Cameras, car tell the tale for investigators

Thursday, January 19, 2012

BROOKVILLE - Technology and old-fashioned police work took center stage Wednesday in the double murder trial of Steven P. Rebert.
Rebert is accused of the murders of Wayne and Vicky Shugar in their home on Coal Tipple Road in Snyder Township near Brockway April 10, 2010. He is charged with two counts each of criminal homicide and aggravated assault and one count each of burglary, robbery and theft.
If convicted Rebert, could face the death penalty.
Candid cameras
A convenience store company provided the technology.
Stephanie Cori, a loss investigator supervisor for the Sheetz convenience store company, verified surveillance tapes from three stores that were provided to the state police.
Trooper Timothy Wittman reviewed tapes from the Sheetz stores in Emporium, St. Marys and Brockway from April 10, 2010. Then, old-fashioned police work took over.
A trip to Brockway
The video from the Emporium store shows Rebert getting gas and entering the store twice before leaving. The video captured Rebert's car parked at his nearby apartment until he left at 6:59 p.m.
The Sheetz video picks up Rebert at the store in St. Marys at 7:26 p.m. As he entered the store, the camera caught his image plainly.
District Attorney Jeff Burkett noted Rebert's dark shirt that had multiple logos on the back. Rebert left the store at 7:28 p.m. with a drink in a cup, a snack and a scratch-off lottery ticket. He turned toward Brockway.
Rebert arrived at the Brockway Sheetz store at 8:03 p.m. He cleaned his windows. He went into the store, bought another scratch-off ticket and left at 8:06 p.m. He turned onto Route 219 and took a left onto Route 28, going south in the direction of Coal Tipple Road.
The autopsies performed on the Shugars estimates they were killed on the evening of April 10.
Rebert's home in Emporium is about 44 miles from Coal Tipple Road, a drive of a little more than one hour.
Wittman also reviewed footage from the Emporium store from March 3, 2010. On that morning, several neighbors on Coal Tipple Road reported a suspicious man walking with a rifle strapped diagonally across his back and two knives in his belt.
The time-stamped video shows Rebert entering the store at 7:44 a.m. and leaving at 7:50 a.m. He was dressed in a hooded jacket and had his pant legs tucked into his boots. Several witnesses described similar apparel on the suspicious man.
The police were contacted about the March 3 incident and traced a license number secured by a neighbor to Rebert's 1987 Mercury Marquis.
State police Cpl. Jeff Lee, a crime scene investigator for 19 years, said he and Sgt. Marty Knezovich went to Rebert's home in Emporium April 21. His vehicle was parked in front of the residence but he did not respond to the trooper's knocks. Four days later, Lee and Trooper David Ray went to Rebert's house again.
Rebert would not admit the officers to his house and told them he had to put away his dog. Lee said Rebert emerged from the side of the house holding several vegetables.
Rebert asked the officers if they wanted some parsnips. "We declined," Lee said.
Lee asked Rebert if he could help them in an important investigation. Rebert said he would if he could. They asked Rebert if he had been on Coal Tipple Road March 3.
"Coal Triple Road? No, I don't think so," was Rebert's reply, Lee said.
Lee told Rebert the police had placed his car on Coal Tipple Road on March 3. They asked Rebert if he had been on Coal Tipple Road that day. Rebert admitted he also had on a backpack. Lee said Rebert told them he was getting in shape for an upcoming hunting trip out West.
Rebert told the police he was working along that road with Justin Modeus, stringing fiber optic cable. He said if the police had a map he could show them. Lee said they asked if Rebert had a computer because they could find the area on it. Rebert said his printer was broken and they could not use his computer. The troopers pointed out they did not need a printer to find the map.
"At that point, he changed the subject and talked about his work," Lee said.
"I guess I was there"
Lee asked Rebert if he had been in Brockway April 10. Rebert said, "No."
Asked if he was positive, Rebert said, "Yeah, I'm sure."
Investigators showed him a photograph from the video camera at Sheetz.
"Looks like me, unless I have a twin," Rebert said.
Asked if he knew where the photo was taken, Rebert said, "St. Marys." Lee told him it was taken in Brockway.
"I guess I was there," Rebert said.
When Trooper Michael Kopas told Rebert his car was there. Rebert replied, "There are a lot of vehicles like mine."
Asked where the shoes he was wearing that night were, Rebert said, "Those are my work boots. Those are with my tools and should be in the trunk of my car."
The troopers offered to speak with Rebert at the Emporium station, but he declined.
"He said he had to shave his dog," Lee said. "He later told us the muffler had fallen off his car."
