 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Judge denies bail in fatal pipe bombing
Wednesday, December 22, 1999 By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Despite pleas from an attorney and the presence of 15 character witnesses from Connellsville, a federal magistrate yesterday ordered Joseph P. Minerd held in jail until his trial on charges that he murdered his girlfriend, her 3-year-old daughter and Minerd's unborn baby -- a child he didn't believe was his.
Minerd, 44, of Bullskin, Fayette County, was charged last week with using a pipe bomb to cause the Jan. 1 explosion that killed Deana K. Mitts, 24, who was eight months pregnant, and her daughter, Kayla, 3.
During Minerd's detention hearing in U.S. District Court, his attorney, David Shrager, argued that Minerd should not be detained because he was not a threat to the community.
But U.S. Magistrate Robert Mitchell said the prosecution had shown enough probable cause that Minerd caused the explosion and ordered him detained.
Testimony from Connellsville police Detective Thomas Cesario, based on interviews with Mitts' mother and others, painted a picture of a man consumed by rage because his girlfriend refused to abort her unborn daughter.
Cesario said Minerd had asked Mitts to have an abortion because he didn't believe the baby was his. When she refused, he demanded that she take a paternity test, which she also refused.
DNA testing of the dead fetus has shown Minerd was the father.
Although the couple had been engaged, the relationship dissolved in July 1998.
Cesario said interviews with Mitts' family and friends revealed that Minerd began posting threatening letters on the door of Mitts' apartment at 504 McCormick Ave. in Connellsville, saying she deserved to die if she didn't have the abortion.
Cesario said Mitts' mother also told him about two incidents in which Minerd attacked Mitts over her refusal to abort, once choking her and once blackening her eye.
On New Year's Day, Mitts and her daughter returned to their apartment at about 2 p.m. after celebrating New Year's Eve with her parents and staying overnight at their home in South Connellsville.
An explosion tore through the three-story building about a half-hour later, igniting a fire that trapped Mitts and her daughter on the first floor.
Authorities first believed a natural gas explosion caused the blast, but 3 1/2 months later, investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ruled a pipe bomb had started the fire and gasoline was used to fuel it.
Dr. Phillip Reilly, Fayette County coroner, said Mitts and her daughter died from trauma and burns.
|
||||||||
