Saturday, September 4, 2010

Police: Rifle used in slaying

The rifle found in a storage unit rented by a prison guard matches the weapon used to kill an Enola man, authorities say

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

Investigators revealed that a rifle found in a storage unit rented by the state prison guard accused of killing Todd Getgen was used to kill the Enola man.

Prosecutors made that statement during Raymond F. Peake's preliminary hearing Friday. Peake, who remains in Cumberland County Prison without bail, was ordered to face trial on homicide and related counts.

Prosecutors' claim that they have found the murder weapon could be bad news for Peake's defense.

Police also found Getgen's stolen rifle in the storage unit in South Middleton Twp. Peake told police he picked up the gun when he found it lying next to Getgen's body, they said.

Peake insisted he was not the person who killed the 42-year-old personal injury lawyer, whose body was found July 21 at a state Game Commission rifle range in North Middleton Twp.

The rifle, a .223-caliber Bushmaster, is the gun police think was used to kill Getgen, North Middleton Township Detective Tim Lively testified on Friday.

State police testing on the weapon matched it to shell casings found near the range and bullet fragments recovered during Getgen's autopsy, Lively told the court during the two-hour proceeding held under tight security in a training room at the Cumberland County Prison.

With around a half-dozen uniformed state police and county sheriff's deputies outside, and a similar number of deputies and prison guards in the makeshift courtroom, the prosecution laid out its case against Peake.

Nathaniel Hosler, the owner of another gun found in the storage unit Peake rented about a week after Getgen was killed, testified that he saw Peake at the same shooting range in May when his rifle was stolen.

ATF agent Scott R. Endy outlined how authorities traced ownership of the Bushmaster to Peake, and county Coroner Todd C. Eckenrode recapped the autopsy, which showed Getgen was shot eight times, including one bullet to the head and shots to the back and front of his body.

Eckenrode said Getgen's wounds came from some distance.

It was another item in the autopsy report that provided a crucial link for police as they collected and sorted through shell casings found at the range.

"I was told the entrance wounds were caused by a high-velocity, low-caliber bullet. That was consistent with a .223 round," Lively testified.

Shell casings matching that description were discovered two days after the shooting in woods just off a path leading from the firing area of the range to the parking lot, North Middleton patrolman Richard Grove testified.

The other key break in the case came when a number of witnesses told police about seeing a suspicious man hanging around the range who drove either a white Jeep or a reddish-maroon Jeep with a Combat Wounded Veteran license plate.

Lively told the court he obtained a list of more than 50 red Jeeps with that sort of plate and sorted through them, looking for a local connection. After spotting Peake's Mechanicsburg address on the list, investigators drove by Peake's home. When they spotted the red Jeep registered to Peake parked next to a white Jeep registered to his wife, police began to zero in on Peake.

A second man charged in the case, Thomas Tuso, 34, of Penn Twp. in Perry County, waived his preliminary hearing Friday and did not appear in court. Tuso, who worked with Peake as a guard at SCI Camp Hill, is charged with theft and receiving stolen property. He has not been charged in Getgen's slaying. He remains free on $100,000 bail.

There was no mention Friday of claims the retired decorated Marine made that he was stockpiling weapons for a group planning to overthrow the U.S. government.

Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed said he has seen no evidence to support those claims. Peake's possible ties to such a group are being investigated by state and federal authorities, Freed said.

RELATED LINK: Police seize 15 guns from suspect's home