Duo charged with stabbing man in Donegal Township to stand trial

A couple accused of stabbing a Pittsburgh carpenter in Donegal Township last week will face trial, a district judge ruled Wednesday.

Emily Smith, 21, of Reading and her boyfriend Travis Pollock, 27, of Somerset were charged with attempted homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, aggravated assault and auto theft after they allegedly stabbed 53-year-old Robert Biondo, stole his 1993 GMC truck and left him to die on an isolated road in the township.

During a preliminary hearing before Ligonier District Judge Denise Snyder Thiel, Biondo testified that Smith, whom he regularly paid for sex, called him the night of Nov. 14 to ask for a ride to her father's house.

Biondo said he picked Smith and Pollock up at a house in Pittsburgh's North Side where the pair had been staying, then followed Pollock's directions through Westmoreland County. After more than an hour, Biondo said, they were in a rural area with no houses nearby, and Pollock said that he had to go to the bathroom.

Biondo stopped the truck and the couple got out, then got back in a few minutes later. After Biondo had driven another three or four miles, he said, Pollock asked him to stop again because he had to vomit.

Biondo stopped the truck, and the couple got out again.

About 20 seconds later, Biondo testified, "He (Pollock) wraps his arm around me and keeps stabbing. I said, 'What are you doing• I like you guys!'"

Biondo, whose wrists and neck were bandaged, said Pollock stabbed him three times in the chest. One blow deflated his lung, and another broke his collarbone, Biondo said.

"He missed my heart by a quarter of an inch," Biondo said. "I'm realizing, I could (expletive) die."

Eventually, Biondo said, he was able to grab the blade of the knife.

"We were at a stalemate," Biondo said. "He's saying, 'Are you going to help me out, babe?' Like he's washing the dishes and he wants her to dry them."

Biondo testified Smith then slashed him in the neck, just missing his jugular vein. Biondo screamed for help, and the next thing he knew he was sitting on the road, watching his truck speed away.

Biondo saw a light and staggered toward it, through the woods. Eventually, he realized that he had his cell phone, and he called 911.

Paramedics found Biondo on Ridge Road, near Acme, just after midnight on Nov. 15. He was taken by helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, where state police interviewed him.

While Biondo knew his alleged assailants only by their first names, Trooper Michael McElfresh testified that police identified Pollock and Smith with the help of Biondo's drug dealer, who introduced him to the pair.

McElfresh said the truck was found in Somerset, near the home of Pollock's grandparents. The pair were later captured by state police in Reading and taken to Westmoreland County Prison.

It was there, McElfresh testified, that Smith confessed.

"She indicated that she didn't want her boyfriend, Travis, taking the full blame for it when it was her idea," McElfresh said.

McElfresh said Smith told him she planned to kill Biondo so the couple could take his truck. Then, McElfresh said, they planned to drive to Reading, where Smith, a non-custodial parent, planned to kidnap her son.

"She said she's fantasized about killing people before and she knew she had it in her," McElfresh said. "This would have been the first of many."

McElfresh said Smith told him she had slashed Biondo with a razor.

"She said she basically went for his arteries, his wrist, his neck, any artery she could think of ...," McElfresh said. "She thought he would have died."

Smith and Pollock pleaded not guilty to the attack. Smith was represented by a court-appointed lawyer, Meagan Bilik DeFazio, and Pollock by Eric Hoffman, of the public defender's office.

Thiel set bail at $1 million and ordered that the pair be held for trial on all charges.