A look back at crime in Butler County during 2023
The news in Butler County included more headlines about homicide in 2023 than in the year before.
Amid those headlines were stories about a former nurse accused of killing two patients at Butler County nursing homes and an alleged hit-and-run driver accused of striking and killing a Butler Senior High School student.
Other articles during 2023 told readers about the former Knoch Primary School principal who was accused of failing to report suspected child abuse and a former Butler Area school board member who is accused of having intimate contact with a 17-year-old girl.
The list below details many of the charges filed, sentences handed down and the trials held over the past 12 months.
- In January, homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault by vehicle charges were filed against a Canadian man who was driving a tractor-trailer that was involved in a bus crash on Interstate 79 in November 2021.
Karandeep Singh, 30, of Calgary, Alberta, was charged in the death of Lindsay Thompkins, 31, of Beaver County and a 14-year-old girl. The bus was carrying 13 students from Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.
- A man driving under the influence of cocaine and buprenorphine crashed into the Eat’n Park restaurant in Clearview Circle on Jan. 17, leaving a large hole in the building. No one inside the restaurant was injured. In October, driver David L. Smith was ordered to pay $131,145 in restitution for structural repairs at his sentencing in October.
- In February, a jury found DeVaunte Hill, 23, guilty of causing Butler County native Caitlyn Kaufman’s death. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March. Co-defendant James Cowan, 29, was found not guilty. Kaufman was killed in Tennessee in December 2020 in an alleged road rage incident.
- Also in February, Amanda M. Hughes was accused of shooting and killing her boyfriend, Anthony D. Smith, 30, in Cranberry Township. Hughes told police Smith had been punching her in the face and head prior to the shooting Feb. 12. Smith was found by police at the base of a flight of stairs with multiple gunshot wounds, according to reports.
- Dakota B. Hughes, 23, of Eau Claire, was charged with criminal homicide March 3 after police said he shot and killed his mother’s boyfriend, Seth Gooden Smith, 27. Police said there were incidents of domestic violence reported between Smith and Dakota’s mother.
Dakota Hughes’ case is scheduled for jury selection in January 2024.
- Jessica Callahan, 19, was charged March 20 in the shooting death of Tyler J. Whitlatch, 31. She reported to police that two physical altercations had occurred between her and Whitlatch before she shot him in the back, according to court documents.
Police said Whitlatch died as Callahan transported him to a hospital. She was apprehended at the North Washington Rodeo grounds. Charges against Callahan were held during her preliminary hearing in April.
- On May 4, Butler Eagle pressman James Barge was killed in a crash on Route 422 in Franklin Township. Kassandra M. Clyde, 25, of Fombell, Beaver County, was charged in October with homicide by vehicle while DUI in connection to his death. Barge was on his way home from his job at the Butler Eagle when he suffered fatal injuries in the crash.
Clyde was additionally charged with felony aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, misdemeanor DUI, and summaries careless driving, failure to stay in the proper lane and disregard of a traffic lane. All the charges were held over to the Court of Common Pleas following a December preliminary hearing.
- Two years after a man was found with knife and gunshot wounds on College Street in Butler, three people were charged in connection to his death.
Hassan L.R. Brack, 36, and Brooke R. Fair Smith, 30, were charged in May with felonies criminal homicide, criminal attempted robbery and burglary following the death of Hakeem Moran, 31, in December 2021. The charges were held to the Court of Common Pleas following preliminary hearings in June.
Kahlil Z.H. Rippy Jr., 25, was charged with felonies criminal homicide, criminal attempted robbery, burglary and criminal conspiracy six months after Brack and Fair Smith. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for February 2024.
- The former Knoch Primary School principal Gregory G. Mandalas, 49, was charged May 23 with misdemeanor willingly failing to report suspected child abuse as a mandated reporter in a case that relates to charges against his son. The case was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas.
- Charges were filed May 25 against former nurse Heather Pressdee, 41, of Natrona Heights, accusing her of killing two patients and causing the hospitalization of one other at Quality Life Services in December 2022. She was charged with homicide in the deaths of a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man. The third victim, a 73-year-old man, survived after emergency hospitalization. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing in June, and remains in Butler County Prison.
Later this year, she was allegedly linked to the deaths of at least 10 patients at two Butler County nursing homes and accused of administering lethal doses of insulin to numerous patients at care facilities across Western Pennsylvania.
