By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
May 06, 2008 07:32 pm
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JEFFERSON — A second defendant has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from last year’s grisly murder of an Ashtabula man, according to court records.
Tiffany West, 19, of Edinboro, Pa., pleaded guilty last week to felony charges of obstructing justice and gross abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of 31-year-old Cheyrone Kelley. Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Vettel will announce West’s punishment after a presentencing investigation is completed and studied.
West originally had been charged with complicity to commit murder, officials have said. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the obstruction charge, and one year in prison and a $2,500 fine on the abuse charge.
The plea came nearly one month after Jefferson resident Cary A. Dunford pleaded guilty to obstructing justice. Dunford admitted giving his son, co-defendant Alan Dunford, advice on where to hide Kelley’s body.
A presentencing investigation was ordered for Cary Dunford, as well.
The fate of two other defendants has not been determined. Alan Dunford, 23, also of Edinboro and West’s boyfriend, faces 19 felonies in connection with the crime. Meanwhile, an October trial has been scheduled for Shawn Curtin, 24, of Conneaut, charged with tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and gross abuse of a corpse, according to court records.
Kelley died on or about Nov. 3, 2007, inside the former Shamrock Cafe on Day Street in Conneaut, police have said. Drugs were apparently the motive, investigators have said. Kelley’s body was dismembered and eventually placed in and around a pond near Netcher Road in Denmark Township.
Police were led to the disposal site by one of the suspects on Feb. 1. Kelley died from multiple stab wounds, investigators have said. West and Alan Dunford were the first to be arrested, followed by Curtin and Cary Dunford.
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