BY DAN DEARTH
Herald-Mail Media
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Jurors in the murder trial of John W. Strawser Jr. will hear closing arguments Tuesday after the state rested its case Monday morning in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
Judge Carol Van Horn told the jury to take the afternoon off and come back Tuesday to hear the attorneys wrap up their cases.
The defense said Strawser would not testify.
Strawser, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Timothy “Asti” Davison on Jan. 4, 2014, in the median of Interstate 81 near Greencastle.
Franklin County District Attorney Matthew Fogal called two witnesses to testify Monday — Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Jason Cachara and West Virginia State Police Cpl. Jason Gallaher.
Cachara said authorities in Pennsylvania didn’t get a break in Davison’s case until four days after Amy Lou Buckingham’s murder, when a Waynesboro, Pa., couple came forward and claimed Strawser could have been involved in the shooting on I-81.
Jamie and Courtney Breese testified last week that they heard Strawser was charged with Buckingham’s murder and believed the two cases might be linked. They then contacted state police.
Courtney Breese said she was having an affair with Strawser around the time of Davison’s murder, but she ended their relationship when Strawser became too controlling.
She testified that she and her husband had visited a nightclub in Bunker Hill, W.Va., on the night Davison was shot.
Strawser called the Breeses as they were driving home on I-81, Courtney Breese said. But the conversation ended after both parties got into a heated argument.
Cachara testified that investigators used Strawser’s cellphone records to track his movements on that night from Bunker Hill toward Pennsylvania.
Cachara said he believes Strawser started to chase Davison on I-81 near the Maryland-West Virginia state line because he mistook Davison’s Mitsubishi Montero for the Breeses’ similar-looking Honda Pilot.
The chase continued north on I-81 through Washington County.
At one point, Cachara said, Davison called 911 and said someone in a Ford Ranger fired a shot at his vehicle near Cearfoss.
Cachara said Strawser eventually ran Davison off the interstate about three miles into Pennsylvania.
Audio from the 911 recording shows the 28-year-old Davison sat in his mud-bound vehicle for about five minutes until the shooter returned and shot him multiple times.
Gallaher testified that authorities were using police dogs to search near Strawser’s home in Terra Alta, W.Va., after Buckingham’s murder, when a neighbor approached and showed them a gun that Strawser kept in a marsh behind his house.
That firearm, a Rossi .44 Magnum Ranch Hand, was later tested and matched bullet fragments that were recovered from the scene of Davison’s murder.
Gallaher said authorities in West Virginia shared information with Pennsylvania State Police during the two murder investigations.
Cachara testified that Strawser tried to alter the appearance of his Ford Ranger by painting it from dark blue to black. He also added green stripes on the sides of the vehicle.
Cachara said police searched Strawser’s home and found a grill and several other replacement parts for a Ford Ranger.
In August 2016, Strawser was convicted in Preston County of first-degree murder and fleeing in a vehicle with reckless indifference. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus five years for the fleeing charge.
The jury found him guilty of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Amy Lou Buckingham, of Tunnelton. He appealed that conviction in Preston Circuit Court, but that’s on hold until after the Pennsylvania trial.
Strawser currently is serving a life sentence in West Virginia.
