Four policemen testified at a preliminary hearing for a man accused of murder.
After a three-hour hearing, the judge held all the charges four court, including first- and third-degree murder.
Two of three officers who went to the 9-1-1 call at Sheetz around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 26 testified.
Police say Michael Courtney, 34, was sitting outside smoking and put his hands up, saying things like he’d “cut her,” to “cuff him,” and hurry, they “might be able to save her.”
The officers noticed fresh blood all over him. In the dark, he walked them to the wrong house on S. Wood Street, then to Deborah Gerlach’s place.
Police say they kicked in the locked door, and found her dead on the floor, with her neck cut, and a boxcutter knife under her arm.
Police say Courtney had slurred speech and said yes, he was on drugs, also telling them about an argument over taking her to get more drugs.
“Well, apparently they didn’t go, so was that an argument? He didn’t want to, she did?” says DA Jeanne Miglicio, adding that the evidence doesn’t suggest a drug motive.
Back at the barracks, police say Courtney told them the two were poking a knife at each other.
However, they only found one stab and one six-inch-long slash across Gerlach’s neck.
When pressed with this information, Courtney asked for a lawyer, police said.
“There is his story and then there’s what the evidence shows. His story is this game tit for tat. Well, the evidence is so far removed,” says Miglicio, adding that his other statements reinforce his culpability.
Police say Courtney told them that as a self-employed dry wall worker, he always carries a knife.
In October, people at Gerlach’s old building told us she’d moved here from out of town, and had concerns about Courtney.
The neighbors were worried when she moved out, thinking she was safer in a building with a secure door. They said she was also upset after hitting an 11-year-old with her car near a St. Marys bus stop.
Courtney’s attorney, Fred Hummel, said there was no pre-meditation, so the highest charge should go, but Judge Barry Brown disagreed.
The defense also asked about whether Courtney seemed to be under the influence. Miglicio told us his blood was not taken.
Miglicio withdrew a second-degree murder charge, telling us they did not find any robbery, which would support a felony murder case. She has yet to decide on whether to seek the death penalty.
Since this is a murder case, Courtney is being held without the possibility of bail.