Cops: Man who killed son-in-law had bullet with his name on it

BRADFORD, Pa. - A man charged with fatally shooting his son-in-law behind the Pennsylvania restaurant both men once owned had another bullet in his gun with the victim's name carved into it, police said.

Stephen Stidd, 62, has been charged with a single count of criminal homicide in Friday's death of 43-year-old Melvin Bizzarro and faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday, The Bradford Era reported.

Both men are from Bradford, about 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, and both had owned Togi's Sub Station. Stidd sold the business to his daughter, Michelle, and Bizzarro, her husband, in 2007, and Bizzarro had, in turn, relinquished his share to his wife last December, according to Stidd's defense attorney, Gregory Henry.

Henry told the newspaper that Bizzarro understood that under a marital settlement agreement he was not to be on the property. The couple is divorcing.

Henry contends Stidd shot Bizzarro in self-defense after Bizzarro trespassed in the restaurant parking lot about 9:30 a.m. Friday. But police suggested the shooting may have been premeditated because another bullet in Stidd's gun had the letters "MEL" carved in it -- as in Melvin, the victim's first name -- according to a criminal complaint.

Bradford police handled the initial investigation but turned over the probe to state police because Stidd is related to one of the city's police officers, Chief Chris Lucco said. Troopers from the nearby Kane barracks filed the homicide charge.

Bradford District Judge Dominic Cercone allowed Stidd to post 10 percent of $100,000 bail to be released from jail, which is unusual because bond is not normally set on homicide charges in Pennsylvania. The DA objected, but the judge allowed it Stidd's lawyer argued the defendant has an "unimpeachable reputation" and isn't a risk to flee.

Henry noted that Bizzarro threatened and assaulted Stidd at the restaurant in June 2005, injuring his father-in-law so badly he was hospitalized.

Court records indicate Bizzarro was sentenced to 15 days to a year in the McKean County Jail. At that time, Bizzarro claimed his father-in-law hit him several times before he retaliated, and that he had ongoing family problems with Stidd.