Armstrong fugitive captured
‘Don’t know how he snapped like that,’ a former employer said about Robert Crissman, accused of escaping jail, killing a woman
Robert Crissman Jr. was a junkie and high school graduate who ripped off his relatives in Armstrong County, stealing scrap metal from an aunt, lifting cash from an employer’s safe and filching costume jewelry from his mother to support his heroin habit.
But despite arrests going back more than a decade on drug, drinking and theft charges, Crissman, 38, apparently had never turned violent until Thursday morning when, police say, he beat a friend’s girlfriend with a ceramic toilet lid — so savagely that the lid was left in pieces — and then strangled her with a string.
“I was very shocked,” said Frank Lagoni, who hired Crissman several years ago at his steel company, Lagoni Erection Inc., and said he had never seen him lose his temper. “He’s been hollered at. Never reacted to being hollered at. Don’t know how he snapped like that.”
Investigators say Crissman killed Tammy Long, 55, of Rayburn at her home several hours after he ran away from the Armstrong County Jail. He had been lodged there since July 23 on a probation violation. Crissman was caught Friday morning and arraigned behind closed doors at the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Kittanning, after troopers barred the media from attending the proceeding and a district judge said it was not open to the public.
At the time he escaped, Crissman had been awarded some type of trusty status at the jail and was part of a work-release program in the food services section. Around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Crissman was waiting outside the facility for a delivery of food trays when he ran away, making a break for the jail’s pistol range and a weedy embankment out of surveillance camera range, a police affidavit said.
Fifteen minutes later, Crissman showed up on nearby Rayburn Road at the door of his buddy, Terry Slagle. Crissman said his vehicle had broken down and he needed a lift to Kittanning.
Crissman seemed calm, Mr. Slagle told police. So he took off for work at 7:20 a.m., leaving Crissman alone with his girlfriend, Ms. Long. She had volunteered to drop Crissman off.
Officials believe Crissman killed Ms. Long between 10 and 11 a.m. before stealing Mr. Slagle’s pickup truck — along with a 46inch TV and a .22-caliber rifle.
District Attorney Scott Andreassi of Armstrong County said the couple did not know that Crissman was an escaped prisoner.
“They only knew him as a friend,” Mr. Andreassi said. “They didn’t even know he was in jail.”
Mr. Slagle told police that while he was at work he learned about Crissman's escape from jail and tried to reach Ms. Long on her cell phone, but his calls went unanswered. He returned home around 2:30 p.m. to find his truck missing and Ms. Long's body in the blood-splattered bathroom.
On Friday evening, a distraught Mr. Slagle was in the Kittanning Men’s Club with friends who consoled him regarding the loss of the woman he described as his wife.
“[Crissman] took everything from me,” Mr. Slagle angrily yelled to a reporter. “[He] ruined my life. ... If you want to write a story, why don’t you write a story about the county jail? They’re the ones who let him out. Can you explain to me why they let him out?”
By 7:30 Friday morning, Mr. Slagle’s Chevy Silverado had been found in Templeton, less than 10 miles from Rayburn. Around then, Faith Cravener of Boggs called 911. She told police that Crissman was at her front door.
“She initially opened the door, immediately recognized that this was Mr. Crissman, indicated to him, ’ Hold on a minute.’ That’s when she was able to shut the door and lock it, and that’s when she was able to call 911,” Mr. Andreassi said.
Police said Crissman stole a truck from Ms. Cravener’s house. A trooper spotted the vehicle, and a high-speed pursuit began. It ended when Crissman rammed a state police car.
Crissman — and a trooper whose hand was injured — were treated at the scene. Hours later, Crissman emerged from the state police barracks following his arraignment. He was shackled and wearing a hospital gown (police had confiscated his clothes), which opened enough at the back to reveal a large tattooed cross at the base of his neck. Looking haggard and sporting a scruffy beard, Crissman was ushered to a state police cruiser by troopers who were taking him to the Butler County lockup, where he will be held without bail. Crissman did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Prosecutors charged Crissman with criminal homicide, murder, robbery of a motor vehicle, aggravated assault, theft, receiving stolen property and escape.
Both District Judge James H. Owen and state police Lt. Steve Russo claimed that arraignments are not open to the public. Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania News-Media Association, and Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said the men were wrong.
Mr. Andreassi said Crissman’s escape and jail policies would be reviewed.
Lisa Miller, 32, a lifelong resident of Kittanning, said she knew Ms. Long because she attended school with Ms. Long’s daughter, who is engaged to Ms. Miller’s cousin.
“Kittanning is a pretty small town, so this is pretty upsetting to all of us,” she said. “Personally, I’m sad for her daughter, but I’ve also been afraid for my children, who have been outside at the time when [Crissman] was loose. And the fact that people can actually escape from the jail really scares me.”
Ms. Miller said she and other members of the families learned of Crissman’s escape, the slaying of Ms. Long, and Crissman’s capture all via Facebook.
“I think [authorities] tried to give us as much warning as possible,” she said. “They put [notices] on bulletin boards up by the mall and they got it on the news as quick as they could. Everybody I know was worried because he was on the loose and what he had done was pretty much senseless. I mean she died basically for nothing.”
Warden David Hogue could not be reached. The secretary to the three county commissioners, all of whom are members of the county’s prison board, said the men were referring all questions to the district attorney, who did not respond to queries in the afternoon.
Court documents from November 2013 showed that Crissman was granted work privileges while a jail inmate, allowing him to leave the facility. He listed Mr. Lagoni, the owner of the steel company, as his employer on his work-release application.
“He was a darn good worker. He was reliable, showed up every day. But then I started to notice some change in him. I think he was strung out on drugs. He was making mistakes,” Mr. Lagoni said. He said Crissman’s parole agent contacted him, and he told the man that he would not accept Crissman unless he were clean.
Mr. Lagoni said he never heard back.