Details Revealed In '93 Lawrence Co. Cold Case Murder
NEW CASTLE (KDKA) -- The recording of one of the men charged in the murder of a 15-year-old from Lawrence County back in 1993 was played in court Wednesday.
Joseph Marshall, 39, and 38-year-old Sean McDonough will stand trial for the murder of Laura Lynn Thompson.
The two men picked her up from her mother's home and Laura was never seen again. She left behind a baby son.
Marshall waived his case to court, but McDonough listened to a recording of Marshall telling police what happened to Laura that night.
"The evidence that we produced today we believe is strong evidence that supports our case against both Joseph Marshall and Sean McDonough," Lawrence County District Attorney Josh Lamancuso said.
In the recording, Marshall describes how the three drank beer at McDonough's mother's trailer in Shenango and then walked to a nearby cabin in the woods.
Marshall states that McDonough began flipping out, talking in a satanic voice and started stabbing Laura until she stopped moving. He then allegedly stripped her clothes off and had sex with her.
Marshall told how McDonough went back to the trailer, got a shovel and they dug a shallow grave.
Marshall's wife Shannon went to police last July about the murder and helped get allegedly incriminating information with recorded cell phone calls and wire taps on the men.
Police arrested McDonough in Louisiana where a long lock of red hair was found in his apartment.
"There was multiple strands that was bound together," Lamancuso said. "I can't say with any sort of certainty whether or not that is part of Laura Thompson's remains."
Thompson had red hair. Her body has never been recovered. The search for her remains will resume in the spring.
Marshall and McDonough both face charges of homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse. McDonough has an additional charge of rape.
