It's been 25 years since the infamous Kill-for-Thrill murderers terrorized the Valley with a quadruple murder killing spree.
First sentenced to die for their heinous crimes in 1982, John Lesko and Michael Travaglia have survived on death row since then, kept alive by a labyrinth of legal appeals. In recent years, events in the case have ground to a virtual halt.
"It just goes on and on, and we all just get older," said Vandergrift attorney Tim Geary, who was the Westmoreland County district attorney who prosecuted the two. "I have to tell you, I thought it would be over long before now."
Dante Bertani, the public defender who has represented Travaglia from the beginning, also marvels at how long the case has continued. Unlike Geary, however, he would like to see it end with life sentences for both men rather than executions.
"All we want to do is keep this guy from getting the death penalty at this point," Bertani said. "It's just a shame that we think we're a civilized society, but we feel the need to kill people."
The details of Lesko and Travaglia's murderous rampage have faded from many minds, although they've become symbols of what many on both sides of the debate feel is wrong with capital punishment.
Lesko of Pittsburgh, and Travaglia of Washington Township were disaffected 21-year-olds in 1979. The two met about a month before the killings at a bar and found they shared a taste for drugs and danger.
Over the course of eight days, the two abducted three people and killed them before enticing a rookie Apollo police officer into a chase that ended with his shooting death.
Lesko and Travaglia were sentenced to death for the murder of Officer Leonard Miller. Apollo recently dedicated its new bridge across the Kiski River in honor of Miller.
Bertani is still fighting legal battles to prevent evidence from one of the earlier murders from being considered during the resentencing a federal court has ordered for Travaglia.
The spree began Dec. 27, 1979, when the pair decided to "roll a faggot" for money, Travaglia told a psychiatrist.
Their first victim was 49-year-old Peter Levato, whom they abducted from the Edison Hotel, a gay hangout in Pittsburgh. Using a .22-caliber pistol, Travaglia forced the unemployed security guard and female impersonator into a car Levato had borrowed from a friend.
Lesko and Travaglia drove Levato to the Travaglia family summer home in Loyalhanna, Westmoreland County, robbed him of $59 and panicked about what to do next.
According to Travaglia's testimony, Lesko worried if they didn't kill Levato, they would go to jail.
According to Lesko, Travaglia hit Levato on the head with the gun and pushed him into an icy creek. But Levato struggled to shore and managed to hide behind a tree in the dark before the killers found him with a flashlight and shot him three times.
In Lesko's version of the story, Travaglia was the shooter. In Travaglia's version, Lesko did the shooting.
Then, about 2 a.m. Jan. 1, 1980, the two met up with Marlene Sue Newcomer, 26, a seamstress from Fayette County. She was driving home from a New Year's Eve party. Newcomer was a single mother, raising a 6-year-old son whose father had died in 1976.
"Come on, get out of the fog," Newcomer had said to Lesko and Travaglia as they were walking along Route 66 in Washington Township.
Lesko and Travaglia commandeered Newcomer's car and, with her in tow, robbed an Indiana County convenience store of $35, binding the clerk with yellow electrical wire Travaglia had stolen from his father.
Then, on their way back to Pittsburgh, the men worried Newcomer could identify them. So Lesko climbed into the back seat with her and while he tried to calm her with his words, he shot at Newcomer. The first shot missed, causing her to moan, Lesko later told police. Lesko believed Newcomer was faking a heart attack and he put a blanket over the woman, closed his eyes and took two more shots.
The bullets hit Newcomer in the head and chest, killing her. Lesko and Travaglia then left Newcomer's body in her car in a Pittsburgh parking garage.
The next day, Lesko and Travaglia got into James Damon's cab and robbed him of $20. They went on a 172-mile trip, but the terrified cabby escaped unharmed.
Later on Jan. 2, Lesko and Travaglia went back to the bar at the Edison Hotel where they had abducted Levato and met church organist William Nicholls, 32.
Nicholls made a pass at Travaglia, who then lured the man outside and forced his way into Nicholls' new sports car. Holding the man at gunpoint, Travaglia accidentally shot Nicholls, who was handcuffed, in the arm.
Then, Travaglia and Lesko took Nicholls and Ricky Rutherford, a 15-year-old boy they befriended, 60 miles to a lake in Indiana County.
The pair then dragged Nicholls to the top of a dam, bound by the hands and feet, with a scarf stuffed in his mouth.
They strapped a 15-pound rock to him and lowered Nicholls, still alive and head first, into a hole Travaglia had kicked in the ice. Nicholls surfaced once, then submerged for good.
Lesko and Travaglia, now driving Nicholls' car with Rutherford along for the ride, then stole a .38-caliber gun hidden between the seats of Travaglia's father's truck and headed off to rob a convenience store.
On their way through Apollo, however, the group passed rookie police officer Leonard Miller. Three days on the job, Miller was enticed to chase the car Travaglia was driving after Travaglia sped by him three times at 90 mph. Travaglia taunted Miller by honking the horn and nearly hitting the patrol car until Miller gave chase and stopped the killers in nearby Oklahoma Borough.
When Miller approached the car, Travaglia shot him. The officer made a sound, "Like when you get the wind knocked out of you," Rutherford later testified. Then Miller fell to the ground.
After killing Miller, Lesko, Travaglia and Rutherford left Nicholls' car and hitch-hiked back to Pittsburgh. They hid in the Edison Hotel, the same place they had picked up two earlier victims.
Travaglia stashed the gun with a friend, Daniel Montgomery, who would later testify Travaglia was excited to have killed a cop.
Police later arrested the men at the hotel, rousting them from their sleep.
The crime and resulting trials for the men created the 1980 version of a media frenzy. Though nothing like today's 24-hour cable news coverage that such a crime might attract, public interest in the case was huge, Geary said.
Lesko and Travaglia now are growing older in prison. Lesko is 46 and serving time at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford in eastern Pennsylvania. Travaglia is also 46 and is at SCI Greene County.
Many people associated with the case who might have expected to outlive the condemned killers have died, including Leonard Miller's parents, two prosecutors who worked on the case and two judges who presided over some proceedings.
"I honestly thought, in my heart of hearts, that this wouldn't take 10 to 15 years," Geary said. "But here we are 25 years later."
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