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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Today the Sun-Gazette concludes its annual review of the past year's major news stories. On Saturday, watch for our annual Yearbook 2016, full of photos from the year's news events.)
A headline on a story written in early July concerning a crime near Picture Rocks reads: "State police investigate alleged home invasion."
Another headline to a story that was published the same month, but concerned another crime altogether, this one on Memorial Avenue in the city, reads: "Home invasion suspect arraigned."
Still, a third headline for a story, this one written for a deadly crime that happened in the city in late October reads: "Home invasion double homicide, victims mourned."
There were at least five home invasions in the county this year, including one in the 600 block of Poplar Street in the city on the night of Oct. 31, when a 50-year-old woman and her 25-year-old son were shot to death by masked intruders.
However, the house invasion story that caught the biggest headlines this year occurred at the home of Gary and Linda Inch on Sechler Drive near Montoursville.
During the early morning hours of Jan. 27, two masked men entered the couple's home, threatened them with a rifle and restrained the two separately with duct tape.
Before leaving, the two intruders allegedly set a fire in a room in the furnished basement and poured gasoline, according to state police investigators. Linda Inch broke free and sought help from a neighbor. Volunteer firefighters rescued her husband from the burning home.
Arrested in the case on charges of attempted homicide and arson were Michael Jason Houseweart, the boyfriend of the Inches' daughter, Michelle, and Brian Vroman, both of Canton.
With the two men behind bars, what followed for nearly the next eight weeks was an extensive search for the Inches' missing 31-year-old daughter.
Friends organized searches in Lycoming and Bradford counties. Numerous first responders joined state police in looking for the woman. Divers even searched unfrozen parts of Rose Valley Lake.
Just days after the fire, dozens of friends and supporters gathered for a vigil at the Montoursville Area High School, from which Michelle graduated in 2003.
The event, organized by Michelle's classmates, allowed the community to come together and show their support for the missing woman's family.
On March 18, Inch's body was discovered along a creek's stream bank in Bradford County. Her death was ruled a homicide.
In early October, Houseweart pleaded guilty in Bradford County Court to first-degree murder in the woman's death and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
He and Vroman still are awaiting trial in Lycoming County for the charges stemming from the fire at the Inches' home.
Poplar Street
In the home invasion that occurred on Poplar Street, Kristine Kibler and her son, Shane Wright, were shot to death during a robbery by two men who went into the house to reportedly rob Wright of drugs and cash, according to investigators.
Two men have been arrested and jailed on two counts of homicide and related offenses.
Joseph S.. Coleman, 35, of 111 Parkwood St., and Jordan Adonis Rawls, 24, of 1029 Race St., remain incarcerated without bail in the Lycoming County Prison. A preliminary hearing for the two is scheduled next month.
Wallis Run Road
On the afternoon of Aug. 5, a man and a woman tricked their way into an elderly woman's home on Wallis Run Road. Once inside, the man pulled out a handgun and demanded money, state police said.
Before the two suspects left with under $200, the gunman took the woman upstairs, where he tied her hands behind her back with duct tape, police said.
Within hours, an off-duty state police trooper spotted a car that matched the description of the getaway vehicle in the 700 block of West Fourth Street.
In a matter of minutes, arrested without incident were Rudolf Stark, 45, and Brenda Sterner, 47, both of Montgomery. Both remain jailed and are awaiting trial on charges of false imprisonment, unlawful restraint and related offenses.
The Eldred Township victim did not know either one.
Wolf Township
Duct tape also was used, along with an electric power cord, to tie up a Wolf Township couple during a home invasion at their house on Yeagle Road near Picture Rocks on the night of July 7, state police said.
The husband was struck several times in the head with the butt of a handgun, police said.
Four men, all wearing ski masks, made off with more than $5,000 in cash along with some drugs, police said, adding that this particular home was targeted. There were marijuana plants in the basement, police said.
No arrests have been made in that home invasion case.
Other slayings
In addition to the double homicide on Poplar Street, city police continue to try to solve two other slayings that occurred this year.
Just nine days into the New Year, 27-year-old Basil Hall, of Philadelphia, was gunned down moments after leaving an "after-hours party" at the Pajama Factory, 1307 Park Ave., on the Rose Street side of the complex.
Hall suffered multiple gunshot wounds, police said. One investigator said Hall was "clearly targeted."
No arrest has been made and no motive for the shooting has been released publicly.
The same is true for the case in which 27-year-old Christopher T. Wilkins, also of Philadelphia, was shot to death inside 505 Park Ave. on Aug. 30.
Police said there "were indicators of drug activity inside the apartment."
Heroin use continues
The use of heroin continued to be a major crime problem for law enforcement in the region.
Several robberies and burglaries were committed throughout the county allegedly by people who were wrestling with an addiction to the drug or other controlled substances.
Among those arrested was Steven Craig Long, a 34-year-old city heroin addict who was jailed in late January on charges of holding up clerks at four convenience stores and two tobacco establishments.
Driven by an insatiable need to satisfy his and his girlfriend's heroin addiction, Jarrod B, Cowan, 32, of Covington, was charged in March for his alleged involvement in robbing a tobacco store in South Williamsport, a tobacco store in the city and a supermarket in Loyalsock Township.
Cowan told police that he and his girlfriend were trying to support a 50-bag-a-day heroin habit when the two were taken into custody.
In mid-November, law enforcement picked up former Mansfield resident and admitted heroin addict Alan Michael Dodge, 23, in Los Angeles and brought him back here to face charges of robbing three local businesses on two days in late April.
Battling an addiction to Xanax, 29-year-old Travis Christian Klinger was arrested in early August on charges of allegedly stealing $5,000 worth of lawn ornaments and other articles from private properties in the city between mid-May and early June, city police said.
Police allege Klinger, of Old Lycoming Township, sold many of the items to second-hand and antique businesses to get cash to support his habit.