Four Charged In 2014 Drug-Related Sword Slaying Case
BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) - For Connie Howard, Monday was about closure.
"I'm just overwhelmed with happiness and I'm sad right now, you know," she said.
Her son Tyron Howard was killed a year and a half ago in a brutal attack in Blairsville.
After months of following leads, police say they know who killed him.
Michael Eades Junior, Stanley Boynton, Deandre Jones Junior and Kevin King are all now in custody.
"I know it might be a long time coming before the end of it, but I'm glad this happened before I left this earth, and its happy news to be able to give his son, to tell his son that they caught his dad's murderers," Howard said.
Police say it was in an apartment on South Stewart Street in that Tyron's life ended. They say in less than 20 minutes, the suspects bound, gagged and stabbed howard multiple times with a sword.
Even veteran investigators call the crime shocking and gruesome.
"We in law enforcement have seen many things. I'm not sure many of us have seen something like this," said District Attorney Patrick Dougherty.
Investigators say the four suspects and Howard all knew each other, describing their relationships as "friendly".
It is believed that the suspects were involved in dealing heroin and they were after money. So, the suspects allegedly went to Howard's apartment to rob him.
Howard's mother says the last time they spoke, he told her he was ready to make some changes.
"You know, we all paint a picture of people trying to change their life and that was one goal, the last time we spoke, that he wanted to change his goal, his thing in life," Connie Howard said. "He wanted to go to culinary school and get custody of his son. These were all his new plans and then the very next day he was gone."
"We all make bad choices in life but he was trying to change it. He wanted to be a better man.
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