Tyler Jesse Swantek, 24-years-old, is accused of shooting his father in the head four times with a high-powered pellet gun, killing him, and keeping his decomposing body inside the family’s house sometime since early April or near the end of May this year, PA News reported.
Frackville, PA, Police charged him on Friday with one count of recklessly endangering a person, one count of possessing instruments of a crime, one count of abuse of a corpse, two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of simple assault, one count of murder in the first degree, and one count of murder in the third degree.
Christina E. Hale, Magisterial District Judge, arraigned Swantek and remanded him to Schuylkill County Prison, where he is being held without bail. Bail in homicide cases in Frackville is set by a county judge and not by a district judge.
Welfare check on father led to finding his dead body
Richard Bell, Frackville’s police chief, charged Swantek, citing in his probable cause affidavit that Tyler Dissinger, a patrol officer, was called to the home that Swantek shared with his father for a welfare check concerning Todd Swantek on May 24. Dissinger detected a foul stench emanating from the house.
Vincent Roman asked for the welfare check on his friend, Todd, stating that he hadn’t heard from the elder Swantek since the close of March.
When Todd Swantek’s mother told Roman that she had no contact with her son since March, as well, Roman went to the Swantek home to check on his friend.
Bell stated that since the end of April, the younger Swantek was not seen at the home. But, on May 25, Tyler Swantek was in the Schuylkill County Prison on drug charges.
Bell and Dissinger went inside the Swantek home, conducting the welfare check after Dissinger detected a horrid odor coming from the house.
Once inside the first floor, the officers discovered a body on a couch covered with a sleeping bag and blankets. Pillows covered the head.
When officers pulled back the pillows and blankets, they noticed four holes in the right side of the forehead that were consistent with gunshots. They attained a search warrant. While conducting a search of the home, authorities found a Ruger .177 caliber pellet rifle in the bedroom of Tyler Swantek.
A canister of pellets was also discovered in the same bedroom. The pellets were consistent with the size of the four holes in the skull of the body.
Son allegedly used fly strip, air fresheners, and scented candles in home with dead dad
According to a report by the Standard Speaker, a fly strip, blankets at the foot of exterior doors, air fresheners, and scented candles throughout the house were spotted by officers.
Frackville Borough Police Department, Forensic Services Unit, out of Reading, and Schuylkill County Coroner’s Office processed the crime scene.
According to the statement that Tyler Swantek gave officers, he said he was the only one at the on April 27, claiming to have left because of his medical condition.
However, Bell said, the younger Swantek did not go back to the house after that date.
Dr. Rameen Roney, a forensic pathologist, conducted an autopsy on the body at Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown on May 27. According to Bell, Roney assessed the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds inflicted to the head. The forensic pathologist specified that homicide was the manner of death. Numerous pellets taken from the body during the autopsy were consistent with pellets recovered from Tyler Swantek’s bedroom, according to Bell.
Police ascertained from additional interviews that Tyler Swantek did things that were uncharacteristic such as asking a friend to purchase scented candles and incense for him and not allowing anyone in the house since mid-April, Bell stated.
Forensic anthropologist places approximate death date at three months ago
Todd Swantek’s body was transported on June 5 to Mercyhurst Forensic Anthropology Laboratory. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat examined Todd Swantek’s corpse and determined that the estimated timeframe of death (factoring in the body’s decomposition) was most probably three months or less from the date of discovery.
In the process of investigating the elder Swantek’s murder, Bell obtained the father’s telephone records. He discovered that April 2 was the last outgoing message and there were no further outgoing messages on April 3. All incoming text messages remained unanswered since April 3.
After also securing a search warrant for the son’s cell phone, Bell learned that Tyler Swantek’s contact with his father was pretty regular until March 29, when there were 33 incoming and outgoing telephone calls and 88 text messages. After March 29, there was no additional communication between the father and son.
Judge Hale set Tyler Swantek’s preliminary hearing for August 3 at Schuylkill’s county courthouse.
