Robert Jack was standing in the driveway of a St. Clair home when he was asked to kill the woman who lived inside.

The request from friend Matthew Bates caught Jack, 20, by surprise, he testified Thursday. Jack thought he was at the Furnace Lane home to hang out with Bates.

But instead, Melissa Fox-Beacom said she and Bates had a plan to kill her mother, Alice Robson, and would chop Robson’s body into pieces afterward, Jack said.

The two claimed Robson abused Bates and his girlfriend, Fox-Beacom’s daughter.

That’s when Jack said his initial hesitation disappeared.

“It was like a light switch was flipped inside of me,” he said. “I went from being very hesitant to being, like, OK.”

In the illumination of headlights in the driveway on the night of Dec. 11, 2023, Bates showed Jack how to work the .22-caliber revolver Bates brought. Then the two men went inside.

Jack fatally shot Robson twice in the head, he said.

His matter-of-fact recollection of the shooting came on the fourth day of testimony in the homicide trial for Fox-Beacom, 51, of New Florence and Bates, 20, of Ligonier Township.

Both defendants are charged with homicide, conspiracy, solicitation and abuse of a corpse.

Robson was fatally shot twice in the head Dec. 11, 2023. Her body was found three days later, stuffed in a crawlspace underneath a porch at her home.

Prosecutors say her death came at the request of Fox-Beacom, who despised her mother, and Bates.

Several witnesses have told jurors they never saw Robson be abusive. She had custody of her disabled grandson, Fox-Beacom’s son, who required around-the-clock nursing care.

Robson had a protection-from-abuse order against her daughter.

A number of witnesses, including Jack, have testified Fox-Beacom regularly discussed animosity toward her mother and expressed a desire for her to be dead.

They testified she wanted to regain custody of her disabled son, collect his disability checks and move into Robson’s Furnace Lane home. She often referred to her mother as “fat cow,” according to testimony.

Jack, 20, formerly of Fairfield, showed no emotion during the two hours and 15 minutes he testified Thursday.

The shackles around his legs clinked as he walked toward the witness stand wearing orange shoes and a blue jail uniform.

He told jurors prosecutors offered a sentence of 40 to 80 years in prison on a third-degree homicide charge in exchange for his testimony. Jack’s case is still pending.

“I’m testifying today because I’m seeking justice for the person and the family that I did this to,” he said.

Robson was sitting on a recliner watching television when, Jack said, he peered around a corner, aimed and fired one shot, followed by a second after it appeared she was still breathing.

He and Bates immediately started cleaning up blood and dragging Robson through the living room, kitchen and porch, down a set of steps and into a crawlspace under the porch, Jack testified.

“I was told that we had to hurry because there was a nurse that was supposed to be coming in soon,” he said, referring to a caretaker for Robson’s grandson.

Jack testified it never occurred to him he could leave or not kill the woman.

He didn’t grow worried about the potential for police involvement until the next day at school. In the days that followed, Jack testified, he threw the gun in Donegal Lake and initially pinned the blame on Bates when he was arrested.

The gun was later recovered. It belonged to Bates’ father, according to testimony.

Jack eventually confessed to his role in the crime during a subsequent interview with state police, Trooper Scott Urban testified.

During a separate interview, police say, Bates acknowledged his actions caused Robson’s death, saying a number of times he didn’t want it to happen.

“He admitted that was the plan,” Urban said. He just didn’t want to be the one to actually do it.”

The prosecution rested its case Thursday.

Both defendants told Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio they don’t plan to testify.

Attorneys are expected to deliver their closing arguments Friday morning.

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