Mar 27, 2009 5 min read

MORRIS TWP. – State police said Thursday they are continuing their investigation into the home invasion that resulted in the death of a Greene County woman – and the severe wounding of her husband – in a Morris Township home on March 22. Betty Jane McClellan, 70, was found dead at her residence at 487 Stringtown Road near Graysville after the alleged home invasion, which police said occurred between 9:40 and 9:50 p.m. Her husband, Jacob McClellan, 67, was injured in the home invasion and was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital. He was listed in stable condition late Monday, but no updated information on his condition was available by press time. No new or updated information regarding the incident was provided by police on Thursday, and the suspects appear to be still at large.

Greene County Deputy Coroner Mary Lewis said Wednesday that an autopsy revealed Betty Jane McClellan died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

The incident shocked and saddened community residents who knew the couple.

Family members and friends described Betty Jane McClellan as a friendly, caring and honest person.

Shelly Amos James said that she is still reeling from the knock on her door at 3:30 a.m. March 23 informing her that her mother had died as the result of the home invasion.

James credited her support system for helping her to function so soon after hearing the news.

“It helps to have a very supportive husband and sisters, and my brother is on his way from Florida,” she said.

James said that the outpouring of support on both she and her twin sister Sherry’s Facebook pages from people they went to high school with and the community-at-large has been incredible. Some have offered condolences while others have offered to help in any way that they can, she said.

James described her mother as someone who liked being around people and that everyone seemed to love.

James said her mother suffered a massive heart attack nearly four years ago, but she still kept busy. She kept telling her daughter that she intended to scale down her hours at her job at the Pennsylvania Livestock Auction (stock sales) in Waynesburg. However, James said that she had only recently started to decrease her workload.

Patty Friend of the Livestock Auction hired McClellan over 20 years ago when McClellan’s daughter, Lisa Gerhart, who was an employee at the auction, told Friend her mother would like to work there.

“Patty was the most honest, upright person you’d ever want to meet,” Friend said. “She was always there to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. She was not only an employee of mine. She was a friend of mine. She was just like a sister to me.”

Friend said Betty Jean McClelland was a tremendous employee and a community fixture.

“I just can’t say enough good words about her. She worked in the restaurant, then the office and then she managed the restaurant for me. She was very active in her community, a very religious woman, and one of the greatest workers I ever had and ever will have,” Friend said. “She was ‘A’ Number One. There is a lot to this puzzle that I don’t understand and probably never will. How someone could do something like this…”

McClellan was the mother of four children, including James, Sherry Coffey, Gerhart and Dave Amos. She was grandmother to four granddaughters and three grandsons.

McClellan raised her children as a single mother after divorcing her first husband in 1976, according to James.

“She was always there for us. Any band thing, chorus, school plays, she was there. My brother is ten years older than my sister (Sherry) and I and she was involved with band boosters from the time he was in the band until we graduated,” James said. “That meant she was a band booster from like 1971 until 1986. Everybody in the community knew her. She had a great smile all of the time and a great personality.”

James said that her mother was very devoted from the time she was ‘knee high to a grasshopper’ to her church Enon Baptist in West Finley, where she had previously served as a deacon. It was in West Finley that McClellan grew up. Her maiden name was Betty Jane Stollar and she attended school in West Greene.

She married Jacob McClellan around seven years ago, according to James.

James said it is believed that the assailant(s) may have been looking for guns at the Stringtown Road residence but that the investigation is ongoing.

Officials said shots were fired but did not divulge any further information.

In a press release issued Monday, police were searching for at least two suspects traveling in an older model white Ford Econoline van.

Police said one of the suspects was described as a white man in his 40s, between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a medium build, brown hair and a light mustache. He was wearing a long-sleeved camouflage shirt and camouflage pants.

Descriptions of additional suspects were not available as of press time.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police at 724-627-6151.

(Additional information by Josh Krysak and Steve Ferris)