Witnesses testify Dravosburg man admitted killing, theft

When FBI agents caught up with Kenneth J. Konias Jr. on April 23, 2012, he confessed to killing Michael R. Haines and to stealing more than $2.3 million from a Garda Cash Logistics truck nearly two months earlier, according to testimony Tuesday in Konias' homicide trial in Pittsburgh.

Konias, 24, of Dravpsburg is charged with shooting his co-worker Haines, 31, of East McKeesport and fleeing with the stolen contents of the armored vehicle the men were operating on Feb. 28, 2012.

Konias maintains that he killed Haines in self-defense.

When he was arrested, Konias' wallet contained two fake Florida driver's licenses bearing his photo; identification and a credit card for someone else; and a Garda employee card and a Pennsylvania weapons permit that belonged to him.

That was some of the evidence presented on the second day of his trial before Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman.

Federal and local investigators took the stand to describe how evidence in the form of cellphones, ammunition and millions of dollars in cash was recovered locally and in Pompano Beach, Fla., where he was arrested by FBI agents acting on a tip.

Agent David N. Hedges described the trail of money Konias left behind as he was preparing to flee the region.

Hedges said Konias left about $276,000 for his parents, with whom he was living.

Hedges said the defendant's mother, Renee Konias, denied any knowledge of the money when he first spoke with her five days after the shooting.

“We asked her about the money,” Hedges said. “She said there was no money there at that time.”

Hedges said the mother told him about a phone call she received from her son, in which he said he wanted her to see his grandmother. Renee Konias told the investigator she didn't know what her son meant.

However, Hedges said Konias' father, Ken Konias Sr., went to the gravesite of the defendant's deceased grandmother in Homestead Cemetery in Munhall, where he recovered a package containing $24,000.

The elder Konias took the money to the home of his brother Edward Bogatz in West Mifflin. When he arrived, the brother was not home. The elder Konias went into his brother's home anyway and hid the money in an upstairs cubbyhole, according to Hedges.

More money was recovered from the Konias family's home on Euclid Street in Dravosburg the following day, when investigators searching the home for at least the third time found $252,000 in a garbage bag underneath a car parked in the garage.

Hedges said the bag was visible in photos taken during a search of the house the previous day but was not recovered at that time. It is unclear from testimony how the money was overlooked.

Pittsburgh police homicide Detective Tim Rush described how police, in a search of the home on the day of the incident, found a spent shell casing matching the caliber of gun used in the shooting in the right front pocket of a Garda jacket they recovered.

The jacket was hanging in the living room of Konias' home. Near the jacket, underneath a couch cushion where Konias often sat, police recovered two cellphones and three live rounds of ammunition.

Rush said detectives found five boxes of ammunition in Konias' bedroom.

Testimony suggested Konias stopped at his house as he was preparing to leave for Florida to shower and change clothes.

While he was at his house he is believed to have encountered his father before leaving.

On his way out of town, investigators said Konias stopped at the home of his friend Mark Majorsky in West Mifflin where he left $10,000 in a work boot that was on the porch.

Konias is believed to have thrown a cellphone out of the window of his vehicle while he was traveling along Route 51 in Pleasant Hills.

The cellphone was presented as evidence on Tuesday and Daniel McDonald testified how he found and retrieved the device on the road when he was stopped at a traffic light.

Konias told investigators he stole a license plate for his SUV off a car at Century III Mall before driving nonstop to the Miami area.

FBI task force officer Gerard Starkey described how Konias led agents to money he had stashed in a self storage unit behind his apartment in Pompano Beach.

Konias told Starkey that he paid a cab driver in Florida upwards of $800,000 for helping him obtain fake identification, a place to live and prostitutes.

Konias told the FBI he gave $17,000, his own service firearm and the gun belonging to Haines to a pimp who rented him the apartment.

One of the prostitutes with whom Konias associated while on the lam stole $92,000 from him, Starkey said.

Konias told Starkey in an interview that he acted in self-defense when he shot Haines in the back of the armored truck.

Konias said a physical struggle occurred over a faulty piece of equipment before Haines pulled his gun and threatened to shoot Konias.

Konias said the fight escalated when a scanner thrown by Haines hit him in the back of the head.

Starkey said Konias was examined for injuries when he was arrested and there were no signs that he'd been in a fight.

Starkey said Konias pointed to a blemish on top of his head that he said was caused by the scanner.

“He said it was a scab,” Starkey said. “It was a mole.”

Eric Slagle is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161 ext. 1966, or eslagle@tribweb.com.