Jury convicts man in slayings of East Liberty sisters

A jury on Monday found an East Liberty man guilty of first-degree murder in the slayings of two sisters and soon will decide whether he should pay for the crime with his life.

Allen Wade, 45, was convicted in the deaths of sisters Susan and Sarah Wolfe, who were found in the basement of their East Liberty home in 2014. The penalty phase of his trial will resume Tuesday.

Jurors must weigh aggravating factors — that Wade murdered Sarah Wolfe because she witnessed his crimes against Susan, and that he murdered them in the commission of a felony robbery — against mitigating factors the defense will present, such as Wade's mental state and upbringing.

Wade was on bond from Westmoreland County when he killed the sisters. He was placed in Westmoreland County Prison in August 2013, accused of stealing a $3,000 wedding ring from a Cook Township home while delivering a refrigerator. He became a police informant while incarcerated and was released on nominal bond when his attorneys argued he was in danger because of his work with authorities.

His trial on the theft charges is pending, with a hearing scheduled in June.

Members of the Wolfe family declined to comment, citing a gag order in the case.

Wade's cousins said their family is “devastated” and sorry for the Wolfe family.

“We have always been praying for the family, but we're also praying for our family,” said Wade's cousin, Sharlene Hayes.

Cousin Janene Hayes said Wade's mother was not at the proceedings because she was too distraught. She said Wade's family loves him and must accept the jury's verdict.

“We have to go with their decision,” Hayes said.

Wade showed no emotion when the verdict was read. The jury had been deliberating since Thursday.

Shortly after deliberations began, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski dismissed Juror No. 4 for violating the court's orders. The judge told the rest of the panel that they should ignore his behavior in the jury room, but he did not elaborate in court on the reason for the juror's removal.

It remains unclear why the juror was removed.

Police and prosecutors said Wade assaulted and shot the Wolfes in the basement of their Chislett Street home on Feb. 6, 2014, while trying to steal their bank cards and PIN codes. Authorities said he first attacked Susan, then killed Sarah when she returned home that evening.

Early Feb. 7, security cameras from businesses in East Liberty showed someone parking Sarah Wolfe's Ford Fiesta, withdrawing $600 from her bank account at a Citizens Bank ATM, then abandoning a pair of sweatpants along the street where the car was parked. The figure had his face covered in the videos but wore white shoes with a loose Velcro strap.

Other security video showed a man who police identified as Wade walking into the Sunoco gas station on Highland Avenue minutes later without the sweatpants but wearing white shoes with a loose strap. Wade threw away a pen from Iowa Prison Industries — which doesn't distribute its wares outside the sisters' home state of Iowa — on the way into the gas station to buy cigarettes.

The Allegheny County crime lab's DNA testing on the pants and a pair of socks found nearby linked Wade to those items. Further analysis by Oakland-based Cybergenetics said Wade was quadrillions of times more likely than someone else to have left DNA on the clothing.

Wade's defense attorneys said police rushed to pin the murders on him because they were under pressure from prosecutors, the media and the fact that the Wolfe sisters were middle-class white women killed in a gentrifying neighborhood.

Staff writer Matthew Santoni contributed. Elizabeth Behrman is a Tribune-Review staff writer.