Rostraver man charged with killing sister's boyfriend, dumping body at gas well site

A Rostraver man allegedly confessed to killing his sister's boyfriend and dumping his body in Armstrong County.

Billy Ray Boggs Jr., 49, of Finley Road was charged Monday by Westmoreland County Detectives with criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse in the death of Thomas Guercio, 35, formerly of Manor, who had been missing since late March.

Boggs, in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh on unrelated charges, was expected to be arraigned Tuesday on the murder charges before Magisterial District Judge Charles Christner in Rostraver.

“The judge wants him arraigned in person, so it's a matter of us getting down there and getting the paperwork together,” Rostraver police Chief Greg Resetar said during a press conference Monday.

Boggs allegedly confessed to hitting Guercio with a hammer at least three times, wrapping his body in a tarp and dumping the body at a gas well site.

Guercio was last seen March 23 at a Dick's Sporting Goods in Hempfield by his sister Leanne. At the time he was with Boggs and his sister, Jamie Lynn Boggs.

Guercio had been living with the pair on Finley Road since January, Jamie Lynn Boggs told detectives.

The siblings were arrested last week for separate parole violations. Jamie Lynn Boggs is lodged in the Westmoreland County Prison in Hempfield.

Boggs Jr. told police a fight between his sister and Guercio set off the chain of events that led to Guercio's death, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

As Boggs Jr. and Guercio began fighting, Boggs allegedly hit Guercio in the head with a hammer. He told police he was aiming at Guercio's shoulder, the affidavit states.

After moving Guercio to a couch, the Boggs siblings went to Uniontown, the complaint states.

Boggs Jr. told police that when he returned Guercio was alive.

That's when he allegedly hit him at least two more times with the hammer and stabbed him in the chest with a knife, according to the affidavit.

Boggs Jr. allegedly put Guercio's body in the bed of his truck and drove to Armstrong County.

On Friday, he led Westmoreland County detectives Richard Kranitz and Robert Weaver to the place he dumped Guercio's body, the complaint states.

Resetar said it was a “desolate area near Kittanning.”

An autopsy performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht determined the cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the head with multiple skull fractures and an incise wound to the chest,” striking Guercio's heart and lung.

‘Critical' evidence

Boggs Jr.'s arrest is the culmination of an investigation that began several weeks ago.

On March 30, Rostraver police searched his house.

“Our officers went to the residence to do a trash pull,” Resetar said. “We learned that the township hauler had already collected it.”

Police contacted Big's Sanitation employees, who located the truck that collected trash from Boggs' residence.

“The crew remembered that they had picked up three black garbage bags from the house,” Resetar said. “We had the truck dump its load at the township road department. I'd say it was about eight to 10 tons of trash.”

Investigators found the bags from Boggs' residence.

A bag containing bloody bed linens, a shirt, a hat, Newport cigarettes and pillows were found, Resetar said.

“Those items were critical to the investigation,” Resetar said. “If we didn't find the bloody garments and linens, we would have little physical evidence.”

Investigators spent most of the day gathering evidence inside the home. Resetar said he could not comment on anything else found at the house because the records have been sealed.

According to the affidavit, Detective Ray Dupilka of the county forensics unit determined that the amount of blood present on the items found was consistent with fatal injuries.

“Tom's family was able to identify those items by photograph,” Resetar said.

Leanne Guercio recognized a pillow from her brother's and Jamie Lynn Boggs' Jeannette residence in one photo. Leanne Guercio said her brother always wore a “white tank top,” which was one of the items found by police.

She said Monday that her family had no comment.

Tumultuous history

On March 26, Rostraver police were notified by Uniontown police that Jamie Lynn Boggs was in Uniontown Hospital with injuries allegedly suffered at the hands of Guercio in Rostraver.

Upon learning that Rostraver Officer Stephen Crawford was en route to Uniontown to investigate the alleged assault, Jamie Lynn and Billy Ray Boggs allegedly left the hospital.

Two days later, Leanne Guercio traveled to the Rostraver Police Department and reported her brother missing. Thomas Guercio's family last heard from him on March 23. When Officer Michael Sethman contacted the Boggs siblings, they allegedly said that after the fight between Jamie Lynn Boggs and Thomas Guercio, Billy Ray Boggs drove Guercio to Jeannette and dropped him off.

The same day, Manor police declared Thomas Guercio missing. Leanne Guercio told Rostraver Officer Richard Beranek that no one in Jeannette had seen her brother. Beranek contacted Jamie Lynn and Billy Ray Boggs, who repeated the story they told Sethman, police said.

Jamie Lynn Boggs filed a protection-from-abuse petition against Guercio March 30 at the Westmoreland courthouse, according to court records. The petition was denied.

She allegedly violated her probation stemming from prior assault convictions. She has not been charged in connection with the homicide.

Resetar said the timeline and history of Jamie Lynn Boggs' relationship with Thomas Guercio is complicated.

“The time frame of when everything happened is so convoluted,” Resetar said.

Asked if Jamie Lynn Boggs is cooperating with police, Resetar declined to comment.

A history of trouble

The Boggs siblings are in jail on parole violations.

Billy Ray Boggs was apprehended by Zone 1 Pittsburgh police April 27 on a state parole violation related to a 1995 case in Cumberland County, Resetar said last week.

Boggs Jr. was charged Friday by Ross Township police with two counts of burglary in connection with an April 24 incident.

In a previous burglary case, he was found guilty of two counts each of criminal solicitation and conspiracy to violate odometer requirements in Cumberland County in 1995. He was sentenced to two 5- to 10-year sentences, to be served one after the other, for attempting to pay for the murders of two witnesses.

Stemming from incarceration in Clarion County, Boggs was charged with escape, procuring weapons or tools for escape and two counts of institutional vandalism.

The story captured national attention after then-prison guard Constance Judy alerted a Texas state trooper that an escaped inmate had held her captive for four days while traveling to that state.

Prosecutors at the time weren't convinced Boggs could have walked out of the Clarion County Jail without her help. Judy was never charged.

Further details related to that case were not available.

Jeremy Sellew is a staff writer for Trib Total Media .Reach him at jsellew@tribweb.com or 724-684-2667.