Indiana Barrel Remains Could Be Missing Homewood Teen's

Police have charged a 32-year-old man with criminal homicide in connection with human remains found in a submerged barrel late last month in Indiana County, but state police released few details Tuesday about the still-developing investigation.

State police said only that they have obtained an arrest warrant for Jon Anthony Black, of Yukon, Pa., on a single charge of criminal homicide.

Anyone with information to Black's whereabouts is asked to contact police.

"Due to the sensitive nature of the investigation and the possibility of additional actors being charged, the Court of Common Pleas has sealed the criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause," police said in a three-paragraph news release Tuesday.

Also, it appears that authorities could be close to identifying the body found in the barrel. The family of Rodnell Burton, 17, of Homewood, told Channel 11 News police have informed them the remains may be his.

Burton was last seen in March.

"I’m hurting. My child is hurting. I hurt for my child. My whole family is hurting,” said Burton’s grandmother, Donna Williams. “So, it's no secret I want to see them captured and brought to justice. It's not going to take the pain away, but it would bring some closure to the situation."

Trooper John Matchik, a spokesman for the barracks, said the charges against Black relate to remains found Aug. 31 under a bridge in the Conemaugh River near Blairsville.

The identity of the victim, and how that person was killed, have yet to be released by police or the county coroner.

Black was last known to live in Yukon, Westmoreland County, though he also has ties to the area where the body was found, Matchik said Black has several tattoos on his upper body, including a large skull on his upper right arm and an image of Hitler on his upper right chest, police said.

Channel 11's Courtney Brennan reported that Black recently was fired from his job at a tattoo parlor.

Troopers told Channel 11 he's now a dangerous man on the run.

"We're dealing with a subject that's wanted in connection with a homicide. He's facing the charge of criminal homicide so naturally people should use caution," said Matchik.

Black was awaiting trial on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia filed by Indiana borough police in March, according to online court records. Details of those charges were not immediately available.

Online records also show Black also was sentenced to six to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty in October 2001 to causing an auto accident involving death or injury.

In January 2004, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and related charges, including another drug paraphernalia charge, in Westmoreland County and was sentenced to one year minus a day to two years minus two days in jail, online records show. Such a sentence is typically imposed so a defendant can serve the time in a county jail as opposed to a state prison -- which is where any sentence of longer than two years must be served -- though court records detailing that case were not immediately available Tuesday.

In the current case, state police have previously said they began searching the river Aug. 30, based on information that grew out of an investigation into a series of robberies and burglaries.

Police haven't supplied a timeframe for those crimes, nor said if anybody has been charged with them. Before Tuesday, police had yet to file charges in connection with the body, though they have said all along they were treating the case as a homicide.

Indiana County Coroner Michael Baker has said the remains found in the metal, 55-gallon drum had likely been there for months, but less than a year. Baker didn't immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

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