Tarentum man accused of fatally stabbing Ninth Avenue woman in jealous rage

Friends and neighbors of Tarentum homicide victim Susan E. Jeffries on Saturday afternoon recalled her as kind and helpful, and they were stunned to learn she was stabbed to death in her East Ninth Avenue apartment.

“She was a nice person,” longtime friend John Phillips said. “I would’ve never thought that anything like that would happen.”

Jeffries, 55, died of a stab wound to her abdomen Friday night at her apartment at 605 East Ninth Ave. rear, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The incident happened just after 9:30 p.m. She died in a hospital in Pittsburgh.

County detectives charged a Tarentum man in the fatal stabbing.

Juan H. Hayden, 54, of East 10th Avenue, was charged with homicide and tampering with physical evidence. According to the police criminal complaint, Hayden hid the knife he used to stab Jeffries behind her couch.

Police said Jeffries and Hayden knew each other.

Hayden initially told police he was with Jeffries earlier in the day but got angry when she brought another man home, so he left.

He claimed that he returned to find Jeffries lying wounded on the kitchen floor and he called 911 for help, according to his arrest papers.

Police say they questioned Hayden about cuts on his arm and he answered that Jeffries scratched him while he applied pressure to her wounds.

Later, according to his arrest papers, Hayden said Jeffries lunged at him with a knife and he fought back and stabbed her.

“Hayden stated that Jeffries had come after him after he questioned her about having another man in the apartment,” his arrest papers said. “Hayden said that Jeffries became upset that he was mad at her and she came at him.”

Police said that, in addition to having been stabbed in the torso, Jeffries had bruises around her neck.

A woman who lives in the same apartment building as Jeffries said she was home shortly before the stabbing and didn’t hear any commotion or fighting.

“I heard music coming from her apartment,” she said. “I never picked up on any trouble there.”

Phillips, too, said he was surprised to learn about Hayden’s arrest.

“He was always walking around talking about God. I wouldn’t have thought anything like this.”

Online court records show Hayden has had multiple charges filed against him, dating back to 1992, that include aggravated indecent assault, theft and burglary.

Hayden was taken to the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh and faces a Sept. 13 preliminary hearing, scheduled for 8 a.m., before Allegheny County Judge Kim Berkeley Clark.