A single person was seated yesterday after a full day of questioning in the jury selection process for an Ashville woman accused of killing a lesbian lover nearly two years ago. And she happened to be from Tyrone.
The woman, whose name will not be disclosed to ensure the integrity of the proceedings, was the last person questioned by Blair County District Attorney Dave Gorman and defense attorney Thomas Dickey. Nine jurors have been selected in the past three days. Seven seats remain.
With a handful selected on Monday, six more Tuesday and just one yesterday, the selection process has been slow. But court officials are hoping the 16-person panel will be filled by Friday with the trial beginning Monday.
Marie Seilhamer, 24, of Hollidaysburg is accused of the May 2001 brutal killing of 20-year-old Shari Lee Jackson of Hollidaysburg. Authorities contend Seilhamer and Kristen Marie Edmundson, 22, of Duncansville killed Jackson because of jealousy.
In January, Edmundson escaped the possibility of the death penalty when she entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder charges. She will receive a life sentence now that presiding Judge Jolene Kopriva has ruled that her plea cannot be mentioned during the Seilhamer trial.
Seilhamer still could face the death penalty if convicted.
According to police, Edmundson and Seilhamer developed the plan after Edmundson told a Tyrone woman that Jackson “was trying to get her girlfriend.”
Police believe on May 6, the pair drove Jackson up state Route 453, more commonly known as the Janesville Pike, with the intent to kill her. Authorities said they took a razor-blade type knife, a baseball bat, a sheet, a change of clothes and a shovel with them.
Seilhamer told authorities that while driving along SR 453 the day of the killing, Edmundson said she felt sick and had to throw up. Seilhamer told authorities that they pulled the vehicle to the side of the road and all three left the vehicle. She said Jackson followed Edmundson into a clearing in a wooded area. There, Seilhamer said Edmundson and Jackson began fighting.
Seilhamer told police she walked over to the pair, picked up a baseball bat and struck Jackson in the side and head with the bat. She then said Edmundson slit Jackson’s throat with a “box-cutter.”
During initial police interviews, Edmundson downplayed her involvement in the crime, stating that Seilhamer struck Jackson with the bat and Seilhamer also slit the victim’s throat. She said she only helped move the body to another location and conceal it on a mattress covered in leaves.
Later, police said her story changed. Edmundson admitted to slicing Jackson’s throat, and said Jackson was still breathing when she did. She also said she struck Jackson and also bit her during the assault.
According to police, the next day, 22-year-old Amanda Speicher of Boswell, drove Edmundson and 25-year-old Scott Custer, also of Boswell, to the crime scene. Police said Edmundson and Custer drug the corpse onto a mattress, covered it with leaves, and using gasoline, set the body afire. Speicher claims she disposed of some evidence of the crime.
In December, Custer entered a guilty plea to hindering apprehension and was released after serving more than 15 months behind bars. A month later, Speicher entered a “no contest” plea to conspiracy to hinder apprehension and received a 2-month incarceration sentence.
