Trial of Lower Macungie man accused of killing neighbor could last at least until Tuesday

Josef Raszler’s trial in the slaying of Stephanie Roof is likely to last at least until Tuesday, as the prosecution continues to lay out a case built around forensic and circumstantial evidence and the defense tries to seed doubt about every piece of it.

So far, prosecutors Jay Jenkins and Ramma Mineo have called on forensic and DNA analysts, evidence-handlers and Roof ’s sister, among others, to testify about the Sept. 13, 2016 killing in Lower Macungie Township.

Authorities said Raszler, who lived across from Roof on the 6400 block of Pinecrest Lane, dated Roof for a few months in 2015. He obsessed over her after their breakup, they said, and killed her with a lead projectile fired from a homemade high-pressure air gun as she returned from work in the early morning hours.

On Friday, state police Lt. Jason Troutman, who helped with the search of Raszler’s basement workshop, testified about what was found there: a drill press, a squat cylinder made of fused pieces of lead, a long copper tube equipped with a release valve, a water filter with a pressure gauge attached, crushed lengths of copper pipe and other items the prosecution says were used to make the air gun.

The weapon was never found, but a search of a Schuylkill County cabin owned by Raszler’s parents turned up two lead projectiles similar to the one that pierced Roof ’s chest, cutting her aorta. Prosecutors say Raszler took target practice at the cabin the weekend before the slaying.

During the investigation, a Lehigh County detective, Mark Garrett, fashioned an air gun out of the kind of materials Raszler had on hand and instructions found online. Authorities say

Raszler made multiple searches for high-powered air guns. Garrett was expected to be called to testify.

To demonstrate Raszler was obsessed with Roof and enraged that she had moved on with her life, the prosecution offered hundreds of text messages that ranged from proclamations of love to obscenities and threats.

Defense attorney Phil Lauer acknowledged the texts reflected poorly on Raszler, but said the defendant had stopped contacting Roof after she gave him an ultimatum, about 11 months before the killing.

Lauer and co-counsel Sara Moyer also said police never bothered to look any farther than Raszler for a suspect and improperly discounted the possibility someone else committed the crime.

At a hearing two years ago, Lauer argued that Michael Horvath, convicted in the 2013 kidnapping and murder of his coworker, Holly Grim, could be Roof ’s killer.

Lauer wanted jurors to hear about similarities between the cases, including the discovery of homemade firearms among Horvath’s belongings, a diary of his stalking and that Horvath, Grim, Roof and Raszler all worked at the Allen Organ Co. in Macungie, although not at the same time.

Judge James Anthony denied that motion, but Lauer stuck with the alternate-suspect theory, noting that police served a search warrant on Raszler’s home within about 18 hours of the slaying.

Tricia Vanderford, Roof’s daughter, acknowledged that when police asked if she knew anyone who might have been capable of the crime, she mentioned her mother’s ex-husband along with Raszler.

Even so, Lauer said during his opening argument Tuesday, “no one else is being looked at” when the investigation starts.

As to the evidence collected in

Raszler’s workshop, Lauer said his client was a nerdish tinkerer who loved to build mechanical things and accumulated tools and materials for countless projects.

In his opening, Lauer said Raszler will take the stand and explain “what each and every part was, and what is was used for.”

More broadly, Lauer noted that no one had seen the killing or witnessed Raszler taking target practice. No gun has been found. Nor is there any DNA evidence linking Raszler to the projectiles.

Lauer asked the jury to consider why Raszler, by all accounts a bright man, would have left projectiles on the Schuylkill County property to be easily discovered by police.

“Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t Josef Raszler,” he said. He returned to that idea Friday, noting that while the cabin was in a gated community, accessible by car only through electronically controlled gates, it is not fenced, meaning someone on foot could have accessed the property.

The trial has proceeded slowly and deliberately, with more than 200 exhibits introduced by the prosecution so far. They include photos of the crime scene, the inside of the Raszler and Roof homes and the grounds of the Schuylkill County cabin, along with phone and text records and some of the items taken from Raszler’s basement.

One still-sealed evidence box is marked “piece of garage door” and is likely the part of Roof ’s garage dented by the projectile after it passed through her.

Jenkins, the prosecutor, said Friday that closing arguments will likely come Tuesday at the earliest.