Suspect in 2024 Stowe homicide taken into custody in Maryland

A Stowe homicide suspect on the run for nearly a year was taken into custody Monday in Maryland.

Dacahary Sampson, 32, is charged with shooting and killing James Nelson Jr., 42, of McKees Rocks, the afternoon of Aug. 12, 2024, along the 400 block of Pleasant Ridge Road.

The U.S. Marshal’s Task Force took Sampson into custody in Bladensburg, Md., according to the Allegheny County Police Department. Sampson is charged with criminal homicide, simple assault, terroristic threats and seven counts of reckless endangerment.

Sampson and Nelson, who were neighbors, had an ongoing feud stemming from a rumor involving Nelson’s wife, according to a criminal complaint.

Before the shooting, Nelson was outside grilling when Sampson approached him and began an argument, the complaint said.

One of Nelson’s children asked Sampson to stop, the complaint said, and the child’s mother got involved in the confrontation. Sampson then pushed the mother and a fight ensued, the complaint said.

A witness told police they helped break up the fight, and Sampson stood on a porch and Nelson was in a yard. That’s when, the witness told police, Sampson pulled out a gun and shot Nelson in his side, under his armpit.

Ring doorbell video indicated at least seven children were around during the time of the shooting, the complaint said.

A few weeks following the shooting, a neighbor approached one of Nelson’s children at home and held out a phone, the complaint said. The child told police the voice on the other side of the phone was Sampson’s, who told them: “you’re next” and “you [expletive] my life and everyone that came to help your dad is getting it, too.”