Vandergrift couple killed

Authorities said they don't know why a Vandergrift man fired a fatal shot into the back of the head of his girlfriend early Wednesday before taking his own life in the home the couple shared with a second woman.

The bodies of Stephen Rattigan, 24, and Tonya Sconish, 27, were found yesterday afternoon by the second woman when she returned to the duplex the three shared on Franklin Avenue in Vandergrift, police Chief Joseph Caporali said.

Both appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound to the head, said F. Christopher O'Leath, a deputy county coroner.

O'Leath and Caporali said Rattigan and Sconish were romantically involved and that the second woman, whom they did not identify, was a friend of the couple.

The second woman left home Tuesday afternoon and found the bodies when she returned shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday, Caporali said.

The shootings may have occurred sometime between 3 and 5 a.m. because that's when neighbors heard what they thought were firecrackers, O'Leath said.

'The body of the female was found on the stairway between the first and second floors,' Caporali said. 'She had been shot in the back of the head.

'The body of the male was found at the bottom of the stairway,' Caporali said. 'He had a contact wound to the temple.'

A 9-mm semiautomatic handgun was found near Rattigan's hand, Caporali said.

Both victims were fully clothed, O'Leath said.

'There was no sign of a struggle and no sign of forced entry,' Caporali said.

Neighbors did not report hearing any sounds of a struggle or a fight, O'Leath said.

Caporali, who said it appears the two were alone in the home when they died, said officers did not find a note at the scene that might explain what led to the shootings.

'We're still trying to establish where they were and what they were doing after the roommate left,' Caporali said.

The chief said there had been no previous reports of trouble at the home. The couple moved into the home about six months ago, but he said he did not know how long they had been together.

The chief, who has been with the police department for 21 years, said it is the first homicide in the community since April 1988.

In that case, Robert Kim Myers was sentenced to life in prison after his conviction for the stabbing death of his wife, Rowenna Pounds Myers, an art teacher for the Kiski Area School District who had filed for a divorce.

Sconish, who lived in the Monroeville area before moving to Vandergrift, was born in Fairmont, W.Va. She was employed by Ronnie G's Lounge & Restaurant, Washington Township.

Sconish is survived by a son, Thomas J. Beckett of Vandergrift; her mother, Betty C. Beckett of the Tinsmill area of Bell Township; a brother, Ronald G. Sconish of East Vandergrift; and a sister, Vonne P. Andring of Apollo, Armstrong County.

Her father, Ronald T. Sconish, died in 1999.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday in the Curran Funeral Home, 701 Salt Road, Saltsburg, Indiana County. Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the funeral home, and burial will follow in Westview Cemetery in Avonmore.

Arrangements for Rattigan, which are being handled by the Dunmire-Kerr Funeral Home, 244 Franklin Ave., Vandergrift, were incomplete last night.