GUILTY PA - Jerry Cushey, 29, Monongahela, 12 Oct 2001

[Usher737]

After five years, family continues to seek closure


This weekend, Jerry Cushey Jr. would have celebrated his 35th birthday.


He is spoken of in the past tense because his family believes Jerry is dead.

They have worked tirelessly for closure, for the Christian burial they believe Jerry deserves, but loved ones say they have been foiled and frustrated at every turn by a police investigation they say was mishandled from the start.

"I have cried so many tears so many nights," said Sonya Helmantoler of Monongahela, Jerry's older sister by 15 months. "I don't know why they won't do anything with this case. I will not go away. I want to know what happened."

Jerry disappeared five years ago on the day he was moving into a new apartment with an old acquaintance, Christopher Myers. The pair made plans to move into an apartment above a tattoo business that Mr. Myers owned, Totally Tattoos on Second Street in Monongahela.

Jerry didn't go to work on Oct. 12, 2001, because he planned to do some work on the apartment with Mr. Myers, according to family members. He picked up his paycheck from the local construction company he worked for and cashed it at a local beer distributor after making plans with some co-workers to meet at a local social club later that night.

Jerry never made the rendezvous with his co-workers, and was last seen by a friend outside the tattoo shop early in the evening. Since that time, Mr. Myers has been arrested for impersonating Jerry in phone calls to his mother and police, a possible eyewitness has come forward and new evidence has been unearthed by a private investigator, but no arrests have been made in Jerry's disappearance to the dismay of his family.

continue at link http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06358/748063-58.stm

 

[Opie]

A very frustrating case indeed. I hope the family receives some answers soon. It sounds as though the investigation was bungled when the van was found and many other times as well.

 

[monkalup]

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_175224254.html
Jun 24, 2006 11:50 pm US/Eastern

Divers Search Mon For Man Missing For 4 Years

David Highfield
Reporting

(KDKA) MONONGAHELA Divers were in the Monongahela River Saturday looking for clues into the disappearance of a man more than four years ago.

Jerry Cushey disappeared from the streets of Monongahela, Washington County.

Now, his family is praying that they may be getting closer to some answers.

KDKA's David Highfield reports that the Mon River could hold clues into Cushey's disappearance.

His family, who watched divers search, is holding out hope.

"It's just been a hard five years," said Cushey's sister Gina Thorn. "We just want, as a family, to have some closure and bring him so we can have someplace to go visit him."

Cushey was last seen on 2nd street in Monongahela heading to a club

He was only 1.5 blocks from river at the time but the river has never been searched until now.

....Cushey's car was delivered anonymously to his dad's house one night.

Another time the family received a phone call telling them to "back off."

Now, they are hoping whatever was found in the river will provide some answers.

 

[monkalup]

http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washingt...overwash3p3.asp


What happened to Jerry?

Family fears for wistful wanderer, poet and 'follower' mysteriously missing

He was unemployed from December 2000 until spring, when he and buddy Jeremy Wingo established a grass-cutting business. A few months later, Wingo said, Cushey got a better-paying job with Forward Construction Co. of Forward, Allegheny County.

Cushey sold the pickup truck he had bought to haul lawn mowers. He bought a Thunderbird in need of some work and borrowed his dad's Jeep Wrangler until he could fix the car.

Cushey often slept in his bedroom at his dad's house in Union. Sometimes he slept on the couch at his mom's place in New Eagle. Other times he stayed with two women in Monongahela.

Days before he disappeared, he and an old acquaintance had a chance meeting on a Monongahela street and decided to get an apartment together.

Cushey's relatives said Jerry Jr. and Christopher J. Myers had met years before, when Cushey had an arcade and Myers had a tattoo shop on the same Charleroi street. At one point, state Trooper Samuel Ferguson said, the two had a falling out "over a girl."

But Cushey held no grudge, family members said, and empathized when Myers told him that fall day about breaking up with a girlfriend. Cushey had been having a rough time, too -- his maternal grandfather, Anthony Nasal, had died two months before.

So Cushey was excited at the prospect of sharing an apartment with Myers at 212 Second St. in Monongahela, above Myers' business, Totally Tattoos.

Family members said Cushey didn't go to work Friday, Oct. 12, 2001, because he and Myers planned to work in the apartment.

Cushey did go to the construction company office to pick up his paycheck and, while there, made plans to meet coworkers Jarrod Fetchen and Mike Curran that night.

He cashed the check -- for $185.57 -- at Venanzi Distributing Co. in Monongahela. Ferguson has the canceled check.

Cushey also stopped at the Sheetz store in town; family members said they've spoken to the clerk who waited on him.

It was the only day that week Boyd didn't speak to her son.

But Cushey's younger sister, Gina Thorn of Fairmont, W.Va., spoke with him when she called the tattoo shop about 2 p.m. to consult Myers about her plans for a "tattoo party" -- an event at which guests get body art. She was the last family member to speak with Jerry Jr.

Driving by in the early evening, Wingo saw Cushey outside the tattoo shop.

"He said he had plans that night," Wingo said.

If Cushey meant his plans with Fetchen and Curran, he never kept them, according to people Ferguson interviewed.

.......


Family members later began calling the tattoo shop, leaving messages Cushey didn't return.

