SOMERSET — A 24-year-old woman was arrested Monday in Ohio in connection with the disappearance and deaths of Damian Staniszewski of Duncansville and James Smith of Portage, whose remains were found in a wooded area in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, on Sept. 29.

Jasmine Marie Browning of Galloway, Ohio, formerly of Johnstown, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, all first-degree felonies, in Cambria County. The charges were filed Monday in the office of Johnstown Magisterial District Judge Kevin J. Price.

Browning is accused of aiding her boyfriend, who has not been charged, in luring Staniszewski, 19, and Smith, 32, to a residence at 1098 Boyd Ave., Johnstown, where they were held in the basement and “brutally beaten” for three or four days, according to state police Trooper Scott Kemerer in an affidavit of probable cause.

The two men, whom police described as known drug users, were able to obtain a large amount of illegal drugs, including heroin, crack cocaine and crystal meth, by breaking into a known “stash house” at the Boyd Avenue address, which was rented by Browning and her boyfriend, state police said.

Police were told the two men took a large quantity of narcotics, a handgun and about $17,000 in cash. A woman who was with the two men on March 26, 2017, told police that the pair had a large quantity of narcotics.

The men continued to contact Browning’s boyfriend about buying more narcotics, but the boyfriend became suspicious because the duo typically did not have that kind of money, police said. Browning and her boyfriend allegedly set up a drug deal to lure Staniszewski and Smith to the Boyd Avenue residence, where they were held against their will, court documents state. Police said the men were beaten and forced to dump bleach on them­selves to mask or diminish evidence.

During their interrogation, the men allegedly turned over a gun, reportedly the one taken during the burglary. When neither man would admit to the burglary, the boyfriend obtained a vehicle from other drug users and took Staniszewski and Smith to a wooded area along Ligonier Pike in Conemaugh Township, police said in court documents. The men were escorted into the woods. Smith attempted to run and was shot, and Staniszewski was shot two times in the face at point-blank range, according to the affidavit.

A hunter found the men’s remains Sept. 29 in a wooded area along the roadway.

In addition to gunshot wounds to the head, the men may have suffered other injuries immediately before or at the time of their deaths, including blunt force trauma to the head, a broken femur and a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.

Browning, arraigned Tues­day in Franklin County Municipal Court in Colum­bus, Ohio, was stopped for a vehicle code violation by Columbus police and was detained on an arrest warrant as a fugitive from justice in Pennsylvania. Her bond was set at $1,000,085, according to court records and that county’s sheriff’s office.

She attended an extradition hearing and a waiver of extradition was filed but has not been received, an official with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Judy D.J. Ellich can be emailed at judye@dailyamerican.com.