Two men are charged with abuse of a corpse and other violations related to the discovery Tuesday of the body of a Washington County woman who was reported missing on Jan. 19.
The suspects — Matthew Shashura, 24, of Vestaburg, and Christian Panyko, 44, of Washington — also were charged by state police on Jan. 27 with conspiracy and tampering with physical evidence regarding the body of Rebecca Jordan Kloster, 33, which later was found in a wooded area near the 300 block of Hahn Drive in Cecil.
According to court documents, the pair were lodged in the Washington County jail after they were denied bail by District Judge Michael Manfredi. They are scheduled to appear before Manfredi at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
A ruling on the cause and manner of Kloster’s death is pending completion of an autopsy and a police investigation, according to the Washington County Coroner’s Office.
Police said Panyko told investigators he, Shashura and Kloster were using narcotics in a room at the Rodeway Inn in South Strabane and the two men then left to purchase more drugs. According to court documents, Panyko said Kloster was unresponsive when they returned to the room and he administered Narcan to her and tried to resuscitate her.
Panyko admitted he and Shashura drove Kloster’s body to an unknown location in Washington County and left it along a road, police said.
Police said Kloster’s mother told them her daughter left home on Jan. 18 in the company of Shashura, telling her mother that they planned to stay at a Washington motel. Court documents indicate Kloster’s mother last heard from her daughter via Facebook Messenger on Jan. 19, indicating she planned to return home the following day.
Kloster was described as suffering from Stage 4 kidney failure, police said.
Surveillance video shows Shashura and Kloster arriving at the Rodeway Inn and Shashura and another man later placing an unresponsive person in the back seat of a vehicle and driving away, according to police.
According to court documents, Shashura told police he hadn’t seen Kloster in six months and denied that she was with him and Panyko at the motel.
