’d been at the home at the time of the killing were filed in early April. He was not in custody as of Friday.
Court paperwork identified Ms. Wells as Johnson’s girlfriend. According to witnesses, she was among those gathered at the abandoned home the day Kovach was killed. Witnesses said the group had gone to the home because the recovery center where they slept shut down during the day, and they needed a place to go until it reopened.
The witnesses told investigators that Ms. Wells, Johnson, and another man attacked Kovach because he’d been touching Ms. Wells, according to a criminal complaint. They said Johnson and the man beat Kovach into unconsciousness and dragged him onto the porch, where he was stabbed.
On May 8, a different witness contacted police with information she had about Ms. Wells’ involvement. That witness received a call from Ms. Wells the day after Johnson was arrested in which Ms. Wells was “flipping out” and later said she and Johnson “caught a body,” the complaint says.
The witness said Ms. Wells confessed she’d stabbed Kovach multiple times while Johnson stomped him. She allegedly told the witness they killed Kovach because “he was sexually harassing her.” She said Johnson is “a very protective person.”
Ms. Wells was taken into custody late Thursday in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood. She was arraigned early Fridayand denied bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 22. Court records did not list an attorney.