The daughter of a woman found dead underneath her home in St. Clair Township, Westmoreland County and two other men have been charged in connection with her death.
71-year-old Alice Robson was found dead in a crawl space beneath the rear porch of her home in New Florence on December 14th. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said that charges of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence were filed against 18-year-olds Robert Jack of New Florence and Matthew Bates of Ligonier, while Robson’s daughter, 49-year-old Melissa Beacom of New Florence is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and one count of criminal solicitation. Authorities believe on December 11th, Bates was at the house working on a vehicle. He and Beacom left the house, but he returned later and met up with Jack. The two men then went into the house and allegedly shot Robson in the head and moved her body to the crawl space. Detectives were notified of her disappearance on the 13th and her body was found the next day.
Ziccarelli believes the motive may have been an argument over the custody of Robson’s grandson, who needs 24-hour supervision.
The three are in Westmoreland County Jail awaiting their preliminary hearing on December 28th. Bail was denied for each of them.
