3 Shot Dead in Pa.; Girl Taken, Found Safe in Ohio

[Mr. Television]

This stupid thing happened Friday night. This was just up the road from where I live. I probably heard the police cars and ambulances going up there as they're always going past my house. It's not safe anywhere.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s...-ohio-16876865

3 Shot Dead in Pa.; Girl Taken, Found Safe in Ohio


QUINCY, Pa. July 28, 2012 (AP)

A Pennsylvania man confronting his estranged wife about custody arrangements for their daughter shot the woman to death and killed her boyfriend and his mother, then fled with the 4-year-old girl before the two were found about 250 miles away in Ohio, authorities said.

Kevin Cleeves, 35, of Waynesboro was charged Saturday with three counts of criminal homicide and was awaiting an extradition hearing in the Friday night deaths of 25-year-old Brandi Cleeves, 28-year-old Vincent Santucci and 55-year-old Rosemary Holma.

Pennsylvania state police said in an affidavit that Cleeves told relatives he had been trying to contact his wife to make arrangements to pick his daughter up and went to Santucci's house in Quincy Township to make sure the girl was safe.


Police said Cleeves saw his wife, Santucci and the girl in a car and confronted the couple in the driveway but was ordered off the property.

Authorities said he then opened fire around 9 p.m. Friday, shooting Santucci in the car and then his wife when she jumped out, and finally the older woman as she ran toward him. Police said he took the girl and fled, later telling authorities he was trying to get to a relative's house in Michigan.

An Amber Alert was issued in which authorities said Cleeves should be considered "armed and dangerous as well as suicidal." The alert was canceled hours later, on Saturday, after police in Austintown in northeastern Ohio, outside Youngstown, said the car was spotted in a hotel parking lot off Interstate 80 and later stopped in the parking lot of the Weston Plaza on Route 46, where Cleeves was arrested without incident.

"His 4-year-old daughter was located in the vehicle and was unharmed," police said in a statement.

Court records did not list an attorney for Cleeves, who was in the Mahoning County Jail, police said.

A detective with the Austintown Township police department in Ohio told The (Chambersburg) Public Opinion that an extradition hearing was scheduled for Monday.

[Janice]

That's a terrible story. Those poor people. The boyfriend's mother, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess the same can be said for all of the victims. What a terrible way to die, in sheer terror. I'm glad he didn't kill his daughter.

Sonny, that is too close for comfort. The world is going crazy(er).

[tiredmike59]

Thinking is becoming obsolete, just grab a gun and start shooting.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Janice

That's a terrible story. Those poor people. The boyfriend's mother, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess the same can be said for all of the victims. What a terrible way to die, in sheer terror. I'm glad he didn't kill his daughter.

Sonny, that is too close for comfort. The world is going crazy(er).

It's just scary anymore. It used to be just the big cities but it's not safe anywhere. A few nights ago I could have swore I heard 2 gunshots. It was probably just my imagination though.

[RoryGilmore]

People these days make me want to become a shut in

[robyrob]

i think in custody cases gone wrong like this, that guy should NEVER see his daughter again - she doesn't deserve to be further punished, but doesn't deserve a horrible "father" like that either.

[Mr. Television]

It could have been avoided.

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/tris...,7126243.story

Dad says slain son received threatening texts from accused


By The Associated Press

10:54 p.m. EDT, July 31, 2012
QUINCY, Pa. —

The father of one of three people shot to death in a rural community said his son complained to state police about threatening text messages from the shooting suspect but was told there was nothing they could do.

Vincent Santucci said that he encouraged his son Vincent Santucci Jr., who was known as Luke, to contact police and that another victim, the suspect’s estranged wife, Brandi Cleeves, also received threatening texts.


“When a citizen, when a human being, when a taxpayer goes to the state police with that kind of information, I would expect something more than, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’” said Santucci, who was making funeral arrangements Monday as authorities performed autopsies on the victims, who included Luke’s mother, Linda Holma.

State police declined to comment.

Kevin Mathew Cleeves faces three counts of homicide for the Friday evening shooting outside the home of Holma and Luke Santucci along a busy two-lane highway in Quincy, about eight miles north of the Maryland state line.

In a phone conversation just after midnight, Kevin Cleeves confessed, and he was later captured in Ohio after having fled the scene with the 4-year-old daughter he shared with Brandi Cleeves, police said. An Amber Alert was issued for him and the girl, who was unharmed.

On Monday, Kevin Cleeves, 35, waived his right to fight extradition from Ohio, and Pennsylvania authorities have until Aug. 8 to pick him up, said court officials in Youngstown, Ohio. He remained in custody and was unavailable for comment.

Vince Santucci said Luke and Brandi Cleeves met at the restaurant where they worked in Chambersburg and had been dating for a few months.

Kevin Cleeves, of nearby Waynesboro, told a relative that night he had been drinking and was angry, according to a police affidavit, and told an investigator that he went to the home to make arrangements to pick up his daughter. Police said he told them the shooting began after Luke Santucci ordered him to leave the property.

Police said Cleeves told them he shot Santucci in his car and when his estranged wife jumped out he shot her, too. Police said Cleeves told them Santucci’s mother ran toward him and he shot her.

“Cleeves related that what he did was wrong,” Trooper Aaron Martin wrote.

Linda Holma, who was divorced from Vince Santucci, was an emergency room nurse at Chambersburg Hospital, where co-workers remembered her Monday as compassionate and dedicated.

“If someone needed help, she was the first in line,” emergency room physician Michael Coriale said.
Vince Santucci, who lives in Gettysburg, Pa., said his 29-year-old son was an “extremely kind” person who grew up in and around national parks as they moved around the country while he worked for the National Park Service. Luke Santucci attended middle school in West Yellowstone, Mont., and high school in Pittsburgh.

“I think a part of Luke’s kindness and wanting to help came from his mother,” Vince Santucci said. “It’s so hard to realize that she died coming to help and save her son.”

He said Brandi Cleeves had recently shaved her head in solidarity with her mother, who has been fighting cancer.

“Brandi’s gone now. She’s not going to be there for her mother. She’s not going to be there for her younger half-sister. She’s not going to be there for her daughter,” Vince Santucci said.

State police obtained a search warrant for Kevin Cleeves’ work computer at the Chambersburg company that makes Martin’s Potato Rolls, where he was a route sales support technician, vice president Scott Heintzelman said.

Heintzelman said Cleeves’ mother picked up his belongings on Monday and the company set up a scholarship for the couple’s daughter. He described Cleeves as “a nice guy” with nothing to suggest he would be capable of the horrific crimes he’s charged with committing.

[theshark8777]

Damn found at 46 and 80? thats like 10 minutes from my house and I never heard anything about it!