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Pittsburgh man’s Jeep found outside Cranberry Township homicide scene

Forged checks allegedly found in vehicle; man charged

Days after a February homicide in Cranberry Township, a Pittsburgh man’s vehicle was possibly used in the burglary of the crime scene, according to police.

Timothy E. Terry’s vehicle, which was reported stolen, was found in the driveway of the Brandywine Drive residence, where Amanda Hughes, 27, was earlier accused of shooting and killing her boyfriend.

According to charging documents, township police discovered weapons, drug paraphernalia and forged checks following a search of Terry’s vehicle.

Terry, 24, was charged Tuesday, Dec. 19, with felony counts of forgery and access device fraud and misdemeanor counts of use and possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a criminal instrument in connection to the vehicle's contents.

He was not charged in connection to the burglary. Terry’s preliminary hearing is scheduled Jan. 14 before District Judge Kevin Flaherty.

Charging documents indicate at 12:30 a.m. Feb. 14, neighbors reported a burglary was taking place at the Brandywine Drive residence, where the homicide occurred on Feb. 12.

Hughes was charged Feb. 13 in connection to the death her boyfriend, Anthony D. Smith, 30. Police said Smith was found inside the residence at the base of a flight of stairs with multiple gunshot wounds. Hughes was found outside the residence.

Hughes had told police she was attacked and shot Smith before fleeing the residence.

Smith was pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m. Feb. 12 after he was taken by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Police said Smith was a known narcotics trafficker.

Two days later, callers reported a black Jeep Grand Cherokee circling the neighborhood, then parking in the driveway of the crime scene. Police said black-clad figures exited the vehicle, went to the rear of the residence and broke in the house through the sliding glass door.

The suspects fled on foot, abandoning the vehicle, police said. The vehicle was then impounded at the Cranberry Township police station before it was found to belong to Terry.

Terry, who said he used a phone app to locate his vehicle, contacted the police the afternoon of Feb. 15, saying his Jeep Grand Cherokee had been stolen from Pittsburgh the night before. He said the vehicle contained guns, two iPhones, his wallet, and a printer, according to documents.

Police said Terry told them he had fallen asleep at the home of a friend, who he could not name, at 9 p.m. Feb. 14. He claimed the vehicle had been left unlocked, and he was uncertain how it was stolen since he possessed the only key fob.

Officers obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and found two semi-automatic pistols, a semi-automatic rifle, Terry’s wallet, two iPhones, marijuana paraphernalia, a digital scale with white residue, a printer, a Louis Vuitton bag containing marijuana and paraphernalia, a sealed bag of marijuana, a box of blank checks, a forged check for $5,500 and an oxycodone pill and an alprazolam pill.

The forged check had been cashed for $3,416 in 2022, police said. Following that check, documents showed five other fraudulent check transactions were discovered.

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