Smithfield man’s homicide charges held for court
The homicide charge lodged against a Smithfield man accused of stabbing and killing his aunt’s boyfriend was held for county court following his preliminary hearing on Monday.
Christopher Michael Lowry, 36, is charged with killing David White, 59, inside a mobile home in Georges Township, Fayette County on Aug. 3.
Lowry’s aunt and White’s girlfriend, Rebecca Dawn Albright, testified during a preliminary hearing that she Lowry lived with her and White since February because she didn’t want to have Lowry living on the streets any more.
On the night of the alleged incident, Albright testified, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about either Lowry or Wright as she left them both at her home as she left to visit the Fayette County Fair.
While at the fair, Albright said she received a phone call from Lowry, whom she testified sounded both hysterical and intoxicated, saying he was covered in blood. She testified he told her he kept hitting someone and said he did not want to go back to jail.
Albright testified Lowry also asked her the location of the keys to the home’s gun safe, and she told him she had them with her.
Lowry’s father, Alan Lowry of Scottdale testified his son called him sometime between 10 and 11 p.m.
“He was hysterical, losing it, freaking out, having a complete meltdown,” Alan Lowry testified. “He said, ‘I think I did something wrong. I think I killed somebody.'”
Alan Lowry said his son continued to tell him that Wright was calling him names and insulting him about his life, slapped him and spit at him.
“He said, ‘I woke up and I’m in my underwear and covered with blood,'” Alan Lowry testified. He said his son told him he “came to” after three or four hours had passed. “The voice was his, but it wasn’t him.”
Christopher Lowry also told his father and his mother over the phone that he wanted to kill himself.
Albright testified she returned home and saw Christopher Lowry behind the mobile home in his underwear with a pistol in his hand and an opened toolbox at his feet.
She said he then fired a shot, but didn’t see where it went and then fired another shot as the police arrived at the scene.
Trooper Adam Sikorski testified that he responded to the scene and was about to get out of vehicle when he heard the second gunshot and rushed for cover.
When he approached Christopher Lowry, Sikorski testified he saw Christopher Lowry in his boxer shorts and socks, with patches of blood over his body and swollen knuckles. The trooper testified Christopher Lowry was holding a gun, which he dropped at Sikorski’s order.
Sikorski said because Christopher Lowery was going in an out of consciousness, he transported him to Uniontown Hospital. On the way there, Sikorski testified, they exchanged small talk about hunting and fishing.
“He said he remembered getting into a fistfight with someone he lived with,” Sikorski testified, adding that Christopher Lowry said he couldn’t remember anything else after that.
Trooper Robert Reitler testified that Wright was in the kitchen area of the mobile home in a pool of blood, laying on one of his shoulders.
He added that a broken butcher knife was found in the home.
Reitler read Wright’s autopsy report from the office of Dr. Cyril Wecht that indicated Wright died from multiple stab wounds to his upper chest, puncturing Wright’s right lung and carotid artery.
The autopsy listed homicide as Wright’s manner of death.
When asked by Assistant Public Defender Shan Gannon about evidence in the investigation, Reitler said the knife will be sent to a lab to be tested. Reitler also testified he is in the process of obtaining Christopher Lowry’s medical records from UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and he received the medical records from Uniontown Hospital.
Christopher Lowry remains lodged in the Fayette County Prison with bail being denied.
A formal arraignment has been scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 15 at the Fayette County Courthouse.