The case moves through court after two residents were jailed without bond in the death of a 71-year-old man.
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Fayette County prosecutors have charged two people with criminal homicide after a 71-year-old man they lived with was found dead near railroad tracks and linked back to a Uniontown home.
The prosecution of Terry Newland, 58, and Alysha Riggans, 30, began with charges filed April 6 in the death of Ralph Brown. Both defendants were jailed without bond after preliminary arraignments. The case now turns on whether prosecutors can support allegations that Brown was killed inside his home, hidden in a basement and later left near West Kerr Street.
District Attorney Michael Aubele announced the charges after investigators identified Brown as the person found Sunday, April 5, near an active railway. The DA’s office said Newland and Riggans conspired to kill Brown, who had lived with them in Uniontown. Both defendants face criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Riggans faces additional charges accusing her of theft and unlawful use of an access device. “This was a very, very callous, cold and calculated crime,” Aubele said. He said the office would prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law.
The court case is built around a timeline that prosecutors say began days before the body was discovered. Brown, authorities said, had been in a dispute with Newland and Riggans over money. The pair had first taken a room in his home for a short period, Aubele said, but they stayed longer than Brown wanted and changed their address. “They were going to basically take a room for a short period of time and ended up changing their address to a point where he really couldn’t get them out,” Aubele said. The public record does not show whether a civil eviction case had been filed before Brown died.
Prosecutors say Brown returned to his Crow Avenue home on Wednesday, April 1. According to police details attributed to Riggans, she said she saw Newland stab Brown in the neck with a knife and then strike him in the head with a table. Authorities also said Riggans admitted that she and Newland later put a bag around Brown’s head, wrapped cords around his feet and stored the body in the basement. The allegations have not been tested at trial. Newland and Riggans are presumed innocent unless a judge or jury finds guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The post-death allegations make up a separate part of the prosecution. Investigators say the body remained in the basement for two days before the defendants moved it around 4 a.m. Saturday, April 4. Brown’s body, wrapped in a blanket, was left along the railway near Kerr Street and found the following day. Those allegations support the abuse-of-corpse and tampering charges, which accuse the defendants of interfering with evidence and mishandling the remains. Prosecutors have not publicly released a complete inventory of physical evidence, and no full autopsy report was available in the public accounts reviewed.
Financial allegations may give prosecutors a motive theory. Police said Riggans took cash from Brown’s pockets while his body was in the basement. She is also accused of spending more than $600 on his debit card. Other reports said investigators determined money had been stolen from Brown’s bank accounts. The DA’s office has not publicly said whether Newland is accused of using the card, nor has it released a complete account history. Riggans’ theft and access-device charges make her legal exposure different from Newland’s, even as both face the core homicide counts.
The investigation moved quickly after the body was found. Aubele said police went to Brown’s home and met Newland and Riggans. He said investigators saw possible blood and other items of forensic value almost immediately after entering. That observation helped shift the inquiry from the railroad tracks to the house. The case was investigated by Pennsylvania State Police in Uniontown, with Trooper Donald Morris identified by the DA’s office as an investigator. Assistant District Attorney Tyler Shultz was identified as the prosecutor assigned to the case.
The next key legal step was set as a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Jennifer L. Jeffries. At that hearing, prosecutors would not need to prove the entire case beyond a reasonable doubt. They would need to show enough evidence to establish probable cause that crimes were committed and that Newland and Riggans should answer to the charges in a higher court. If the charges are held for court, the case would move toward formal arraignment, discovery, possible motions and later trial proceedings.
Several questions remain open as the prosecution develops. The DA’s office has not publicly said whether the alleged weapon was recovered, whether surveillance footage shows movement near the railway or whether any neighbors heard or saw activity at the Crow Avenue home during the two days after Brown allegedly died. Officials also have not said whether Riggans’ alleged statement was recorded, whether Newland spoke to police or whether defense lawyers will challenge the evidence from the home. Those issues may become important if prosecutors rely heavily on statements and forensic testing.
Brown’s death has also raised attention because the alleged suspects were people he had permitted into his home. Prosecutors have described them as more like squatters than short-term guests after the arrangement changed. The law treats the homicide case separately from any housing issue, but the background may become part of the prosecution’s narrative about motive, access and opportunity. Aubele said investigators and residents had described Brown as beloved. That statement may appear again in court if family or community members later address sentencing, though that stage would come only after a conviction or plea.
The defendants remained last reported in the Fayette County Jail without bond. No public report reviewed for this article included a guilty plea, a trial date or a final autopsy release. The state’s case, as publicly described, alleges that a money dispute inside a shared home ended in a killing, a two-day effort to conceal the body and an attempt to use the victim’s money after death.
As of April 28, prosecutors had charged the case, identified the main defendants and outlined the alleged timeline. The next milestones are court rulings, evidence disclosures and any updated hearing dates entered in the Fayette County case.
Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.