Police arrest son in murder of retired IUP professor, cite mental health issues

The son of a retired Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor is in jail without bail on charges he bludgeoned her to death in their home.

Ruth Shirey, 72, a longtime geography professor, was found unconscious with head and facial injuries in her home on Diamond Avenue in Indiana just after 3 a.m. Friday, according to police.

Todd Royce Walters, 36, was arrested without incident near Altoona, Blair County, at 12:32 p.m. Police tracked his cellphone to the location.

Walters has mental health issues, police said in a criminal complaint.

He was arraigned Friday afternoon before District Judge Guy Haberl of Indiana on charges of homicide and aggravated assault.

District Attorney Patrick Dougherty said Walters is ineligible for bail because of the seriousness of the charges, and he was placed in the Indiana County Jail. He awaits a preliminary hearing Thursday.

During a news conference Friday, police Chief William Sutton said a male caller to Indiana County 911 at 3:02 a.m. reported a burglary and assault on a woman at 680 Diamond Ave.

Dougherty declined to comment on who made the call, calling it “an investigative detail.”

Officers found Shirey lying unconscious on a bathroom floor, according to the criminal complaint. There was no sign of forced entry, and her Ford Taurus was missing.

Shirey was taken to Indiana Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead by Coroner Jerry Overman. The cause was blunt-force trauma, he said.

“She was struck several times in the head and trunk area. If she was struck with an object or by hand, we don't have that at this time,” Overman said.

Shirey and her husband, retired IUP history professor Royce Walters, were separated, police said, and Shirey also used the name Walters.

During an interview with Royce Walters, police learned that “Todd has been suffering from psychological issues and has not been taking his prescribed medications,” the criminal complaint stated.

When Royce Walters visited his son and Shirey at their home on Thursday, “Todd became angry and threatened to punch (his father) because he thought they were laughing at him,” police said.

“It was relayed to us that he was seeking medical attention and had possibly missed ... taking his medications. I really can't go into that in much further detail until we are able to gather all of his medical history,” Dougherty said.

When Royce Walters left at 10:45 p.m., his son and Shirey were the only two people in the home, police said.

Royce Walters told authorities his son “is very proficient in the use of firearms” and kept several pistols and long guns at his mother's home, police said.

Officers removed several weapons from the home Friday morning.

“We were trying to account for any weapons that we knew he may have had, so that in the event we didn't capture him, he couldn't go back and get those weapons. ... There was a laundry list of guns that he did have registered,” Dougherty said.

He declined to comment on whether Walters was armed when he was taken into custody.

Dougherty said Shirey was an acquaintance, and he had seen her Thursday night at an Indiana County Democratic Committee meeting.

“I've known her for several years, personally, from being a former professor at the university and being involved in local government, some agencies that I'm familiar with. Unfortunately, I was the one who was able to confirm her identity at the hospital this morning,” Dougherty said. “That was tough. ... It hasn't been a good day.”

A 1965 graduate of IUP, Shirey returned as a geography professor. She was on the faculty for 37 years, according to an alumni website. She was chairwoman of the Geography and Regional Planning Department from 1977-88.

John Benhart Jr., current department chairman, described Shirey as a “consummate professional.”

She was the director of the National Council for Geographic Education from 1986 until 2002, and was known and respected across the country for her work in the field, Benhart said.

Shirey was an outspoken force for change at IUP, he said.

“She's really one of the architects of the program we have now.”

Even after her retirement in 2007, Shirey was a regular presence at the department.

“She would stop in my office and we would have conversations about how the department was doing, and how the program was doing,” Benhart said.

IUP spokeswoman Michelle Fryling said campus officials were notified of Shirey's death Friday morning.

“She was a lovely, lovely person. There is no other word for her. It's just shocking,” Fryling said. “She was so well thought of and touched thousands of students. She was the go-to person for geography students.”

Neighbor Dan Broadbent said Shirey had lived in the red brick ranch across the street from him for at least a decade.

“She was very friendly, very social, very active in community civic groups,” Broadbent said.

Staff writer Jacob Tierney contributed. Mary Pickels and Renatta Signorini are staff writers for Trib Total Media.