Guilty of Murder. That’s the verdict returning for a Johnstown man convicted of killing his girlfriend eight years ago.
The jury took the side of prosecutors saying Christopher Rowe killed his former girlfriend Kaylene Roedel and dumped her body on the side of a hiking trail in Johnstown.
Jury deliberation began this afternoon and the jury asked the judge to re-listen to an interview Rowe did with a State Police Trooper shortly after being charged with Homicide.
In closing arguments this morning prosecutors emphasized this interview saying it’s the first time Rowe put himself at the scene of the crime
In the interview, Rowe says he witnessed a woman strangle Roedel to death and says he was forced to help dispose of the body.
Prosecutors allege Rowe wrote a letter to the State Trooper shortly after that interview saying he lied about parts of the story and changed his story in a followup interview.
The defense said in closing arguments that Rowe has maintained that another person killed Roedel and that prosecutors can only prove when the crime happened and nothing else.
But shortly after listening to the interview again a verdict was returned. with Rowe being found guilty on all charges
Rowe is being charged with First Degree Murder which carries a mandatory life sentence