- Two deaths were ruled homicides by the county coroner’s office following an incident May 29 at a park and ride on Perry Highway in Muddy Creek Township.
Police said Jacob C. Smith, 31, and Jenna C. Smith, 28, shot at each other in a vehicle following an altercation. The couple was from Pulaski Township, Lawrence County, and died at the scene.
- A former member of the Butler Area School District board was accused of having intimate contact with a 17-year-old girl who he employed and counseled at a local outreach organization.
William “Bill” Halle, 59, faces a civil suit and criminal charges filed in May in connection to the allegations. At a July preliminary hearing, the girl refused to testify against him. Halle was placed in Butler County Prison in October for violating the conditions of pretrial supervision by having contact with the girl. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail for violating those conditions.
- A driver was charged with homicide by vehicle in June after she told police she “relapsed from alcohol,” and led a high-speed pursuit that ended in a fatal crash along Route 8 in Butler Township.
Julie E. Parison, 51, of Mars, said she consumed four Four Loko drinks prior to driving, and was charged in connection to the death of Kevin McAtee, 61. Police said McAtee was a passenger in a Chevrolet Trailblazer, which was struck by the Ford Fusion driven by Parison.
In December, Parison was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison and probation after pleading guilty to the offense.
- As part of a larger investigation by the U.S. Attorney General’s office, a Harmony man of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith was accused of sexually assaulting a minor over the course of five years. Investigators said Shaun Sheffer, 45, abused the female from when she was 7 years old until she was 12 years old. She is now in her thirties.
The case was held over to the Court of Common Pleas following a preliminary hearing July 18. Sheffer is the third Butler County man to be charged in connection to the larger investigation.
- Toward the end of September, a teenager stabbed two people in Butler’s Rotary Park. Dartavion A. Johnson, 18, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault and two counts of recklessly endangering another person in connection to the stabbings. All charges were held for Common Pleas court following a preliminary hearing in October.
- On Oct. 19, an alleged hit-and-run driver was accused of striking Aiden Lutz, 15, as the teen was riding his electric bike on Dutchtown Road, Butler Township. The boy, who was a sophomore at Butler Senior High School, died Oct. 20 at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh as a result of his injuries.
Police identified the driver as Joshua Rivera, 38, and sought him for several days. He was arrested Oct. 22 and charged with felony aggravated assault by vehicle, accidents involving death or injury while not licensed, accidents involving death or personal injury, accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license and failure to notify police of an accident.
At Rivera’s preliminary hearing Dec. 14, charges of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, and summary driving at an unsafe speed were added to the case and held for the Court of Common Pleas. Rivera remains in Butler County Prison.
- On Halloween night, a 4-year-old boy was injured in a hit-and-run crash during Trick-or-Treat in Butler City. The boy suffered injuries to his face, and as of December, the driver has not been identified.
- On Nov. 2, Pressdee — who first was charged in May — was linked to the deaths of at least 10 patients at two Butler County nursing homes. She is facing charges related to alleged mistreatment of 22 total patients at nursing homes in Butler, Westmoreland, Allegheny and Armstrong counties.
Charging documents indicate Pressdee admitted to harming, with intent to kill, the patients in a series of incidents between January 2020 and May 2023. The investigation into her conduct at numerous care facilities is ongoing.
- Alec D. Miller, 23, was found guilty of killing Maximillian W. Halterman, 23, in a trial that lasted five days in November. Miller was 19 when he was initially accused of shooting and killing Halterman on March 19, 2019. Miller was scheduled to be sentenced in December, but was found dead in his cell Nov. 22.
According to District Attorney Richard Goldinger, Miller’s death is still under investigation.
- In December, the pastor of By His Grace Christian Ministries in Butler was accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with two girls under the age of 16 and allegedly engaging in inappropriate acts with an adult female member of the congregation, police said.
Herman C. Rushing Jr., 67, was charged Dec. 6 with felonies and misdemeanors of indecent assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment after an extensive investigation. Rushing waived his preliminary hearing Dec. 21.
- On Dec. 20, Saxonburg borough manager Steven May was accused of shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog with a crossbow before disposing of it in a dumpster outside the borough building.
May told police he mistook the dog for a coyote when he shot it Nov. 11, according to charging documents.
He was charged with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals, misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and tampering with physical evidence, and summary damage to personal property. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 2024.
