Hearing continued for Scottdale woman charged with murder
PERRYOPOLIS – A preliminary hearing for a Scottdale-area woman charged with allegedly shooting and stabbing a Melcroft man and then setting fire to the bar where the incident took place was continued Wednesday at the request of the county district attorney. Catherine M. Hamborsky, 40, of 607 Kingview Road, was scheduled to appear before District Justice Michael Rubish on charges of criminal homicide, arson and other related offenses and abuse of a corpse in connection with the Jan. 4 incident.
Thomas Lesniak was found dead at JJ’s Bar by firefighters after responding to a dispatch call notifying the Everson Volunteer Fire Co. of the Valley View Drive blaze.
According to the affidavit filed by state police at Uniontown, Hamborsky told investigating officers that Lesniak, who was tending bar at the lounge, wanted sex in exchange for credit on a poker machine and when she refused his advances, a struggle ensued.
Hamborsky told police that Lesniak produced a kitchen knife and when she was able to wrestle it from him, she stabbed him in the back area.
Lesniak then brandished a gun, Hamborsky told police, which she also was able to secure.
Police said Hamborsky admitted that she shot Lesniak an unknown number of times with the weapon.
Hamborsky allegedly returned to her home and then went back to the bar with a gas can and set the structure on fire, added police.
In preliminary coroner reports, stab and gunshot wounds were not revealed. Later, Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly stated that advanced tissue changes and disfigurement of Lesniak’s body caused by the intense heat and flames of the fire did not disclose an accurate cause of death.
Further testing, said Reilly, was required to determine Lesniak died as the result of homicide.
Reilly has declined to allow Lesniak’s family to cremate his body, stating that the remains are now considered evidence.
“With this case, how information came up piece by piece, cremation would not be wise,” Reilly said. “We have a homicide where the body of the deceased is a critical piece of evidence and would be lost in cremation.”
Lesniak’s family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rubish, meanwhile, has rescheduled the preliminary hearing for Hamborsky on Feb. 18.
She remains incarcerated without bond.
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this story.