Son charged in deaths
BRADY TWP — The evidence suggests a chilling crime, one that reads like a mystery potboiler.
Investigators suspect a 40-year-old New Jersey man killed his father and stepmother and dismembered their bodies. The alleged killing field is the couple's nearly $1 million estate on West Liberty Road in the township.
Afterward Colin Abbott spread the human remains throughout the sprawling property on West Liberty Road, state police believe.
“The remains are scattered over acres of land. And I mean acres,” said Ben Simon, assistant Butler County prosecutor.
A wide search
The property's 25 acres are surrounded by woods and are home to a collection of ducks, geese, chickens, two cows, one large cat and other animals.
Some of the remains, including his stepmother's skull, were dumped near a pond stocked with fish and other marine life. A pelvis, leg bone and spine were found in the pond.
Abbott allegedly set fire to other body parts in several burn piles.
Forensic anthropologists from Mercyhurst College, along with some of their students, sifted through and cataloged the skeletal findings on Thursday.
“It's probably one of the weirdest things I've been involved in,” said Frank Matis, director of county emergency services, who helped drain the ponds Wednesday in search of remains.
Next, in a sinister plan to hide the slayings Abbott hatched a story for family members, police said. His tall tale was that 65-year-old Kenneth Abbott and 55-year-old Celeste Abbott died in a fiery car crash in New Jersey.
There was no crash, investigators contend. The said the story was a lie to cover up the killings.
Money is one of the motives that state police are considering for the suspected murders.
But how the couple met their fate has not been determined.
State police in Butler on Thursday charged Abbott of Randolph, N.J., with the slayings of Kenneth and Celeste Abbott.District Judge Kevin O'Donnell issued an arrest warrant for Abbott at 4 a.m. that same day. Soon after that, state police in New Jersey arrested him on a fugitive warrant.Randolph police initially went looking for Abbott at his home. He wasn't there, New Jersey authorities said. But he eventually appeared at the state police barracks in Netcong, N.J., along with his girlfriend.Police in New Jersey and investigators aren't saying what, if anything, Abbott or his girlfriend told authorities.Asked if the girlfriend or anyone else is considered a suspect in the case, Simon wouldn't say.“We're looking at every avenue in regard to other suspects,” he said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing.A subsequent search of the defendant's home uncovered Celeste's wallet, containing money, credit cards and identifying information.The wallet was in a gun case, which also held a .380-caliber pistol and two live rounds of ammunition, investigators said.Abbott was booked into the Morris County Jail at 8 a.m. Thursday.A jail official said that Abbott's booking sheet noted he was “wanted in Pennsylvania for a double homicide.”Extradition proceedings got under way in short order.“We have been in touch with the Pennsylvania authorities,” Capt. Jeffrey S. Paul of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office tactical operations unit, said Thursday.“We are in the process of preparing the necessary paperwork charging the defendant with being a fugitive from justice which will start the extradition process.”Simon said Thursday that he did not know when Pennsylvania authorities would get Abbott.
Troopers discovered the remains after receiving a call Wednesday from state police in New Jersey about the Abbotts, authorities said.One of Celeste's two daughters, Melissa Elich of Albion, N.Y., about 50 miles west of Rochester, made the call, seeking information about the supposed traffic accident that killed Kenneth and Celeste in New Jersey on June 9.Kenneth formerly lived in Randolph and worked for a drug company in that area of central New Jersey, friends and family said.Neighbors on West Liberty Road recalled that the couple often traveled to New Jersey.State and municipal police in New Jersey found no record that the couple had died in a crash.Pennsylvania authorities said they learned that Elich's inquiry followed a conversation she had with Colin Abbott.He told Elich that Kenneth and Celeste died in a traffic crash in Plant City, N.J. But he later changed that part of the story, claiming the accident was in Atlantic City.However, Abbott's tale apparently was good enough to convince Elich and other family members.Elich traveled to her mother and stepfather's home in Brady Township to hold a memorial service for them.
The family even prepared an obituary for Celeste. It was published in the June 15 edition of The Journal Register in Celeste's native Medina, N.Y.The brief obituary stated Celeste had died “suddenly” June 9 in Plant City, N.J.There were two problems with the obituary, investigators said.First, Plant City, the name of the town where Abbott claimed the fatal crash happened, does not exist. Second, investigators believe the couple was dead before June 9.The investigators' timeline suggests Kenneth and Celeste died after June 4, which was the last time a family member heard from them, and before June 7, when a cell phone text message was sent to the defendant's phone from Celeste's telephone indicating the couple was headed to Atlantic City.Police suspect the text message was sent by Abbott because it originated from New Jersey, where he lives.A prayer service for Celeste was held June 18 at the Holy Family Parish-St. Joseph's Church in Albion, N.Y.Still, Adam Tower, one of two sons from Celeste's previous marriage, wrote a message on the newspaper's website guest book that accompanied her obituary.The message begins, “Mom I love you.” It also thanks everyone “for your prayers, thoughts and condolences.”Meanwhile, Abbott was not sharing details about the phony accident, authorities said.“Colin would not give any specific information concerning the remains of Kenneth and Celeste Abbott other than they burned in the crash, and there were no remains,” according to a police search warrant application.“He did tell her that since her mother died first, and then his father, she had no right to any of their belongings or property, and it all belonged to him.”But Elich told police that she never saw a death certificate or other documentation that indicated her mother or stepfather were dead, documents said.
Investigators say they have not nailed down a motive in the slayings.Members on Celeste's side of the family suggest Colin was after his father's fortune.Simon acknowledged Kenneth was wealthy.“He was independently wealthy,” the prosecutor said. But that does not make for a motive, Simons cautioned.Kenneth 18 months ago bought a 4-percent interest in the Slippery Rock Sliders baseball team.“He was very much an asset to the team, said Mike Bencic, majority owner of the Sliders.“(He) worked hard at our owners' meetings to come up with things for the ball team,” Bencic said of Abbott.Bencic said the Abbotts attended Sliders games regularly, most recently the June 4 outing against Butler.“(Celeste Abbott) was a very pleasant lady. Very outgoing and warm and willing to help in concessions or wherever she could,” he said.Simon said police still are combing bank records and financial documents, including life insurance policies, that may provide more clues.Neighbors and family say Kenneth made his money working in New Jersey for Warner Lambert, a Morris Plains-based drug company where he had a key executive post.Drug giant Pfizer in 2000 bought the company, reportedly earning Kenneth a sizable severance.Along with his Brady Township estate that he bought for $875,000 in 2005, according to Butler County court records, he owned an impressive classic car collection, said neighbor Aaron Hufnagel.He also collected Harley-Davidson motorcycles, said Janice Lawniczak, another neighbor.Authorities would not say if there was any property missing from Kenneth and Celeste's home.“We're reviewing every possible motive at this point,” Simon said. “Is money one of them that we're reviewing? Absolutely.”The Newark, N.J.-based Star-Ledger newspaper reported Thursday that Abbott has a criminal past, including an arrest for attempted murder in 1996.Citing court records in Sussex County, the paper said Abbott allegedly ran over a man with a pickup truck following a bar fight.The paper was unable immediately to determine how that case was resolved.Abbott in 1993 was charged with two burglaries in Sussex County. He later pleaded guilty, the paper reported, and was sentenced to three years of probation.Eagle staff writers Kim Paskorz and Ed Biller contributed to this report.
