Unconscious man had ties to DelTondo
Found after TV show about slain teacher
A 21-year-old man with romantic ties to slain Aliquippa teacher Rachael DelTondo was found unconscious on the side of a road early Sunday in Aliquippa, hours after a television show aired about her killing.
A 911 caller reported a man unconscious alongside Orchard Street at Sheffield Avenue about 4 a.m. Sunday, Aliquippa police Chief Robert Sealock said. The caller said a blue truck had sped away from the scene, Chief Sealock said Monday.
First responders found Sheldon Jeter Jr., 21, unconscious. Firefighters revived him with Narcan, Chief Sealock said. He added that the incident appeared to be a drug overdose, but that police were investigating to rule out foul play.
Mr. Jeter’s attorney, Michael Santicola, on Monday said Mr. Jeter was not experiencing an overdose, but rather had apparently blacked out from drinking too much at a party in Pittsburgh.
“He was drinking, they were all drinking,” Mr. Santicola said. “He had a little bit of a blackout situation.”
He said Mr. Jeter doesn’t remember how he got to the side of the road and doesn’t remember being revived by firefighters.
“He remembers waking up on his mother’s couch,” Mr. Santicola said, adding that he thinks the firefighters reflexively used Narcan. He said Mr. Jeter sought medical care Sunday and screened negative for drugs.
“They found an unresponsive kid and they hit him with Narcan, you know, that’s what they do,” he said. “And it worked.”
However, Narcan does not work to reverse alcohol overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is only effective against opioids.
Chief Sealock said that “to his knowledge” Mr. Jeter did not have a history of drug use. After Mr. Jeter was revived, he made an obscene gesture to first responders and then walked away toward his home, Chief Sealock said.
Hours earlier, an episode of the
CBS crime show “48 Hours” aired, featuring the case in a segment called “What Happened to Rachael?”
The TV show looked at the investigation and the mystery behind Ms. DelTondo’s slaying. The 33-year-old was shot in her parents’ driveway in Aliquippa on May 13, 2018. No one has been charged in her death, but authorities searched Mr. Jeter’s phone in connection to the slaying, as well as the phone of a police sergeant’s daughter, who was one of the last people to see Ms. DelTondo alive.
Mr. Jeter and Ms. DelTondo had been romantically involved on and off, Mr. Santicola said.
Ms. DelTondo lost her job as an elementary school teacher at The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School after allegations surfaced in October 2017 that she’d had inappropriate contact with Mr. Jeter in February 2016, when he was 17 and officers found them together in a parked car. No criminal charges were filed against her.
Mr. Santicola said Mr. Jeter had nothing to do with Ms. DelTondo’s killing.