Stepko homicide suspect waives charges to court
?WASHINGTON, Pa. — A California Borough man charged along with his father in the death last month of their 92-year-old neighbor Wednesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
David James (DJ) McClelland, 36, of 12 School St. is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, receiving stolen property and related charges in the death of Evelyn Stepko. Her body was found last month in the basement of her home, not far from the homes of DJ McClelland and his father, David Allan McClelland. She had been stabbed twice in the neck and had multiple broken ribs from a fall down the stairs.
DJ McClelland is being represented by court-appointed attorney Daniel Chunko, who last week asked for the preliminary hearing to be continued a week to give him time to talk to his client and review the evidence against him. At that time Chunko said he wanted to have the criminal homicide charge dismissed, given that it appears that it was the father, not the son, who had direct involvement in Stepko’s demise.
Chunko said a review of the evidence led to the decision.
“We knew there was enough evidence to hold him for court. We thought there was no chance that the homicide charge was going to be dismissed,” said Chunko.
Chunko said his client has admitted to police that he received money from his father that he knew had been taken from Stepko’s home. Some of that money was found at his home.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed with the charges, both father and son and the elder McClelland’s wife gambled large sums of money at the Meadows Casino over the past year or so, with the dates of the gambling excursions roughly corresponding to reported thefts at Stepko’s home. The McClellands also allegedly made cash purchases of guns, real estate and vehicles, without apparent income to support the purchases.
DJ McClelland was most recently employed as a municipal police officer in Washington Township, Fayette County. Chunko said he believes his client is currently on leave from his job, if not terminated, since his incarceration on the homicide charge. Township officials have declined to comment.
The woman was known to keep large sums of cash in her house, with $82,400 found in the house by police following her death.