A Greenfield man today was ordered to stand trial on homicide and conspiracy charges in the death of Joshua Schuffert, 17, a junior at Allderdice High School.
Pittsburgh homicide Det. Steven Hitchings was the only witness to testify at the preliminary hearing for Kenneth Warywoda, 18. Hearings for four other suspects charged in the killing were rescheduled.
Det. Hitchings said he interviewed Mr. Warywoda on the morning of Jan. 1. The detective said Mr. Warywoda told him he was attending a New Year's Eve party at the home of his girlfriend, Kelly Paoletti, when a group of people from the city's Lincoln Place neighborhood, including Mr. Schuffert, tried to crash it. Mr. Warywoda said members of the group argued and someone smashed the windshield of a car that belongs to his brother, Michael Warywoda.
The Warywoda brothers and some of their friends went looking for Mr. Schuffert and his friends.
When the two groups caught up with each other, Mr. Schuffert got out of his car and began fighting with Mr. Warywoda. He told the detective Mr. Schuffert was on top of him when he reached out and grabbed brick, which he used to hit Mr. Schuffert in the back of the head. He said he still could not get Mr. Schuffert off, and another defendant, Anthony N. Hively, 17, also hit Mr. Schuffert with a brick.
Mr. Schuffert died of head injuries. Mr. Warywoda told police he was defending himself when he struck Mr. Schuffert.
The other defendants charged are Mr. Hively; Michael Warywoda; Matthew Hallahan, 18, and Charles Lehner, 17.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published: January 13, 2006, 5:00 a.m.