Two men are in jail following a murder Sunday morning, but they haven't been charged in the homicide.
Instead, both are being held in Bucks County's prison because they are known illegal immigrants, Morrisville police Chief George McClay said Monday morning. They are being held on Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers as the investigation into the murder of the unidentified man continues.
While police initially believed the murder took place in Morrisville, the beaten and stabbed body was found 10 feet onto the Falls side of the border, McClay said.
No criminal charges have been filed against the two men, who are brothers from Honduras and Guatemala, McClay said. One man lives in New Jersey and the other in Maryland.
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| Murder scene on West Post Road |
A third man, who police believe played a role in the murder, is still being sought, and police and Bucks County detectives are working with New Jersey State Police to find him, possibly in Trenton, McClay said. The chief has declined to identify any of the three suspects.
The deceased man is a Latino believed to be in his 30s, police said. The man’s fingerprints will be sent to New Jersey State Police to see if they can identify him, McClay said.
The man was found severely beaten and stabbed multiple times in the chest with a screwdriver, which police said was found near the crime scene.
The victim suffered massive blunt force trauma to the head from an unknown object, which is believed at this time to have caused his death, McClay said. The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching county Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell for information about the autopsy results.
The man was found around 8:30 a.m. Sunday on West Post Road, just past Ohio Avenue, near a white concrete wall in front of an industrial building, McClay said.
Police said one of the men was found inside a white van about 100 yards from the murder scene on West Post Road. It had Maryland plates and appears to have been used by the men, he added. The van was registered to one of the men in custody, the chief said.
Police do not have a motive for the murder.
All four of the men knew each other and were traveling together from Trenton, according to McClay. It’s unknown why they ended up in Morrisville or Falls, but it does not appear the reason involved other criminal activity, McClay said.
The men in custody, who do not speak English, have refused to provide information about the dead man and have given police conflicting stories about what happened, McClay said.
Police are continuing to review confiscated footage from multiple surveillance cameras from the Christian Temple Jireh, which is across the street from the murder scene, McClay said.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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