Daniel C. Lloyd

The jury trial for a June 2022 homicide in Muddy Creek Township that a prosecutor described as a “surprise attack assassination” got underway Monday, May 6, in Common Pleas Court.

Daniel C. Lloyd, 21, of Pitcairn, is charged with homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in the June 11, 2022, death of 32-year-old Frederick Orr of Columbus, Ohio, Orr’s body was found along Kelly Road between East Portersville and Yellow Creek roads.

In his opening statement, assistant district attorney Ben Simon said Nicole Schwartz, 38, of Ellwood City, ran drugs for Orr and got a surprise call on June 10 from Orr saying he was getting out of jail that day and he wanted her to pick him up.

Schwartz got nervous because she smoked crack cocaine and spent the money Orr stashed before he went to prison, Simon said.

She and others devised a plan to kill Orr, and Lloyd, who she began a relationship with after Orr was incarcerated, agreed to it, Simon said.

Early in the morning on June 11, Schwartz drove Lloyd to the isolated Kelly Road with Lloyd hiding in the rear of her Kia SUV, and Lloyd shot Orr twice in the back and once in the head before pushing him outside and leaving him along the road, Simon said.

He called the shooting a “surprise attack assassination.”

Lloyd was arrested in September 2022 in Michigan, and Schwartz, who also has been charged with homicide, turned herself in and is testifying for the prosecution. They were going to be tried together, but the cases were severed, and her case has been continued while Lloyd’s case plays out in court.

Defense attorney Joseph Scioscia III said in his opening statement that Lloyd was 19 years old and had committed only minor crimes at the time of the incident.

He said the “co-defendant” and others are pointing the finger at Lloyd, but the prosecution can’t prove Lloyd was hiding in the vehicle, and state police didn’t see him inside when troopers pulled over the vehicle.

Scioscia said the murder weapon has not been found, and it would require a “leap” for the jury to convict Lloyd due to the lack of evidence against him.

Two troopers testified that they pulled over the vehicle at 1:33 a.m. June 11 on Route 422 near the fairgrounds for an expired registration. Schwartz was driving and Orr was in the front passenger seat.

They said the rear windows were tinted and they didn’t see anyone else inside.

At 3:31 a.m. June 11, Torres said he was dispatched to a report of man laying on the side of Kelly Road. He said he arrived at 3:45 a.m. and found Orr dead with an apparent gunshot wound in the head laying on the left side of the road.

Robert Miller, 22, testified that he lives near Kelly Road and he heard gunshots, but dismissed them believing they came from one of his neighbors while hunting.

On June 11, he said there were police in his driveway and he went to talk to them. He said he played them a video recording from a security camera that recorded the sound of multiple gunshots at 1:50 a.m. June 11. The video was played in court.

Trooper Jennifer Cantella, a member of the crime unit, said a license plate reader recorded Schwartz’s vehicle at 2:06 a.m. in Ellwood City. That video, which was played in court, shows the front passenger side window missing and a tan colored image in the passenger window opening, she said.

A damaged front passenger side window from a vehicle and a damaged side mirror matching a Kia vehicle were recovered from the crime scene at Kelly Road, Cantella said. Two bullet casings were found on a black female romper at the scene, she said.

Police then executed a search warrant at Schwartz’s home in Ellwood City and noticed an overwhelming smell of bleach when they opened the garage door, according to testimony. A shattered vehicle mirror with a hole in it and an empty bottle of bleach were among the items found, police said.

Trooper Max Deluca, another member of the crime unit, testified that on June 12 he showed a witness a photo taken of a laundry machine with clothes inside in Schwartz’s home. Among the clothes was a tan jacket that Lloyd was known to wear, he said. The witness said the clothes were washed after the shooting, he said. Deluca said he went back to the house, but most of clothes in the machine in the photo were gone.

Along with the two spent shell casings found on Kelly Road, police said a bullet slug was found near Orr’s body, another slug was found underneath after he was moved, two slugs were recovered from inside the front passenger door and a casing was found inside the vehicle.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday.