Coroner posts report for April
Accounting for the quadruple killing of the Bobish family in North Union Township, Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly reported four homicides in April. The Bobish family – parents Larry Sr. and Joanna, their 17-year-old daughter, Krystal, and her unborn son – died from gunshots. Their Kennedy Street Extension home was set on fire afterward.
State police allege that Mark D. Edwards Jr. killed them and tried to kill 12-year-old Larry Bobish Jr. The youngster escaped the burning home after being shot and having his neck cut. He was rescued by a passerby.
Charges against Edwards recently were held for court.
Reilly’s report also indicated that two suicides occurred in April.
He reported two accidental deaths during the month, one from a drug overdose, the other from a choking episode.
Seven fatalities from vehicle accidents were listed on the report, two from a single-vehicle accident and five from two-vehicle accidents.
Reilly listed five natural deaths in April, four from heart disease and other heart-related conditions and one from other causes.
During April, the coroner conducted nine autopsies, for the four deceased members of the Bobish family, Michael Bennett Jr., Baily Leonard, Barbara Morrison, Amy Lethco and Chris Johnson.
Reilly held no inquests in April.
The coroner’s office generally holds inquests monthly. The process employs six jurors, plus, generally, two alternates who hear the facts surrounding all unnatural deaths and determine the cause and manner of each death. Reilly is the only coroner in the state to hold inquests regularly.
Regionally, the office investigated four deaths in North Union Township, two deaths each in Georges, Bullskin and Redstone townships and one death each in Uniontown, Connellsville, South Connellsville and Stewart, Washington, Dunbar, Perry, Springhill, Luzerne and Henry Clay townships.
In a special note, the office investigated another 26 deaths in April that were natural in cause. Those certificates were referred to the family physician for the purpose of accuracy and completeness. Because the deaths were natural, the coroner’s office did not investigate them further.