Man Pleads Guilty to Four Murders

A man in Schuylkill County admitted Wednesday that he's guilty of murder. He said he killed four people, including his own three year old son.

After the admission, some of the victims' families told the judge they want Michael Bechtel to rot in hell.

"I remember what I did and I'm sorry and I do hope I rot in hell too, like they said they wanted me to. I do hope I rot in hell," said Bechtel as he was wheeled out of the courtroom.

Bechtel went to his estranged wife's home in the summer of 2002 near Frackville and began firing a gun. After it was over his wife Raienhna, two friends, Kristin Tragus, David Barkus and Bechtel's 3 year old son, Jacob were all dead.

"I think it was probably easier on him because Jacob was asleep. I don't know what must have gone through his head that day. I don't ever want to know," said Gennifer Winton, Jacob's aunt.

Bechtel tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head. He survived and is now in a wheelchair.

"I do believe that was God's plan for him, to let him suffer here," added Winton.

The victims' families said knowing Bechtel will live out his life behind bars and crippled does not ease their pain.

"The eleven year old, every single day she cries and misses her dad and she wants to see him and the only way she can see him is by looking at his picture or going to the cemetery. And it's too hard for her to go there yet," said Christine Pailey tearfully. Her brother was David Barkus.

"For me to get comfort I have to go to the cemetery to see my son. Our family is shattered like a part of us went with him," said Barkus' mother, Lorraine.

The Schuylkill County district attorney said he was ready to go trial and seek the death penalty, but after conferring with the family, they all agreed that four consecutive life terms for Michael Bechtel was the way to go.

more:"Homicide suspect could face death -- Mahanoy Twp. man is accused of
shooting his wife, son and 2 others.

Schuylkill County District Attorney Frank Cori said Wednesday that he
will seek the death penalty for a Mahanoy Township man accused of
shooting to death his estranged wife, toddler son and 2 of his wife's
friends.

Immediately after the Aug. 15 shootings, Michael Harley Bechtel, 26,
tried to kill himself with a gunshot to the head.

Cori said Bechtel and his lawyer, Kent Watkins of Pottsville, now "are on
notice that we are seeking the death penalty in this case."

A death sentence is imposed only under aggravating circumstances. In
Bechtel's case, those include the death of a child under 12, multiple
homicides and that Bechtel was the defendant in a protection-from-abuse
order at the time of the killings.

Bechtel remains in a western Pennsylvania prison receiving medical care.

District Justice William Slezosky of Mahanoy City on Dec. 6 ruled there
was enough evidence for Bechtel to be tried on charges of homicide,
aggravated assault, possession of instruments of crime and burglary.

Police say Bechtel shot his estranged wife, Raienhna, his son, Jacob, 3,
David Barkus, 30, of Delano and Kristen L. Tragus, 34, of Lost Creek, all
in the head, before shooting himself.

According to testimony at the hearing, Bechtel shot the four in his
wife's Morea, Mahanoy Township, home about 1:25 a.m. Aug. 15. Police said
they found Tragus and Barkus dead at the kitchen table and Raienhna
Bechtel dead on the floor nearby. Jacob Bechtel was found dead in a bed
upstairs, his father lying on the floor nearby, bleeding but alive.

Michael Bechtel, seriously injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to
the head, had a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol underneath him, police said.

Police testified Bechtel told them he is a habitual methamphetamine user
who always carries a gun. Police testified Bechtel told them that the
speed "makes me aggressive."

Trooper Jeffrey Dunkle testified Bechtel told him in a Sept. 19 interview
in a prison medical ward that he "always carried the gun with him."
Bechtel also mentioned that when he was a child, his grandfather fatally
shot his grandmother, then killed himself, Dunkle said.

Police seized a 9 mm Beretta when they were called to the home to quell a
domestic dispute in March, but returned the pistol to Bechtel four months
before the four killings.

State police Cpl. Scott Price testified that police took the gun for
their safety when they arrived at the house to settle the dispute.

Raienhna Bechtel filed for a protection-from-abuse order, which went into
effect March 18, Price said.

Price kept the gun but was forced to return it to Bechtel because, under
state law, police cannot seize guns not used in the domestic dispute that
prompted the protection-from-abuse order."

(source: The Morning Call)

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