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| The .22-caliber Smith & Wesson found in York County |
The couple may have been looking to strike it rich by finding an artifact in a York County riverbed in 2011. Instead, they found a weapon allegedly connected to two Bucks County murders.
More than two years after that discovery, a Bristol Township Police Department detective is trying to identify the couple who turned in the .22-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver that police say was used in shooting deaths in 2006 and 2007. The effort comes as a defendant in the 2006 murder, convicted drug dealer Ckaron Handy, awaits trial in Bucks County on murder and robbery charges.
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| Ckaron Handy (left) Kevin Battista (right) |
The gun was found near the Kline’s Run Park Marina, south of Wrightsville near Lower Windsor and Manor townships, according to a news release issued Tuesday. The marina is near the border of Lancaster and York counties.
The unidentified couple turned the gun in to Lower Windsor police in York County, but police have been unable to obtain any additional information, according to Bristol Township Police Detective Timothy Fuhrmann. The couple isn’t believed to be connected to either murder, Fuhrmann said.
“The couple, who should be applauded for acting safely and thoughtfully, turned the firearm in to Lower Windsor Township (police) on Nov. 1, 2011,” Bucks County officials said in a statement.
The couple found the weapon during a lowering of the Susquehanna River for a dam inspection, Fuhrmann said. During the draw-down, people flock to the river to search for historic artifacts and other items that would otherwise be underwater.
Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, who’s prosecuting Handy, said investigators have credible evidence that the gun was tossed into the Susquehanna from a bridge over Route 30 near Wrightsville. Bristol Township police learned about the gun in 2012, Fuhrmann said.
The Bristol Township detective said police want to speak to the couple to establish exactly where they found the gun. “It’s just a piece of the puzzle,” Fuhrmann added, but declined to elaborate further about that aspect of the inquiry.
The registered owner of the gun isn’t believed to be involved in either murder, Fuhrmann added, though the weapon wasn’t reported stolen.
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| Eric Doggett |
The gun may be useful in the prosecution of Handy, 25, of Philadelphia. He is accused in the shooting death of Kevin Battista, 30, in what authorities say was a drug-deal-turned-botched-robbery-attempt in Bristol Township in 2006.
Police said Battista, a father of two, went to the Bloomsdale-Fleetwing neighborhood with a woman, looking for his longtime girlfriend. When he didn’t find her, Battista tried to buy $60 worth of cocaine, according to police, who said that’s when Handy shot Battista during a robbery attempt.
In March 2013, Handy was sentenced in U.S. District Court to seven years in prison for a weapons violation. The U.S. attorney alleged that Handy, a convicted felon, possessed a semi-automatic handgun loaded with a single hollow-point bullet on Nov. 15, 2011. He was convicted of the charge in November 2012.
Police believe that gun is connected to the April 29, 2007 shooting death of Eric Doggett, 29, of Trenton, Fuhrmann said. In 2011, James Williams, then 24, was sentenced to five to 20 years in state prison under an agreement where he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with Doggett’s death.
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| James Williams |
Officials alleged that Doggett had robbed other area drug dealers, but said Williams wasn’t justified in shooting Doggett because he had ample time to escape from the robber.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
Can you help Police
Anyone with any information about the couple who found the gun in 2011 in York County is asked to contact Bristol Township Police Detective Timothy Fuhrmann at 267-812-3049 or by email atBucksDA@co.bucks.pa.us
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