UPDATE Homeless man pleads guilty to 2021 triple homicide, receives three life sentences

Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·2 min read
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Apr. 12—SUNBURY — A homeless man will serve three life sentences after pleading guilty Thursday to shooting three people to death in Snydertown in 2021.

Matthew Reed, 26, pleaded guilty to killing Susan Williams, 58, James Dicken, 59, and 17-year-old John Paul Dicken, all of Snydertown, in June 2021. His plea Thursday came in front of Northumberland County President Judge Paige Rosini.

As the murder charges were read, Rosini asked Reed on each of the three counts if he admitted to the charges against him.

"Yes," Reed, who sat with his defense attorney Brian Ulmer, of Lewisburg, responded.

Rosini accepted the pleas. The judge then permitted any victim impact statements to be made. Among the dozen family and friends of the victims, Cindy Mondrosch, of New Jersey, Williams's sister, spoke.

Mondrosch called her statement "the day evil came through my sister's door."

"Our nightmare began with the task of making arrangements for three family members ridden with bullet holes," she said. "Desecrated. Brutalized. Overkilled. Cremation was our only option."

She continued, telling Rosini her family was sentenced to a lifetime of despair, confusion, grief and trauma.

"These horrendous crimes have affected my life emotionally, physically, financially and psychologically," she said.

Williams's daughter, Tara Pentz, of New Jersey, also gave a statement.

"I don't want to speak of forgiveness today or ever," she said. "There is none. There's no punishment that fits his crime. I must wake each day and continue to feel the soul-crushing impact of our loss."

Pentz praised Northumberland County District Attorney Mike O'Donnell for his effort to stay in contact with the family and showing support.

Rosini asked if any member of Reed's family or Reed had anything to say. "No," Reed, who sat during the impact statements and stared straight ahead, said.

Rosini sentenced Reed to life in prison on all three counts.

After the proceedings, multiple Northumberland County Deputy Sheriffs led Reed out of the courtroom and into a vehicle, where he was transported back to county jail before being taken to state prison at a later date.

Arresting state trooper Josiah Reiner said in a criminal complaint that Reed murdered Williams, James Dicken and John Paul Dicken during a dispute over a vehicle purchase. According to Reiner, the dispute over the vehicle caused Reed to "snap" just before he shot and killed the three people inside their home at 3425 Snydertown Road.

Reed was living at Haven Ministry, a homeless shelter in Sunbury at the time of the shootings.

Troopers said Reed admitted to the killings during an interview.

"This was an unfathomable tragedy and our hearts go to out the families of the victims," O'Donnell said. "I hope this sends a clear message that if you commit a violent crime in Northumberland County we will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law."