Slippy

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The homicide investigation into the death of a Hollidaysburg man has concluded and the case closed because the suspect is dead, District Attorney Pete Weeks said during a press conference Tuesday morning.

Tyler R. Slippy, 27, was found dead in his Allegheny Street apartment on Nov. 22, 2020, with an autopsy later revealing that he had died as a result of blood loss from four stab wounds to his neck, head and chest.

“He had so much to offer, so much life and love to give, but it was selfishly taken from him,” Slippy’s mother, Kathy Telgarsky Beigle, said in a Facebook post following the press conference.

After being alerted to the crime, Hollidaysburg police and members of the state police forensic unit processed the scene, using luminol that developed bloody footprints on the external porch and walkways of Slippy’s apartment building, Weeks said.

Over the following six weeks, police interviewed more than 25 witnesses and executed about 20 search warrants for electronic devices and other digital forensic information.

“In the course of one of those follow-up interviews, officers noted that one of the victim’s colleagues and acquaintances — Kenneth Kim — bore a cut on his hand,” Weeks said. “In reviewing the previous interview with Mr. Kim, police realized that he kept his hand concealed underneath the table for the entire length of the interview.”

When asked how he got the cut on his hand, Kim said that he had cut himself on a kitchen knife while unloading his dishwasher a month before the homicide. However, police were able to obtain a search warrant for Kim’s medical records, which revealed that Kim had sought treatment for the cut hours after the death of Slippy, Weeks said.

Several witnesses also said that Kim and Slippy shared a romantic interest in a female co-worker, but that she had been in a relationship with Slippy, which Kim corroborated.

With this information, police obtained search warrants to seize and search all four of Kim’s vehicles, his home and to take photos of the cut on his hand, Weeks said.

“However, in the course of executing those search warrants, the suspect stole a vehicle from his employer, fled from police in Blair County and drove to a hotel in Cambria County where he took his own life after being located by law enforcement,” Weeks said.

Before killing himself, a close friend of Kim’s contacted law enforcement and said that Kim confessed to him that he had broken into Slippy’s apartment after memorizing the passcode to the lock that he had once watched Slippy use.

The friend also said that Kim confessed to killing Slippy over their romantic rivalry.

“Notably, this witness was able to provide details of the homicide related to him by Mr. Kim that had not been released to the public and would have otherwise only been known by the killer and law enforcement, including the manner of homicide and the fact that there was no forced entry,” Weeks said.

Using luminol, the police later found “significant amounts of apparent blood” that had been cleaned in Kim’s home and the vehicle he was believed to have been driving on the night of the murder, Weeks said.

Police collected samples of the apparent blood and other forensic evidence, transporting it to the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab for forensic testing. The lab has since concluded its testing, Weeks said, and a specialized team of forensic scientists from the lab produced a serology report that included a bloodstain pattern analysis.

That analysis indicated that the “vast majority” of the blood found at the crime scene belonged to Slippy. The report also concluded that blood droplets found on the steps exiting Slippy’s apartment were “consistent with the DNA of Kenneth Kim,” Weeks said.

“As a result of the totality of the evidence collected in the course of this investigation, the District Attorney’s Office would have approved charges of first-degree murder for Mr. Kim in the homicide of Mr. Slippy had Mr. Kim not taken his own life,” Weeks said. “Although Mr. Kim must be afforded the presumption of innocence as a jury of his peers will never be able to deliberate on the first-degree murder charges that would have been filed, the District Attorney’s Office believes that sufficient evidence was gathered during the investigation to support the prosecution of Mr. Kim.”

While the District Attorney’s Office is unable to file criminal charges, Weeks said that the announcement of the case being closed was made for transparency, so the public could be aware the law enforcement believes this crime was “an isolated, targeted incident with no further threat to public safety,” and to bring the community and Slippy’s family a sense of closure.

Slippy’s family asked for the results of the investigation to be released.

“While I don’t necessarily feel justice has been served, I do feel a sense of closure,” Telgarsky Beigle said in her Facebook post.

In describing the type of person her son was, Telgarsky Beigle said that in the days following his death, she had numerous people whom Slippy had gone to school with reach out to her and say that when they had been picked on and bullied, he would stick up for them and befriend them.

Slippy’s brother Steven also described a sense of closure with the case and investigation coming to an end, saying the DNA evidence found was great and having Kim’s name out there made him feel better.

As one of the people to find Slippy following the crime, Steven deals with reliving those moments when the case is brought up.

“The thing I struggle with is when people say I’m so sorry. I’m trying to be like thank you, but if you saw what I saw — went through what I went through, it’s more than that,” Steven said. “I lost my brother. It just keeps bringing back that morning that we found him.”

Now, Slippy’s family hopes to move on and heal — but not forget.

Telgarsky Beigle started a bereavement group with local moms and is looking forward to seeing where it goes.

“Grieving is different for everyone,” she said. “As horrible as it is, there is hope that you can get through this and that something positive has to come out of this horrificness.”

Steven said he remains in therapy and hopes to continue telling the story of how good of a person his brother was.

“He’s the funniest person ever — the most positive guy,” Steven said. “He’s a crazy fearless guy. I don’t want him to be remembered as a murder victim. He was my brother and a great friend.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.