Suspect pleads guilty to charges
A Smithfield man pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence of alcohol on Thursday in the death of a 23-year-old Connellsville woman who was thrown from his car and died in 2005. In exchange for the plea, Christopher Meyokovich, 24, will serve two to four years in prison and must testify against Donald Miner Jr., who was recently charged with obstructing the administration of law, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy in the death of Jessica Lyn Rankin.
Rankin was thrown from the car in the 2:30 a.m. accident. Meyokovich and David Keister, 24, of Uniontown were charged last year with putting her body back into the car and driving for another three miles before calling Meyokovich’s father for help.
Keister, who was injured in the crash, faces the same charges as Miner. However, that case is listed for dismissal.
Police allege that Miner, 23, of Fairchance was in the back seat of the car, and made a series of calls before fleeing the scene of the April 24 accident.
In a criminal complaint, state police Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea indicated that tests show Miner’s DNA in the car.
Police alleged that Meyokovich had a blood-alcohol content of .107 when he wrecked his car and hit a tree. He and Keister were charged in September 2006, and Miner was charged this April, just days before the statute of limitations ran out.
Court papers indicated that Miner’s left shoe and identification card were found in the car, and blood and an automated teller machine receipt found in the car matched Miner’s DNA.
Cell phone records indicated that there was a call placed on Miner’s cell phone to his aunt, Phyllis Smith, at 2:42 and 2:44 a.m. Smith in turn made three calls between 2:54 a.m. and 3 a.m., according to the paperwork.
Smith made two additional calls to Meyokovich’s father’s home at 3:14 and 3:30 a.m., police alleged, and one to Meyokovich’s brother at 3:47 a.m.
“All of these calls were placed prior to any call to 911 or the police,” D’Andrea wrote in a criminal complaint. “The first call to 911 was at 3:54 a.m. on April 24, 2005.”
D’Andrea, an accident reconstructionist, determined that the crash on Smithfield-Highhouse Road occurred when Meyokovich overcompensated as he came out of a curve in the road. The right front portion of his 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier hit a tree, police alleged, and the car rolled over.
Rankin was thrown from the car when that happened, police charged.
Judge Gerald R. Solomon scheduled Meyokovich’s sentencing for July 27.