A Pennsylvania man was charged this week with killing a woman whose death he tried to stage as a suicide.
Chase Steigerwald, 34, was arraigned on Tuesday for the death of Rachel Roman, 45, on November 5, ExploreJefferson reported.
Police were called to Steigerwald’s apartment in Clarion just after 7 a.m. that morning and found Roman dead on the floor with a cut to her neck and a significant amount of blood around her. A knife was found near the body.
Steigerwald told officers that he and another woman, identified as Witness #1, had gone for a walk and returned to find Roman’s body. He said the knife was one he used for hunting.
The witness, however, later recanted that story and said that she was in the apartment when Steigerwald killed Roman. She said she heard “gurgling/choking noises coming from the living room” and saw the victim dead on the floor. Steigerwald was packing a bookbag and saying they “needed to leave,” a criminal complaint says.
The witness described trying to avoid blood on the floor as she left the apartment with the killer. While they walked around the borough, Steigerwald told the witness he would make the murder “look like a suicide.”
When they got back to the apartment, the witness said, Steigerwald picked up the knife that was lying near Roman’s body and “put the knife on the [the victim’s] hand,” apparently trying to transfer he fingerprints to it. He also tossed a container of methamphetamine onto the couch where Roman had been sitting. The bag was later found by officers searching the apartment.
Officers also found blood residue on the kitchen and bathroom sink, and Steigerwald later admitted to smoking ecstasy and rinsing “his hands in the kitchen sink” before calling 911.
Investigators interviewed another witness who reported seeing Roman alive at the apartment around 11 p.m. the night before, and neighbor who heard “partying” at the apartment until around midnight, when it became “very quiet.” A fourth witness reported a FaceTime call with Steigerwald around 11 p.m. in which he displayed a long gun and a knife before leaving the room. After that, with the call still on, she said she heard arguing between him and Roman.
Further, data from Roman’s phone showed that she sent a text to a co-worker at about 11:39 p.m. The co-worker replied at 12:30 a.m., but the text was not delivered, indicating the phone was powered off. When police found Roman’s phone, it was, in fact, powered down but still had a charge.
An autopsy determined that Roman died from multiple sharp force injuries to the neck.
Steigerwald was initially arrested on drug charges but those charges were later dismissed when he was charged with murder.
He was denied bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled on December 2.
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[Featured image: Chase Steigerwald/Facebook and Rachel Roman/Baronick Funeral Home]
