State police identified the male and female victims of a double shooting homicide which occurred sometime between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning in Shirley Township, south of Mount Union.
She is Jesica Wills, 20, of Dysart, a community north of Altoona in Cambria County, and he is Tirelle Dixon, 21, of Philadelphia.
District Attorney Robert Stewart III and police investigators said they are unable to comment on motive, or suspect or suspects, at this time.
The two bodies were found about noon Wednesday at a privately-owned hunting cabin along Ridge Road. Both were lying adjacent to the vehicle with gunshot wounds; the number of wounds in each has not yet been released.
The two bodies were not lying together and police said it is uncertain who had been the driver of the vehicle.
Members of the man’s family came to the Huntingdon state police station Thursday to assist police with positive identification of the dead man whose name was released Thursday evening. The woman’s name was released earlier Thursday.
The grounds around the cabin were searched with metal detectors Thursday afternoon by troopers from the Huntingdon and Hollidaysburg stations.
The property is owned by Edward Shannon, a resident of another area. Police said Thursday morning that Shannon is not connected with the crimes.
The owner of the vehicle was contacted and police report the person loaned the vehicle to one of the victims who is an acquaintance.
The cabin is located off a narrow dirt lane seven-tenths of a mile from Keystone Road, and it is just over 2 miles from Route 522.
Sgt. Matt Wright, supervisor of the state police station at Huntingdon, and Stewart said Thursday afternoon that both bodies were clothed and there doesn’t appear to be a sexual component to the crime.
There was no weapon found at the scene. Police are currently “not sure” about a drug-related component to the crime.
There were no identifications found on either of the victims. Wright and Stewart III said yesterday afternoon that it is unknown if the man and woman were victims of other crimes (such as rape or robbery).
“We have troopers everywhere,” Wright said. Some were at the scene gathering evidence; some were conducting interviews and some were witnessing the autopsy which was conducted at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital.
Wright said Thursday morning that preliminary indications are the crime took place sometime within a 24-hour period of the discovery of the bodies.
A passerby called the possibility of a body at the cabin to police’s attention about noon Wednesday. When police arrived at the camp, they found two bodies.
A resident of the Ridge Road area told The Daily News he heard a gunshot late Tuesday night coming from “that direction,” pointing toward the cabin from one-half mile away.
