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Two men held for trial in robbery deaths of Edinboro students
Saturday, February 05, 2000 By Michael A. Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
William B. Paxton and Jeremy Lindsey were good friends and had planned to room together during the upcoming semester at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Terri Darby, cousin of slaying victim Joseph Clayton, listens during a coroner's hearing into Clayton's death yesterday. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)
So why is Paxton accused of killing Lindsey and Lindsey's friend in a Jan. 3 robbery?
Detective Richard McDonald testified that Paxton said a man's got to eat. "[Paxton] said, 'He knew the game. He would do the same to me,' " McDonald said at a coroner's hearing for Paxton, 20, of Brighton Heights and his co-defendant, Craig Hairston, 22, of Elliott.
Based on statements both defendants gave detectives, Deputy Coroner Timothy G. Uhrich held them for trial yesterday on homicide charges in the deaths of Lindsey, 20, and Joseph Clayton, 21, both of Erie.
Both men had been shot in the head - Lindsey once and Clayton three times. The car that Lindsey had been driving was set ablaze with the victim's bodies inside in a lot near the Veterans Bridge on the North Side. They were burned beyond recognition and were identified through dental records.
Yesterday, every seat in the coroner's courtroom was filled with relatives of both the victims and the suspects. Families of the victims traveled from Erie.
Early in the proceeding, after Uhrich clinically described the victims' wounds and charred bodies, Diana Clayton, Clayton's mother, rushed from her seat in the back of the courtroom and headed for the defendants, who were seated at the defense table.
She yelled and lunged toward Hairston as sheriff's deputies prevented her from reaching him. They gently escorted her from the hearing.
"I've got to get out of here. I've got to get out of here," she said as she left the room.
In his testimony, McDonald said Paxton told him the following:
Lindsey had called him seeking three pounds of marijuana. Paxton told him it would cost $7,200 and Lindsey agreed, saying he would drive to Pittsburgh to pick it up.
Paxton never planned on delivering the drugs to his friend. Instead, he planned to kill Lindsey and take the $7,200.
On Jan. 3, Paxton and Hairston, who had been enlisted to help in the robbery-killing, had a few drinks at JR's Bar on the North Side, awaiting a page from Lindsey when he got close to town.
That page came about 6:20 p.m. Hairston left the bar and went to a nearby gas station where he bought gasoline in a container.
Hairston then went to a prearranged secluded alley off East Sandusky Street where he hid underneath a trailer.
Meanwhile, Paxton met with Lindsey at JR's and was surprised to see Clayton with him. Clayton and Paxton had never met. Clayton was Lindsey's high school classmate and had just transferred to Edinboro.
The men had a drink and then got in the car Lindsey had borrowed from his aunt. Lindsey drove, Clayton was in the passenger seat and Paxton was in the rear seat as he directed the car to the alley where Hairston was hiding.
Upon their arrival at the location, Paxton pulled out his .22-caliber handgun and shot Clayton first and then Lindsey. He got out and fired some more shots at the victims to make certain they were dead. Hairston came out of hiding and helped Paxton move Lindsey's body to the back seat.
Paxton got in and drove the car to the site near the Veterans Bridge where they went through the victim's pockets. Paxton said Lindsey had only $1,000 on him, instead of the agreed upon $7,200, but added that more money might have been in the locked glove compartment. He couldn't open it because he lost the car keys after he parked.
The suspects wiped the car, trying to eliminate their fingerprints, doused it with gasoline and then Paxton lit a rag and tossed it into the car, setting it ablaze. Paxton tossed the gun, a pager and cell phone taken from the victims into the river.
Paxton gave Hairston $400 of the $1,000. With his $600, Paxton bought a diamond ring and outfit he was wearing when McDonald interviewed him.
Hairston essentially told the same tale of what occurred in a statement to Pittsburgh homicide Detective Dennis Logan. He said he provided the bullets for Paxton's gun because Paxton didn't have any, Logan said.
After the hearing, Mary Helen Lindsey, the victim's grandmother, said that by sitting through the hearing and learning what occurred "made it a little better ... but it doesn't take the pain away."
She had met Paxton around Thanksgiving and had told her grandson she didn't like him.
"He wouldn't look me in the eyes," she explained. "I can't trust anyone who can't look me in my eyes. Now I know why - he was already planning to kill my grandson.
"The most devastating thing is he killed my grandson in cold blood after portraying himself as his friend."
Koby Clayton, the victim's sister, said she was distressed the suspects' families hadn't apologized to the victims' families and by the "arrogance" of the suspects.
"How can you have a human heart and kill? [Paxton and Hairston] don't have a human heart. They're almost like an animal," she said.
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