Search warrant
Police obtained a search warrant April 29 for Rebert's Emporium residence and his car. This time, Lee had a Jefferson County map. Rebert showed the officers three places he had worked in Jefferson County, including Coal Tipple Road.
Rebert told Lee he was on Coal Tipple Road March 3 to meet with Modeus to do some work but Modeus failed to show up.
Lee asked Rebert where he was on April 10. "He said he was right here (at home) not spending any money," Lee said.
Lee told him about the video from Sheetz. After that, Rebert offered no more information.
Lee said at one point Rebert took his glasses off, looked at the officers and said, "I am no murderer. I'm just a country boy. I couldn't do that, even for money. Unless my niece was being raped."
Trooper Tim Butler photographed the execution of the search warrant and said he saw two knives in the Rebert residence and a copy of the Courier-Express in Rebert's car.
Cpl. Janice Bart, supervisor of the state police station in DuBois, said she collected information about the March 3 incident and, when she found that Rebert was from Emporium, "played a hunch" that Michelle Bright, a former Coudersport resident, might have known him. She assigned investigator Carole Ponce to talk with Bright. That information led to the investigation of Rebert.
Bart said the search warrant yielded numerous lottery tickets and a cash receipt for a muffler and parts dated April 27.
Bart also obtained court orders for the phone records for Rebert's home phone, three cell phone numbers listed to Rebert, the Shugars' home phone, Michelle Bright's home phone and a cell number for Arwyn Eckenrod, a woman Rebert said he had a relationship with.
Bart also obtained records for the cell phones of Wayne and Vicky Shugar.
The last call made from Vicky Shugar's cell phone was at 3:45 p.m. April 10.
The crime scene
Trooper Shawn Compton arrived at the Shugar home at 2:59 p.m. Monday, April 12. He was the first officer to arrive at the house on Coal Tipple Road. He met Jason Shugar there and proceeded to the sewing room in the basement where Jason had discovered his parents' bodies a few moments before.
Compton said the basement was dark and he had to use his flashlight to locate the mounded quilt that covered the bodies.
He said the basement area was very warm. He saw a ventless gas heater on the wall that was glowing. The digital display read 78 degrees.
He said he had to use his flashlight because the switches didn't seem to work. He located a bulb in the laundry room and when he screwed it back in, the fixture worked.
He testified about the discovery of Wayne Shugar's wallet in a kitchen drawer under some towels. He said family members discovered the wallet, which contained a receipt for groceries from Martino's Bi-Lo in Brockway dated 4:27 p.m. April 10. The items listed on the receipt were later found in the Shugar home.
Compton later searched the Shugars' white Chrysler Town and Country van and found a receipt from Martino's for gasoline dated at 4:31 p.m. April 10. The family's white and brown vans were both parked in the driveway of the Shugar home.
He said police also found a large purse or satchel just inside the house containing $231.
He said there was no sign of forced entry into the house.
Comptom said as he was performing a neighborhood survey that afternoon, he kept hearing about the March 3 sighting of a suspicious man walking along Coal Tipple Road. A neighbor obtained the license number registered to Rebert.
Compton said police secured images from a neighbor's security camera but the video was too dark for investigative purposes.
Trooper Ted Horner, a member of the Troop C Forensic Services unit, said he photographed and collected fingerprints at the Shugar home April 12 and took 800 photos of the scene.
In the basement
Horner found a live .380 caliber auto-round on the dresser in the south bedroom. It was the same caliber he found beneath the body of Wayne Shugar.
He said the deformed bullet was discovered when the body of Wayne Shugar was moved. A fragmented bullet was also found beneath the bodies.
He said it appeared the shooting took place at the bottom of the basement stairs. A trail of throw rugs covered two blood trails that led to the sewing room where the bodies were found.
Photos were displayed of three apparent bullet holes in the basement carpet and pooled blood against the base of one of the walls. Blood splatter was also found on the side of a file cabinet that faced the spot where the shooting occurred.
The photos showed newspapers that had been placed over blood spots.
A photo of Vicky Shugar's left ring finger showed the dislocation of the finger and lacerations.
Horner said the bodies of Wayne and Vicky Shugar showed signs of having been dragged to the sewing room. He said they were placed waist to waist but in opposite directions. Wayne Shugar's arms were above his head and he was lying on his back.
Vicky Shugar's body was facedown and the clothing on her left hip was "lower than it should have been."
The trooper said a toy-style safe was found in the bedroom. The small safe was closed but not locked. The combination of the safe was tapped to the bottom.
Horner also testified the medicine cabinet in the first floor bathroom was open and a green towel was in the sink basin.
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By Randy Bartley, Jeffersonian Democrat editor. E-mail: rbartley@thecourierexpress.com.