Sister of slain Bullskin Twp. woman speaks out after suspect waives charges
A homicide suspect waived his charges to the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Monday as the victim’s family prepared for her funeral.
Thomas Nathan Teets, 32, of Dawson was charged Thursday in the death of Leah Marie Owens, 31, of Bullskin Township, who went missing last month. Teets directed investigators to her body in West Leisenring Thursday afternoon after several hours of police questioning.
Owens’ sister, Lauren Solosky, said the family anguished for five weeks, not knowing her sister’s fate.
“It was like every day, waking up to the same nightmare,” Solosky said.
She last spoke to her sister Sept. 15 when Owens called saying she needed $150 “because she was in trouble.” Solosky wired money to Walmart in Mount Pleasant. Earlier that day, Owens went to her mother’s house twice with Teets, who was driving her car, and asked for money. Owens appeared “extremely upset and nervous,” her mother told police.
Teets returned to his 308 Main Street home between 4 and 5 p.m. that day, covered in blood with a cut on his finger, his parents told police. The next day, he asked his ex-girlfriend’s father for a rake and shovel, police said.
By Sunday, Solosky said her family had strong suspicions that her sister had been killed. Owens kept in frequent contact with her family and was a doting mother to her two children, Gamin, 7, and Kiera, 6, who attend a private school in Ligonier.
“We knew something was tragically wrong. So for us, it just became about trying to find where she might be,” she said. “We didn’t think that she would be hiding somewhere. We thought that something terrible must have happened to her.”
Brandon Lafitte was questioned by investigators Oct. 3. He told them Teets said he “lost his mind and kept stabbing Owens.” Lafitte told police Teets said, “They don’t got no body. There will be no case.”
On Sept. 25, police found Owens’ vehicle in a secluded area off Fairview Road in Springfield Township. Lab results, returned Oct. 24, showed Owens’ blood was in the vehicle and on a broken folding knife found inside. Teets’ blood was also on the knife, police said.
In multiple interviews, Teets gave investigators conflicting versions of the story before leading them to the body last week, police said.
Solosky is hanging on to memories of her sister to help her through the tragic time. Music was something that drew the sisters together, she said. When they were younger, they would buy CDs together and listen to The Beatles. As teenagers, they would listen to music “on full blast” and sing along.
“Usually she didn’t know all the lyrics, but she liked to pretend that she did,” Solosky said. “It was hysterical.”
Solosky is 2 1/2 years older than Owens. The sisters were always close, and, like typical siblings, their loving relationship was accented by playful jabs and humor. Yet Owens was the type of person who rarely passed up an opportunity to shower her loved ones with affection and encouragement.
“She was the best sister that you could ever ask for. She constantly told me she was proud of me, and that she wanted her kids to be like me,” she said.
While Owens was known to be family-oriented, Solosky said her kindness spread to everyone she met.
If she ran into old friends, Owens would hug them and compliment them, recalling all the details of the last time they met, her sister said.
“She could walk into a room, not knowing anyone, and when she would leave everyone would be her best friend,” she said.
She said that for herself and her family, justice can never truly be achieved with a member of their family gone.
“There is nothing anyone can do that is going to bring her back, and that is the only thing we would ever want,” she said.