Former co-workers recount accused killer’s stun gun statement
PITTSBURGH – A Bullskin Township man talked of using a stun gun to end his estranged girlfriend’s pregnancy just months before her subsequent death, according to several of his co-workers. Elliott Company employees told a jury on Tuesday that Joseph P. Minerd brought the weapon to the Jeanette-based plant and enlisted the aid of one man to repair it.
The jury panel is hearing the federal case against Minerd, 46, who is charged with planting a pipe bomb in the Connellsville home of his ex-girlfriend Deana Kay Mitts that killed her and her 3-year-old daughter, Kayla Ashley Mitts, when it exploded shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 1, 1999.
Art Schincovich told prosecutor Shaun E. Sweeney, assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District, before being informed of Minerd’s plan, that he and another machinist took the gun apart to determine its condition, but was unable to make it operable.
“Paul Serwonski told us not to fix it because (Minerd) wanted to use it to shock his pregnant girlfriend,” said Schincovich, adding the weapon was never returned to Minerd.
Deana Kay Mitts was nearly 8 months pregnant with Minerd’s child at the time of her death.
Another employee, Michael Fronchock, said Minerd had questioned him about the capability of a stun gun during a 1998 conversation about the failing relationship between the couple.
“He asked me if I thought a baby could be killed if you shot the pregnant mother in the stomach (with a stun gun),” recalled Fronchock, adding he had no response.
During cross-examination, defense legal counsel, attorney Jay T. McCamic suggested “the conversation” was merely “male-oriented talk” rather than a planned course of action.
“There’s all sorts of talk at the plant, isn’t there?” asked McCamic. “There’s a lot of bad comments about women, things you wouldn’t want your mother to hear.”
While Fronchock admitted the workers frequently engaged in course conversation and played pranks on one another, he was uncertain as to whether Minerd was to be taken seriously or pass it off as a remark meant to draw attention to himself.
“It was a stupid remark,” said Fronchock.
In other testimony, U.S. Treasury Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agent Daniel Boeh told jurors that a hardware store receipt detailing similar prices of pipe bomb components was located at Minerd’s home during a search of the residents by federal, state and local investigators.
Boeh said the Brillhart Hardware Store receipt was later duplicated by the department when it purchased an 8-inch pipe nipple and two end caps.
Earlier testimony revealed that recovered pipe fragments from the fire scene, coupled with an end cap and a second fragment found during the autopsy of Deana Kay Mitts produced an 8-inch pipe bomb.
Defense counsel, attorney Richard Kammen questioned the investigation theory that only the pipe and end caps could be indicated on the receipt when other store items carried the same price tag.
“There’s a kitchen strainer, and a soap dish with a price of $5.59,” Kammen said as he reviewed a spread sheet prepared by ATF auditor Michael Hanley relating to the store’s plumbing department.
The report indicated that 18 items carried the same $5.59 price as the 8-inch pipe nipple while 29 items were listed at the $3.39 cost of the end caps.
Connellsville Police Department Det. Lt. Thomas Cesario said Minerd did not become a suspect in the deaths until federal agents located the pieces of the pipe bomb four months after the explosion.
Cesario said he first contacted Minerd just hours after the incident to inform him of the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and his unborn child.
During the 20-minute discussion, Cesario said Minerd shared a myriad of information about the failed relationship, his belief that the child was not his and his request that she have an abortion and the ongoing construction of his home.
“How did he seem to you?” asked Sweeney.
“He had this blank stare,” Cesario responded. “I took it as if he was in shock.”
In April 1999, a second interview took place at the Elliott Company, and at that time Cesario told Kammen, Minerd was a suspect.
For over three hours, said Cesario, he observed while ATF agent Robert Miller interrogated Minerd concerning his whereabouts preceding the explosion, his relationship with Deana Kay Mitts, his knowledge of pipe bombs and his possession of gun powder.
“Who played the good cop and bad cop?” asked Kammen when Cesario denied the pair bullied Minerd.
“I don’t know; you’ll have to check your local television schedules,” he replied. “That’s not how it was done.”
Two of Minerd’s neighbors, Frances Grimm and Paul Haas testified that in the fall of 1998 they heard an explosion that was thought to have been generated from Minerd’s property.
Neither reported the incident to police at the time, but when later interviewed by ATF agents relayed the information.
Testimony will resume today at 9 a.m.