Trial set for New Florence woman, 2 men accused in her mother's fatal shooting

The murder trial for a New Florence woman and the two men Westmoreland County who prosecutors say she enlisted to kill her mother is scheduled to begin early next year.

Following a brief hearing Friday, Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said jury selection will begin Feb. 2 in the first-degree murder cases against Melissa Sue Fox-Beacom, Robert Patrick Jack and Matthew Jason Bates for their alleged role in the Dec. 23, 2023, fatal shooting of 71-year-old Alice Robson in her New Florence home.

Fox-Beacom, Bates and Jack are each charged with first-degree murder, criminal homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse.

Prosecutors contend Fox-Beacom, 51, directed the two 18-year-old men to shoot and kill Robson in response to ongoing disputes over the custody of a young child. According to court records and prior testimony, Jack, now 20, of Washington, and Bates, 20, of Ligonier, each have accused the other of firing the rounds that killed Robson. Police said Bates was the boyfriend of Fox-Beacom’s daughter.

Police said Robson was shot twice in the head as she sat in a chair near where her grandson slept. Her body was found buried under a rear porch at her Furnace Lane home.

The judge earlier this year ruled prosecutors could introduce evidence at trial that Fox-Beacom had previously threatened to kill her mother.

Prosecutors maintain they have evidence that Fox- Beacom and her mother for years had a volatile relationship, including allegations of assault and threats first that were raised in 2017 related to a protection-from-abuse order and related criminal charges.

According to court records, Fox-Beacom also pleaded no contest to a simple assault charge in 2021 against her mother and was ordered to serve two years of probation. Prosecutors said the assault left Robson with minor facial injuries.