A Pennsylvania man was charged with murder on Saturday in connection to the death and dismemberment of his roommate, who was reported missing on his birthday.
Joshua Moser, 33, is charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering/fabricating evidence after 37-year-old David Hittinger’s remains were discovered on a trail and in a cemetery and quarry, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced Friday.
According to Holihan, Hittinger was reported missing on Monday, after he had not been heard from since the night of May 11. The person who reported Hittinger missing had planned to meet him for his birthday and grew concerned after not hearing from him, Holihan said.
Hittinger was last seen at Moser’s home, according to Holihan. He’d recently moved in with Moser.
Authorities discovered dismembered body parts belonging to Hittinger inside garbage bags at a local cemetery on Wednesday, Holihan said. Police found additional body parts the following day along a trail and at a small quarry nearby, he said.
The medical examiner determined Hittinger’s manner of death a homicide, though the autopsy is still ongoing, Holihan said.
Caydence Waterhouse, Moser’s neighbor, told ABC affiliate WPVI that she heard yelling coming from the home on May 12, one day before Hittinger was reported missing.
“It was Josh. He was saying, ’Get the F out of here, you don’t belong here,” Waterhouse told the outlet. “But I didn’t hear anyone talking back to him.”
Authorities conducted a search of Moser’s home on Tuesday and collected evidence, including blood and hair, Holihan said. The DA alleged there was an “effort to conceal the blood in the basement” of Moser’s home, and a second search of Moser’s home produced a saw, a box cutter and more clothing with blood on it.
State police said Moser confessed to strangling Hittinger and hitting him in the head with a hammer, according to WPVI.
Holihan did not mentioned a motive for the alleged killing, but said that there “appears to have been some sort of disagreement that would lead to the demise of Mr. Hittinger in such a manner.”
Moser was taken into custody that same day on an unrelated charge Holihan did not specify, but is now being held without bail.
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