Handyman gets life in prison for Hempfield man's slaying

A Somerset County man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a Hempfield man last summer during a dispute over wages.

Shawn E. Shaulis, 34, a Somerset-area handyman, pleaded guilty March 19 to fatally kicking and beating Thomas F. Williams, 60, of 507 Goodridge Drive, in a century-old farmhouse Williams was renovating in Jenners Township.

Somerset President Judge John Cascio on Wednesday sentenced Shaulis to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Williams had hired Shaulis to help him remove some valuable woodwork from the home, but the two got into a fight July 16 after the handyman objected to his pay, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing last fall. Shaulis beat Williams to death and then dumped the body in the basement and covered it with construction debris.

During a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Williams' companion of almost 20 years, Lori Drylie of Greensburg, said she still had trouble comprehending why Shaulis would kill Williams. She said Williams liked Shaulis and described him as a good worker who was "amazingly strong for such a skinny kid."

"Tom was so excited that Thursday. He was so appreciative of your help," she told Shaulis. "He was so happy that the two of you got the staircase out with minimal damage."

Shaulis stood with his head bowed as Drylie spoke.

Williams' body was discovered after Drylie filed a missing persons report. She said Shaulis told her that he did not know Williams' whereabouts on the day he was killed.

"You walked me right across the floor where you had just shed Tom's blood. On that day you took away my whole life," Drylie said.

Police discovered Williams' body about 48 hours later.

After the killing, Shaulis went on a spending spree with Williams' credit and debit cards, using them in Somerset and Connellsville with his 17-year-old Fayette County girlfriend, police said.

The Somerset Daily American contributed to this story.