2nd Person Questioned In Rachael DelTondo Murder Case
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ALIQUIPPA (KDKA) – Police have questioned a second individual in connection with the murder of Rachael DelTondo in Aliquippa.
KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan has learned that police investigators have questioned 20-year-old Sheldon Jeter, who is a friend of DelTondo.
The 33-year-old was shot and killed in her mother's driveway Sunday night.
Sheehan says police questioned Jeter at his home on Monday, and also executed a search warrant in which they took his cellphone. Police had already seized DelTondo's phone for forensic analysis.
Jeter's attorney, Michael Santicola, says his client told police he had nothing to do with DelTondo's murder.
According to Santicola, Jeter and DelTondo have had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship for several years and have remained friends.
The relationship first came to the attention of police in February 2016, when an incident report indicates police found the then-17-year-old Jeter and DelTondo in a parked car on the grounds of the old Aliquippa Hospital.
At the time, DelTondo told police that she had been Jeter's teacher and was simply counseling him. Jeter was a basketball and football star at Aliquippa High School.
No charges were ever filed, but DelTondo was suspended with pay from her job as a teacher at PACyber Charter School in the fall of 2017. A police report about the parking lot encounter was leaked from the Aliquippa Police Department in what Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier has called a "personal vendetta."
KDKA's Kym Gable Reports:
More on Rachael DelTondo Murder Case:
- Who Killed Rachael DelTondo? A Timeline Of Events
- 2nd Person Questioned In Rachael DelTondo Murder Case
- Rachael DelTondo's Ex-Fiancé Goes Public To Clear His Name, Wants Justice For Her Slaying
- Sources: Aliquippa Murder Victim, Rachael DelTondo, Was Victim Of Confidential Information Leak
- Get Marty: Rachael DelTondo's Family Living Through Wedding Dress Nightmare, Seeks Refund
- Second Search Warrant Served In Rachael DelTondo Murder Case
- Older Brother Of Second Search Warrant's Target Interviewed In Rachael DelTondo Case
Lozier has not elaborated on who might have had this "vendetta" against DelTondo with motive to leak the report.
Santicola told Sheehan that his client had "no animosity" toward DelTondo and therefore "no motive" to kill her.
DelTondo's former fiancé has also denied any involvement in her death, and has offered an alibi for the night of the murder that his attorney says police appear to be satisfied with.
In another development, Santicola says his client told him he believed DelTondo was about to testify before a grand jury investigating possible corruption in Aliquippa.
Santicola did not elaborate further.
It has already been reported that Pennsylvania State Police investigated the Aliquippa Police Department after the leak about DelTondo and Jeter. The leak was believed to have come from someone inside the department, and afterwards, the department's access to some statewide databases was suspended.
In addition, state police raided the Aliquippa municipal building in April, taking computer hard drives and paper documents.
No one has indicated whether the investigation into the leak and the office raid are related, or whether either incident has anything to do with DelTondo's murder.