Jakob Korber returned to the area hours after Christin Hamilton was found dead, allowing state police to arrest him without incident.
SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — An hours-long search for a Pennsylvania man accused of killing his mother ended in an unusual place: back near the home where the homicide investigation had begun, as television cameras recorded Jakob Korber approaching police and surrendering on the evening of Aug. 30.
State police had spent much of the day looking for Korber, 29, after Christin Hamilton was found dead on the front porch of her home on Herminie West Newton Road. Authorities circulated information about Korber and asked the public for help locating him. Residents later reported seeing him walking in the area, and a KDKA-TV camera captured his return toward the property. Faced by troopers, Korber knelt and put his hands over his head before officers took him into custody without incident.
The search had started after Hamilton’s daughter found her mother unresponsive outside the house that morning and called 911. Hamilton, 53, had suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The daughter told investigators she believed her brother could be responsible, according to reports describing the criminal complaint. State police then examined surveillance footage from the property, which authorities say changed the investigation from a suspicious death inquiry into a case supported by a recorded account of the alleged assault.
The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office said the video showed Korber arguing with Hamilton before violently assaulting her. Investigators allege he used his hands and feet as well as several objects from the porch. Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said the recording showed the assault lasted more than an hour. Police said Hamilton pleaded during the encounter. Authorities have not released a motive or publicly explained what the argument was about, and no reliable source reviewed for this report established a cause for the confrontation.
Investigators also reconstructed what they believe Korber did after leaving the porch. Limani said Korber changed his clothes and walked away from the property. Reports based on the criminal complaint said police believed he eventually slept in a nearby field. Those movements placed him outside the immediate scene as troopers arrived, secured the home and began searching the surrounding area. State police distributed an image and asked anyone who saw him to call authorities rather than approach him.
The public search lasted into the evening. Neighbors reported seeing Korber around 6:45 p.m., according to CBS Pittsburgh, and officers remained around the residence as he came back toward the scene. The resulting surrender was captured live by a television crew already covering Hamilton’s death and the search. Korber did not engage in a standoff or attempt to run when officers confronted him, according to the available accounts. He was detained and taken for questioning before being lodged in the Westmoreland County Prison.
During the police interview, authorities said Korber made a statement acknowledging responsibility in conditional terms, telling investigators that if Hamilton was dead, he was the person who caused it. Police characterized the interview as a confession. Limani told reporters he perceived only a small amount of remorse in the conversation and repeatedly emphasized the duration of the attack shown on video. A reported police statement, however, is one part of a criminal case and does not itself amount to a conviction. Questions about admissibility and legal weight are decided in court.
Investigators said the morning had begun with Hamilton engaged in routine activity at home. Limani said she appeared to have recently showered and was wrapped in a towel, had coffee and was letting a dog outside. The confrontation with Korber followed, according to police. That detail has drawn attention because of the abrupt change from an ordinary morning to the prolonged violence alleged by investigators, but authorities have not supplied evidence showing why Korber approached or confronted his mother at that point.
Hamilton’s daughter was inside the home while police say the assault was taking place, yet investigators said she did not hear her mother’s calls from outside. Limani said neighbors apparently did not hear them either. Later, when the daughter could not locate Hamilton, she searched for her and discovered her on the porch. Reports citing the criminal complaint said the daughter also informed investigators that Korber had recently threatened both her and Hamilton and had a history she considered violent. Those statements form part of the investigative record but remain allegations rather than judicial findings.
Following his arrest, Korber was charged with one count of criminal homicide. The district attorney’s office said he was denied bail at arraignment. Limani said shortly after the arrest that the investigation remained open and that additional charges could be considered, although the public case announcement listed the single homicide count. Under Pennsylvania law and basic criminal procedure, the filing of that charge begins a prosecution; it does not determine guilt. Korber is presumed innocent unless the government proves the case in court.
The intense focus on the search and arrest initially left less room in breaking-news reports for information about Hamilton herself. Her obituary later described her as a West Newton woman who worked in the sales department at Home Depot after previously working for Manor House Kitchens. Family members remembered her as compassionate, down to earth and friendly. She enjoyed music, played guitar, loved animals and was described as artistic and colorful. She was survived by a daughter, Zoey Greenwood, and a son, Benjamin Greenwood, among other relatives.
Hamilton’s family had already experienced losses before her death. Her obituary said her husband, Christopher Greenwood, had died before her. His own obituary from 2022 described Hamilton as his longtime partner and listed children in the household. Those family records are useful mainly because they preserve a picture of relationships that existed long before police tape surrounded the Herminie West Newton Road property. They do not explain the criminal case, and investigators have not connected those earlier family events to a motive for the Aug. 30 homicide.
The evidence outlined publicly gives prosecutors several distinct categories to work with: the physical scene where Hamilton was found, the home camera recording, her daughter’s statements, Korber’s movements after leaving the property and his later police interview. What remains less developed in the public record is equally important. Authorities have not announced a motive, have not publicly released the full surveillance footage and have not provided a detailed account of what Korber allegedly said before or during the confrontation.
Early reports stated that Korber was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 14 while being held without bail. Because that date has passed, it would be misleading to continue describing it as his upcoming court appearance. The accessible sources reviewed for this report did not provide a reliable account of the hearing’s outcome or a later final disposition. The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s public page continued to describe the homicide case as current, leaving the later procedural posture to be established by updated court records rather than assumption.
For investigators, the surrender closed the immediate public-safety phase of the case within hours of Hamilton’s discovery. It did not close the prosecution. Korber’s return to the neighborhood supplied a dramatic ending to the manhunt, but the more consequential questions now belong to the court process: which evidence prosecutors may use, how the homicide allegation will proceed and what, if anything, the defense will contest as the case moves forward.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.