South Carolina man accused of killing girlfriend in Rostraver

A mother of three was fatally shot late Wednesday in Rostraver by her live-in boyfriend, according to police.

One of three children living at the Route 136 home called 911 around 11 p.m. to report the shooting. Estela Rivera Vasquez, 35, was found in the basement with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a statement from the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.

She was taken to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital, where she died.

Township police arrested Robert S. Chaplin, 34, of South Carolina, and he was arraigned on a homicide charge Thursday morning.

District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Melanie Jones said the couple had been living together for a couple of years at the home in a rural area of the township, not far from West Newton and Rostraver Airport. Two people were loading items into a pickup at the house Thursday afternoon. No one answered the door at neighboring homes.

Chaplin was outside in the driveway when police arrived Wednesday night and appeared to be heavily intoxicated, according to court papers. He claimed several times after being taken into custody that the shooting was an accident.

“We were having a conversation with one another and the gun went off accidentally,” he said, according to court papers filed by police.

Authorities said they found a firearm and several spent shell casings on the basement floor, according to the statement from the district attorney’s office. The three children who live at the home were not hurt. They are in the care of relatives.

Chaplin is not their father, Jones said.

Rostraver police Chief Scott Sokol referred questions to the District Attorney’s Office.

Chaplin did not have an attorney listed in online court records. He was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 3.