Police in Pennsylvania have detained a man accused of killing his roommate, whose dismembered body he allegedly spread across three locations.
Man allegedly killed roommate, dismembered body
Joshua Moser, 33, was hit with charges for homicide, corpse abuse, and evidence tampering/fabrication in connection with the death of David Hittinger.
According to Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan, a missing persons report was filed by loved ones after Hittinger, 37, went missing for two days and was a no-show at his own birthday party.
State troopers found out that Hittinger had recently moved in with Moser and obtained a search warrant to enter the home.
Once inside the residence, they discovered that the basement was “hastily staged” in a manner that would conceal a bloody crime scene.
At a Friday press conference, Holihan noted that police also discovered a saw, box cutter, and bloody clothing, along with additional incriminating evidence.
During a police interview on Wednesday, Moser allegedly confessed to murdering Hittinger in the basement.
The suspect told investigators that he had strangled his roommate, then hit him over the head with a hammer.
After the slaying, Moser dismembered Hittinger’s body and scattered pieces of his victim in three locations across the state.
While the authorities have not released Moser’s motive, they did find Hittinger’s dismembered corpse at each of the dump sites.
Police discovered garbage bags containing body parts in a Slatington cemetery on Wednesday.
Additional body parts were found along a trail and at a small quarry on Thursday in Washington Township.
Moser was arrested on Wednesday for a parole violation stemming from the 2016 DUI conviction for the death of a 24-year-old woman.
He is being held without bail and will be transferred to Lehigh County on homicide charges.
Was another part of a slain college girl’s dismembered body found?
In a separate disturbing dismemberment, a human arm was discovered on a beach in Illinois last week.
An unnamed individual made the shocking find last Saturday during a walk along Waukegan Municipal Beach.
While police have not confirmed the identity of the victim, it was apparently likely enough to be the arm of 19-year-old Sade Robinson, that they notified her family on Mother’s Day.
The college student was murdered and dismembered while on a date with an older man seven weeks ago in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Robinson, who attended the Milwaukee Area Technical College, was allegedly murdered at the beginning of April, after going home with her 33-year-old date, Maxwell Anderson.
In the early hours of April 2, her cellphone pinged at various locations in Milwaukee, until it died near Lake Michigan. Her car was found burnt out hours later.
Robinson’s leg was discovered along the lake front three days after she went missing, confirming that the college student was deceased and had been dismembered.
Additional body parts, including her arm, foot, and torso washed up on shore in the weeks that followed.
Police served a search warrant at Anderson’s home and found that his basement was equipped with “a sex sling, restraints and handcuffs.”
The bed in the room had blood smears, as did the walls, but the DNA did not match Robinson’s according to prosecutors.
Anderson was arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and arson.
This is not his first encounter with the law, the 33-year-old has three domestic related convictions already on his record.
He pleaded not guilty in April, but remains behind bars on $5 million bond.
