Man arrested in West Virginia charged with homicide in Brackenridge woman's death

BRACKENRIDGE, Pa. — After a search that spanned two states, police arrested a person of interest Monday in the murder of a woman who was found dead in her Brackenridge home.

The victim, 63-year-old Linda McGinnis, died of stab wounds on her head and neck, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

McGinnis was last seen Friday morning at her home in the 900 block of Ninth Avenue, and was later reported missing. Police said McGinnis usually contacted her mother a few times each day, but hadn’t been heard from since Friday. She was found dead in her home on Saturday.

Justin Bartlett, 25, was arrested in Fairmont, West Virginia. Police originally said Bartlett was not charged with criminal homicide, but was wanted for questioning in McGinnis' slaying. That changed Tuesday afternoon when Allegheny County police announced that they had secured an arrest warrant for Bartlett and were charging him with homicide, burglary, theft, and tampering with evidence in connection with McGinnis’ death.

According to Allegheny County Police, Bartlett told investigators he didn’t mean to kill McGinnis, his neighbor whom he called grandma, but he needed a car to start over in West Virginia.

At first, Bartlett told investigators that he blacked out and didn’t know how he wound up in another state in the victim’s car. Eventually he admitted to stealing the victim’s car, police said.

According to a criminal complaint, Bartlett used a screwdriver to break a window and unlock the victim’s back door. He then took a steak knife from the kitchen sink and went into the victim’s bedroom, “stabbed her in the neck and a couple more times as she slept.”

Bartlett told police he put his bloody clothes in the trash, then drove the victim’s car to West Virginia where he met up with a friend to celebrate her birthday, the complaint states. Investigators said Bartlett told them McGinnis didn’t deserve what happened to her and that he was afraid to go back to jail.

Neighbors in Brackenridge told Channel 11 that Bartlett made them feel uncomfortable, and they warned McGinnis to stay away from him. Bartlett was recently released from jail for breaking into a neighbor's home and setting a neighbor's cat on fire. Bartlett served two years in prison for that crime.

"For the first time in my life, I feel uneasy living in my own home. I have a concealed weapons permit. My gun is on the nightstand now because I don't know where these lunatics are at," said Donald Silvan, a neighbor.

Kathy Silvan said Bartlett "just gave me the creeps."

"Just the way he would sit there on the porch," Kathy Silvan said. "I told her, 'Linda, you're getting too close to him. Don't trust him, please."

The Marion County Sheriff's Department in West Virginia said Monday that Bartlett, who had McGinnis’ car, had been seen in the Fairmont area. An OnStar system in the car tracked him to West Virginia, and police believe he slept in a church, which had its gas turned on and muddy footprints inside.

On Saturday, police in West Virginia said they encountered Bartlett, who has an active arrest warrant in an unrelated case, but he fled into a wooded area and remained at large until Monday.

Marion County Sheriff Jimmy Riffle said officials there put out a reverse 911 call to alert the public about the possibility of a dangerous person in the Marion County area. A business owner in Fairmont spotted Bartlett and called police.

Bartlett is currently incarcerated in West Virginia on the unrelated charges, which originated in Allegheny County. When he is extradited back to Allegheny County, he will be arrested and arraigned on the new charges and lodged in the Allegheny County Jail, authorities said.

Bartlett is no stranger to breaking the law and threatening others.

Samantha Gilmer told Channel 11 News on Wednesday that her best friend dated Bartlett three years ago and paid a price.

“He beat her with a baseball bat and threatened to kill her,” she said.

Channel 11 confirmed that Bartlett was charged with aggravated assault for the 2013 beating of a Tarentum woman.

She told police that during an argument Bartlett "grabbed a baseball bat and beat her in the legs.”

Two months before Bartlett’s arrest Monday, he was charged with assaulting and threatening to kill a Penn Hills woman who he was dating.

The woman told officers that Bartlett locked her inside his house then "threatened to kill her by hanging her from a clothesline inside his bedroom,” according to police paperwork.

“If you know him, you're not safe if he's walking around,” Gilmer said.

Cox Media Group