Dec 3, 2002 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

Fayette County District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon is exploring her options in a homicide case as the key witness was killed in a Friday afternoon car accident. Brian K. Harbarger, 30, crossed from the northbound lane of Route 51 into the southbound lane and collided with a lumber truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene, a bend in the road several hundred yards away from Pizon’s Place in Franklin Township.

Harbarger’s death brings with it possible complications in prosecuting Troy Edward Mickens, who allegedly shot and killed Randall Jordan in early 1993. Harbarger was the key witness against Mickens. It was Harbarger came to state police in 2000 and fingered Mickens as the shooter.

Mickens was arrested largely on the statement from Harbarger that Mickens admitted to him that he killed Jordan for $5,000.

Since Harbarger testified against Mickens at his July 2001 preliminary hearing, Vernon said she would use his prior sworn testimony.

“We don’t anticipate that there will be a problem with that,” said Vernon.

But she also said that a new witness has come to light in the matter.

Supplemental court documents also identified Gerald Powell as someone to whom Mickens had admitted the shooting to. Powell came forward with the alleged confession in the months after his March acquittal in the double murder of two Connellsville residents.

Mickens testified against Powell in that case in exchange for a third-degree murder plea that he ultimately decided to withdraw. Mickens told jurors that during a car ride, Powell admitted to killing Edward and Karen Povlik.

Harbarger was also a witness in that case.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against Powell. In the weeks after Powell’s acquittal, Vernon withdrew her petition for the death penalty against Mickens and another now-convicted killer.

In addition to Powell, Vernon said there are other witnesses prosecutors believe tie Mickens to Jordan’s 1993 death although Harbarger was the only one to testify to admissions at Mickens’ earlier hearing.

At Mickens’ preliminary hearing, Harbarger said that Mickens, with whom he grew up in Connellsville’s Gibson Terrace housing project, showed him the money and asked him for crack cocaine. About two weeks later, during a conversation at the Arch Caf?, Mickens admitted to killing Jordan, testified Harbarger.

Two state employees working in the area found Jordan’s bullet-riddled body on Feb. 11, 1993, in a remote area near Dunbar-Ohioplye Road.