Police find missing Brackenridge man in Texas

Police on Friday asked a Brackenridge man questions about the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found in the Allegheny River last month.

Chad Stroup, 32, had been missing since the June 19 funeral of girlfriend Kelly Nicole Smith. On June 14, a fisherman found Smith's body in the river near the mouth of Chartiers Run in the Braeburn section of Lower Burrell.

Westmoreland County Chief Detective Mike Brajdich said yesterday that Stroup was located at the home of his father in Pasadena, Texas, a small town outside Houston. Brajdich said Lower Burrell Detective Lt. Robert Galvanek and county Detective John Clark talked with Stroup.

Stroup had lived in recent months with Smith and her five-year-old son along Cleveland Avenue in Brackenridge. Police said he is not a suspect in Smith's death but characterized the death as suspicious. However, police want to find out what he knows about the hours before Smith was found.

In the days after her death, Stroup told detectives he would talk with them after Smith's funeral, but left the state without doing so. Stroup's mother, Marcia, filed a missing persons report on her son. She said she last saw him driving away from her house in Clinton Township on the afternoon of Smith's funeral.

Smith's estranged husband, Jason, said he was told about Stroup's location. He had been friends with Stroup at Highlands High School before they graduated in 1994.

"It would have been nice if he could have stayed here to help with the investigation," Smith said. "It would have helped for him to tell them what he knew. Maybe leaving was his way of dealing with things."

Smith's brother, Patrick Godfrey, said his family was told in the afternoon.

"All we know is that Kelly's death is suspicious," he said. " We want the police to find out as much as they can. Chad not being around a month has made it tough to handle. We're very excited that he has been found."

Chad's mother, Marcia Stroup, said she was "shocked" that her son was with his father, Richard Edward May, who she said works on oil rigs.

"I am happy he's OK. I just wish he'd come back," she said. Marcia Stroup said police asked her son to return to Pennsylvania to answer additional questions. It's unclear if Stroup will voluntarily accompany the detectives when they return from Texas sometime this weekend.