Police: Easton Slaying Victim Connected To Drug Trade; Won’t Comment On Motive

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Four days after a 28-year-old woman was found shot to death in the West Ward, Easton authorities identified her and said she is linked to the drug trade, though they would not comment on a motive.

Authorities said Thursday they had no current address for Amanda Stratford, but online searches link the victim of Sunday’s homicide to the Wilkes-Barre area, where she lived for several years.

Easton police Lt. Matthew Gerould would not comment on a motive in the slaying, nor say if authorities have any suspects in custody, but said she likely knew her killer or killers. He said investigators were releasing Stratford’s street nickname, “Money,” in hopes that anyone who knew her may come forward with information.

Stratford was involved in drug trade “in and around” Easton and other areas, Gerould said.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-easton-homicide-victim-identified-shooting-20130926,0,2668397.story#ixzz2g6mGOcX0
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DA Says Mother Suffocated Newborn Baby Found In Starters Pub Toilet

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 26-year-old Allentown woman kept her pregnancy secret from everyone, authorities now believe.

So secret that when Amanda C. Hein began complaining about back pain while sitting in a booth at Starters Pub in Lower Saucon Township, the three men she was with had no idea she was about to give birth, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said Monday.

But that night of Aug. 18, Hein delivered a son after leaving the table — laboring in a bathroom stall of the popular sports bar on Route 378 while she ignored her friends’ text messages as they worried why she was gone for so long.

Then she took that “alive and viable” boy of 33 to 36 weeks’ gestation and killed him, putting him in a plastic bag and leaving him in the tank of the toilet, Morganelli said in announcing homicide charges for a death he was unable to explain.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-starters-pub-baby-found-in-toilet-homicide-20130826,0,1487535.story#ixzz2dBbqGJEw

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