Witnesses describe bloody scene of Geistown beating death at trial

Oct. 12—EBENSBURG, Pa. — Cambria County's chief detective walked a jury through the scene of Anthony Profaizer's death on Monday as John E. Hoffman's trial on a homicide charge continued.

The detective, Kristy Freoni, testified that she was contacted about a homicide by Assistant District Attorney Kevin Persio on Nov. 25, 2019, and responded to Profaizer's home at 609 Sunberry St., Geistown Borough.

Once the scene was preliminarily photographed by Pennsylvania State Police Forensic Services personnel, Freoni said she walked into the split-level home, up the stairs and into a living room where she noticed bloodstained items.

Pictures were shown in court of a glasses lens with a blood spot, lying on a couch in the living room. Also on the couch was a blue pillow with blood on it. According to testimony on Friday from Tina Smith, a serologist with the state police crime lab, the blood on both items was determined to be Profaizer's.

Freoni said she then walked down the stairs to a recreation room, where blood was pooled on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs, and into the garage, where Profaizer's body was lying next to the bumper of his car, partially covered by green outdoor carpet.

Deputy Coroner Charles Mahon testified that he responded to Profaizer's home with Coroner Jeffrey Lees and Chief Deputy Coroner Joseph Hribar. Mahon pronounced Profaizer deceased at the scene and then called the state police crime lab, he said.

"He had significant trauma to the right side of his head, and his head was caved in on the right side," Mahon said, explaining why state police were called immediately.

Profaizer's death had been ruled by the coroner's office to be a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

Mahon explained that Dr. Kevin Whaley, who was then the lead pathologist at autopsy facility ForensicDx in Windber, was called to the scene, which was not common. Whaley testified that he has only gone to about two crime scenes during his time in Pennsylvania.

"We wanted him to see what we were seeing on scene versus looking at pictures, since it was such a significant event," he said.

At crime scenes, Whaley explained, he looks to see if he can find blood spatter in the home, signs of a struggle or items that may have been used in the crime hidden in trash cans.

While Profaizer's body was located near the rear of his vehicle, Whaley said, the blood spatter on the car's rear bumper did not match with the location of the body. Since there was no evidence that the car was moved, he said, "the other choice was that the decedent was moved."

According to Whaley's testimony, Profaizer had drag marks on his body: ones that occurred while he was alive, ones that occurred when his blood pressure started to decrease and ones that occurred after his death.

While at the scene, Whaley felt Profaizer's head, which was covered in lacerations and wounds.

"I felt the side of his head, and there was a lot of crunchy bone," he explained.

A 3D reconstruction of a CT scan done on Profaizer's skull at ForensicDx shows that his skull was covered in fractures in the rear and on the right side, according to Whaley, who explained that this is a sign of multiple blows to the head.

"It's different from hitting your head on a desk and having a single linear fracture," Whaley said.

According to Whaley, there was a .75-inch laceration on the right side of Profaizer's head, as well as several small lacerations. He explained that he saw no abrasions near the wounds, which means Profaizer was likely struck with an object that had weight, but was smooth.

Whaley testified that Profaizer was struck multiple times on the right side of his head and at least two or three times on the back of his head.

He also noted that Profaizer also had signs commonly seen in strangulation, but that his cause of death was still considered blunt force trauma to the head, as that was the primary factor.

The trial will continue Tuesday.