Coroner releases autopsy results in fatal stabbing
HENRY CLAY TWP. – Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht determined that Jeremiah A. Spano, 22, of Confluence died of sudden rapid shock due to massive bleeding after being stabbed in a Saturday morning confrontation along Clover Top Road in Markleysburg. Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly, who released Wecht’s findings to the press Sunday, said that stabbing wound lacerations to the abdominal area were lethal injuries and that Spano died within minutes of the wounds. Reilly said that the aorta and the wall of the stomach were both punctured in the altercation and that caused the bleeding to be quite rapid.
“It cheated into the time there might have been to save him,” Reilly said.
Fayette County Deputy Coroner James Bittner Jr pronounced Spano, of Taylor Road, Confluence, dead at 6:15 a.m.
Police have charged Matthew D. Warman, 29, of 162 Clover Top Road with criminal homicide and aggravated assault in connection with the incident.
Warman was arraigned before District Justice Dwight Shaner and was placed in the Fayette County Prison without bond.
State police said that the incident occurred when Spano and five others were parked in Spano’s vehicle along Clover Top Road, near Flat Rock Road when Warman’s brother Mark, and Melvin Rithey approached the car. A verbal confrontation ensued between the groups, police said. Later, Matthew Warman and his father, Samuel Warman approached the vehicle.
According to police, Matthew Warman then allegedly held a knife to the throat of Christina Kimmel, who had arrived with Spano, and threatened to stab her.
Police said that an argument then took place between Samuel Warman and Spano during which Warman allegedly smashed the rear window of Spano’s vehicle with a walking stick. The confronatation prompted Spano and Matthew Warman to begin pushing one another. Then Spano fell to the ground after allegedly being stabbed by Warman.
Persons in his vehicle took Spano to a residence along Flat Rock Road but emergency personnel were unable to revive him when they arrived on the scene.
State police said the cause of the incident is still under investigation.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 4 before District Justice Wendy Dennis.
Spano was born June 17, 1980 in Somerset, the son of Larry J. Spano and Rhonda L. Rice Spano of Confluence.
He graduated from Uniontown High School and was employed at Precision Pallets in Addison.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by paternal grandparents, Larry and Helen Spano of Confluence; maternal grandfather, George Rice of Irwin; and brothers, Shawn Smith of Jumonville, Larry Spano and Douglas Spano, both of Confluence.
Friends will be received at the Humbert Funeral Home in Confluence today from 2 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the hour of service. Burial will follow in Johnson Chapel Cemetery.