Bound over for trial: Man allegedly drove pair to the scene of city homicide
Six weeks after Casey Nathaniel Wilson testified against alleged killers Joseph Coleman Jr. and Jordan Rawls in a double-homicide case in the city, the 20-year-old city man was charged with allegedly driving the two men to the Poplar Street home where a mother and son were shot to death on Oct. 31.
Wilson, who is being detained at an out-of-county prison facility on a probation violation, was arraigned late Tuesday afternoon on homicide-related charges in the slayings of 25-year-old Shane Wright and his 50-year-old mother, Kristine Kibler, who were killed in their home at 613 Poplar St.
Appearing with a court-appointed attorney, Wilson made no statements during the brief arraignment before District Judge Christian Frey. He was returned to the jail on no bail.
Wilson has been charged with homicide, robbery, attempted robbery tampering with evidence and conspiracy.
City police Agent Trent Peacock alleges Wilson, of 2008 W. Third St., drove the two men to the Poplar Street address after the three of them planned to rob Wright of money and drugs.
Wilson, who was taken into custody shortly after the murders, told investigators he was “being coerced by ‘Crack,’ “ Colman’s street name, “because Wilson had testified against Jamal Cook” in a 2013 convenience store robbery case, resulting in Cook’s incarceration.
“Wilson stated that Coleman had threatened his life as well as the lives of his family and girlfriend if he (Wilson) did not make monetary restitution,” Peacock wrote in an affidavit.
Wilson admitted to first picking up Coleman, 35, and then Rawls, 24, and then the “three of them spent the rest of the evening at Coleman’s” home at 111 Parkwood St., planning “to rob Wright, who was known by Coleman to sell marijuana,” Peacock wrote in the affidavit.
About 9:30 on the night of the killings, the three drove to the Poplar Street neighborhood, Peacock said. Once there, Coleman instructed Wilson, a longtime friend of Wright’s, “to go into the house and determine where Wright and other occupants in the home were located, specifically where the children were,” Peacock said.
Wilson returned to the car and informed Rawls, of 1029 Race St., and Coleman of “the whereabouts of the persons inside 613 Poplar St.,” the investigator said.
Wilson remained in the car while the two men, both armed with handguns, went into the house. Wright was shot on the first floor, collapsing at the front door, while his mother was shot on the second floor. While Wright was pronounced dead at the scene, Kibler died in the emergency room at the UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center.
Wilson testified in January before Frey at Coleman’s and Rawls’ preliminary hearing he heard two shots in the area the home after Coleman had actually left the house. He also testified he owed “a debt” to a third party, an associate of Coleman’s, identified in court only as prison inmate with the street name “Moo.”
At the end of the hearing, both Coleman and Rawls were held for court on all charges, and the two remain jailed without bail at the Lycoming County Prison.
In his affidavit, Peacock said Wilson provided information about “some discarded evidence” that resulted in the recovery of a handgun.
Wilson also led investigators to an area creek where Wilson said he “discarded clothing that was worn” during the robbery and murders.
Police declined to say if any clothing related to the crime was ever recovered.
COMMENTS