DICKSON CITY, Pa. — A man is charged with homicide in the death of a woman in Lackawanna County.
Police say Anthony Ruffino called 911 back in January, saying his roommate, 68-year-old Mary Harvey, fell at her home along Bowman Street in Dickson City. She died at the hospital. Investigators later ruled her death as a homicide after an autopsy discovered blunt-force trauma to the head.
Ruffino was temporarily staying with Harvey and her grandson and was soon to be evicted from the residence on the first of February.
According to court documents, when Ruffino was interviewed about the incident, he gave various versions of what happened and mentioned in one of the versions that he went for a walk to get away, but after officials viewed the neighborhood surveillance video, he never left the home.
Ruffino allegedly told police after an altercation, he hit Harvey with a frying pan. He also allegedly called his mother, Elaine Peters, and admitted to the killing.
Peters also faces charges related to the murder. Police accuse her of washing blood off Ruffino's jacket. Police say it's the same jacket seen in evidence pictures with blood on it, but when Ruffino was interviewed by police, the jacket was clean.
Peters pleaded guilty to evidence tampering.