Thursday, December 1,1994
Around the Commonwealth
Daughter
lights
up the
holidays
A VELLA, Pa (AP)~A college
student home for Thanksgiving
set the family house on fire after
not being allowed to go to a bar,
killing her father and seriously
injuring her mother, police said.
Melanie Vicheck, 19, was held
today at the Washington County
Jail. According to a state police
arrest affidavit, she was
intending to killer her mother
Patricia, 54.
But it was her father, 63-year
old Edmund Vicheck, who died
in the fire before dawn
Wednesday.
Miss Vicheck and her mother
had been arguing frequently
recently because the mother did
not want her daughter going to a
nearby bar, the Country Cafe,
according to an affidavit filed
with District Justice Jay Dutton.
State police alleged that Miss
Vicheck sprayed a can of WD-40
lubricant around the basement
and living room of the Vicheck
house in Avella, about 25 miles
east of Pittsburgh.
A chemical-sniffing dog
detected the solvent, police said.
Police said Miss Vicheck had
been planning the fire for about
a week and bought the WD-40
on Monday, the day before her
father drove her home from
Clarion University.
Dutton said Vicheck admitted
to police that she used matches
to start fires at several spots in
the house. Neighbors reported
hearing an explosion at about 3
a.m. Other neighbors reported
hearing a “whooshing” sound.
Vicheck rescued his wife by
dropping her from a second-story
window and died later of smoke
inhalation, county coroner Tim
Warcosaid. Neighbors said they
believe that Vicheck returned to
the house to try to find Melanie.
Patricia Vicheck, burned and
disoriented, ran to a nearby
house, asked a neighbor if her
husband and daughter had escaped
the fire and fell face first on the
floor.
“I was just saying that her
mother was so worried about
her, and she had other plans for
her mother. That’s just what I
was thinking, so I might as well
say it,” said the neighbor Libby
Campanclli.
Miss Vicheck had driven away
in the family car, according to
the affidavit. She returned to the
house at 9 a.m. and was taken to
a state police post for
questioning.
Mrs. Vicheck remained in
serious condition Thursday night
at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.
She was treated for burns, a
broken wrist and back and knee
injuries.
Miss Vicheck was charged
Wednesday night with criminal
homicide, arson, aggravated
assault and risking a catastrophe,
police said. A hearing has been
scheduled for next Wednesday at
Washington County Common
MDS
' £ /
11l IQfiWWWIEKMWEN SEMES
' V "w ' '
News
Pleas Court.
“I just don’t understand why.
Her mother and her had
problems, but nothing this bad,”
said Tina Roth, a friend of Miss
Vicheck. She said Miss Vicheck
adored her father.
The couple had three other
children, none of whom was at
home at the time of the fire.
Deadly
doughnuts
kill bear
LAKE HARMONY, Pa.
(AP)-A 494-pound black bear
collapsed under bright
floodlights and onto a pile of
doughnuts, the alleged victim of
lawbreaking hunters.
Two men were arrested
Tuesday by Kidder Township
police as they tried to remove
the animal, but wildlife
authorities wouldn’t say if they
were responsible for baiting and
shooting the bear.
The bear apparently was lured
with doughnuts into a trap and
then killed by rifle shots to its
throat and chest at 8:15 p.m„
according to Richard E. Karper
and Joseph Wenzel, the
Pennsylvania Game Com
mission officers investigating
die incident.
It was a male bear, between
four and 10 years old, Karper
said.
Bear hunting season began
Monday and ended Thursday. It
BRING YOUR LUNCH TO THE
PENN STATE-BEHREND WINTERGARDEN
AND ENJOY WORLD-CLASS PERFORMANCES
IN AN INFORMAL SETTING. ADMISSION IS FREE.
is illegal to bait animals and
hunt at night.
“These two officers are
conducting this as a murder
investigation,” said commission
spokesperson Jack Weaver.
“This is murder of wildlife.”
John L. Joyce, S 3, and Robert
F. Gerber, 70, both of Jim
Thorpe, were arrested for trying
to take the bear. Both could be
fined $l,OOO and could lose their
hunting licenses for five years.
Just called
to say ‘I
love her’
WASHINGTON, Pa (AP)-A
man who escaped from a jail to
see his girlfriend called the
warden while he was on the run
to try to explain himself.
Washington County jail
warden Joe Pelzer advised Jack
McCartney, 28, to give himself
up.
But McCartney did not
He was caught Thursday
morning in an abandoned (fatplex
near his girlfriend’s mobile
home in Washington. Sixteen
hours earlier, he had broken
through a plasterboard wall in
the county lockup’s minimum
security wing.
“He didn’t take a swing at
anybody, but he offered some
resistance,” police lieutenant
Stephen Svitek said. “Because
we knew he was a runner, we
had about six guys around the
MONDAY. DECEMBER 5
pennState
house.”
McCartney was serving time
for a parole violation following
drunken driving and vehicular
homicide convictions. He is
now charged with escape.
He felt an urgent need to see
his girlfriend to discuss a
problem the couple was having,
officials said. Pelzer said
McCartney was distraught when
he called.
The Behrend
cne College
Page 3