Thinking she might find Jerry at the Russian Club, where he once tended bar and still hung out, Boyd called the Monongahela establishment Friday, Oct 19, and received the shock of her life.

When she asked whether anybody had seen Jerry Jr., the man on the other end of the line said Cushey had stolen money and a van and was "on the run." Startled, she pressed him for details. He hung up.

Boyd called Thorn, who called the club. When Thorn asked about her brother, the man who answered the phone said Cushey was "probably in a ditch somewhere." The man hung up.

Ferguson said he made inquiries about the calls but received "very vague" answers from club members. The club since has closed.

Alarmed and confused, Boyd and other family members drove to the tattoo shop. Myers wasn't there, but an employee said Cushey hadn't been around for days.

Relatives drove to the Russian Club and Monongahela police station but didn't learn anything.

By the time they swung by the tattoo shop again, Myers had returned. Myers confirmed the story -- Jerry Jr. had stolen his van and $1,500.

To Cushey's family, the notion was preposterous. He had his dad's Jeep. Why steal a van?

 

[monkalup]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05289/588173.stm

Woman hopes to find clues about son
Sunday, October 16, 2005

By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Four years after her son disappeared, a New Eagle woman is making a new appeal for information about him.

Jerry Cushey Jr., of Monongahela, last spoke with a family member Oct. 12, 2001. At the time, he was 29.
.......
On the day family members said he disappeared, Mr. Cushey spoke with his sister, Gina Thorn. He had taken the day off from work to fix up a Monongahela apartment he and another man recently had rented. He cashed his paycheck at a Monongahela beer distributor, stopped at a convenience store in town and made plans to spend time with friends that night.

He never met his friends.

Mr. Cushey's new roommate later reported Mr. Cushey had stolen his van and $1,500. The van was discovered Oct. 16, over an embankment near Cheat Lake in West Virginia, but no trace of Mr. Cushey was found.

Acting on a tip, Mrs. Boyd said, police took search dogs to a farm near California about three months ago. They found nothing. Mrs. Boyd said a rumor Labor Day weekend that her son's body had been found behind a wall in the Monongahela apartment was untrue.

Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 724-746-8812.)

 

[Kat]

http://www.wpxi.com/news/24673909/detail.html

Updated: 5:36 pm EDT August 18, 2010

Remains Found In Fayette Co. Could Be Cold Case Victim's

Pennsylvania officials are examining human remains that have been found near an all-terrain vehicle trail in Fayette County.

The Fayette County Coroner's office said that the remains were found Tuesday night in North Union Township near Brushwood Road. Officials are wondering if the remains could be the body of Jerry Lee Cushey Jr., of Monongahela, who disappeared in 2001.

 

[Kat]

http://www.wpxi.com/news/24673909/detail.html

Posted: 12:04 pm EDT August 18, 2010
Updated: 1:58 pm EDT August 19, 2010

Slaying Suspect Shows Police Location Of Remains

A preliminary report reveals that bones found near an all-terrain vehicle trail in Fayette County late Tuesday night are the remains of a man who disappeared in 2001.

The Fayette County Coroner's office said that the remains were found in North Union Township near Brushwood Road and are most likely those of Jerry Lee Cushey Jr., of Monongahela.

On Tuesday, Michael Ronald Curran, 30, of Elizabeth, and Christopher James Myers, 40, of Connellsville, were charged with homicide and conspiracy in Cushey's death. Both men remained jailed Wednesday.

 

[Kat]

Suspect’s cousin held in 2001 murder

GREENSBURG – The cousin of one of two men arrested in the October 2001 murder of a western Pennsylvania man has been jailed on a charge of witness intimidation.

State police said Jonathan Shoben, 27, of West Newton, allegedly called and threatened a witness not to testify against his cousin, Ronald Curran.

Curran, of Elizabeth, and 40-year-old Christopher James Myers, 40, of Connellsville, were charged with homicide Tuesday in the death of Jerry Lee Cushey Jr., who disappeared from Monongahela in October 2001.

Washington County District Attorney Steven Toprani said he charged the men after a witness told a grand jury that Curran shot Cushey and that Myers disposed of the remains.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Shoben.

http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x1442549492/IN-BRIEF-Worn-flags-can-be-deposited-at-VFW

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Jerry Lee Cushey Jr.

Cushey, 29, disappeared from Monongahela, Pennsylvania on October 12, 2001. In August 2010, Ronald Michael Curran and Christopher Myers were charged with homicide and conspiracy in his case; they allegedly shot him to death. Myers has cooperated with investigators and lead police to Cushey's body in an isolated area in North Union, Pennsylvania. The two suspects are awaiting trial.

http://www.charleyproject.org/resolved.html

 

[Kat]

Rest in Peace Jerry. Prayers for your family.

 

[OkieGranny]

From April 2012:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/man-given-20-40-years-2001-slaying/nMY6p/

A local man was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison in the death of a man who disappeared more than a decade ago.

Christopher Myers, 42, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in September in the death of 29-year-old Jerry Lee Cushey Jr. of Connellsville.

Myers agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against his co-defendant, 32-year-old Ronald Curran of Elizabeth, who pleaded guilty to the same charge Monday and was sentenced to 14 to 30 years.