Charges filed, details released in mysterious Bullskin Twp. death
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
State police investigated the death of Todd Neiderhiser, 48, of Acme, who was found dead along Brown Barn Road in Bullskin Township May 16. Todd Hiers, 46, who was allegedly with Neiderhiser that day, was charged with robbery and related charges this week.
Hiers
An Acme man who was found dead along a rural Bullskin Township Road in May allegedly collapsed during an altercation and robbery, according to state police.
The Fayette County Coroner determined after an autopsy that Todd Neiderhiser, 48, died as the result of a cardiac event May 16. Residents near Brown Barn Road, where the body was found, told police they heard shots fired that day. Police continued their investigation into the death.
The next day, McKeesport police allegedly spotted Demetrius Carlyse Diggs Jr., 19, of McKeesport driving Neiderhiser’s vehicle. His testimony led local police to charge Isaac “Jay” Hiers, 46, of Connellsville with simple assault and related charges earlier this week.
Diggs told police two women drove him and a juvenile from McKeesport to the rural road to sell drugs to Hiers. They pulled up behind a vehicle and two men, later identified as Neiderhiser and Hiers, got out of the car.
He said Hiers ordered Diggs and the 17-year-old onto the ground with a gun, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Diggs told police Neiderhiser took a brick of heroin, phone and cash from his pockets. Diggs said he stood up to fight Neiderhiser, and Hiers again ordered him onto the ground with the gun. He said he got up to fight again when he saw Hiers fire a shot into the ground near the juvenile, and Neiderhiser collapsed.
Diggs and the teen fled into the woods, fearing they would be shot, and watched from their hiding place, police said. He said he saw Hiers check on his friend and then leave in the car they arrived in, along with the two women who drove them, according to the affidavit.
He reportedly told police he saw the keys were still in the ignition of the Malibu and decided to drive it. Neither teen was familiar with the area. Diggs told police at one point they were “completely lost somewhere in West Virginia.”
He was arrested the next night in McKeesport after he allegedly fled a traffic stop in Neiderhiser’s vehicle, hit a parked car and backed up to hit a McKeesport police car, pinning the officer inside.
Diggs is awaiting trial in Allegheny County on receiving stolen property, fleeing or attempting to elude officers and related charges.
Hiers was charged with robbery, theft and simple assault filed before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty Jr. Monday.