Free Republic

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck will seek the death penalty against two men and one woman accused of torturing and killing a mentally disabled Greensburg woman. Peck filed notice yesterday that he will ask jurors to sentence Ricky V. Smyrnes, 24; Melvin L. Knight, 20; and Amber C. Meidinger, 20, to death by lethal injection, if convicted, because they tortured the victim. The three — along with Peggy Darlene Miller, 27; Robert Loren Masters, 36; and Angela Marinucci, 17 — are charged with first- and second-degree homicide in the stabbing death of Jennifer Daugherty, 30, in a Greensburg apartment...

Police have charged six people in the death of a woman whose tortured body was found in a plastic garbage container in a Greensburg school parking lot. Police say Jennifer Daugherty was stabbed repeatedly in a second-floor Greensburg apartment where some of the suspects live. Ms. Daugherty's age and address weren't available; she'd been missing since Monday. According to police, Ms. Daugherty's hair was shaved and she was bound with Christmas decorations and clothing. Police say she was beaten, her face painted with nail polish and she was fed vegetable oil, spices, detergent, urine and medications.