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Stories of the year: A look back at the top events of 2023

Doyle loses seat on bench; political legend Shuster dies; fires claim lives and businesses

By Walt Frank 19 min read

The decision by Blair County voters to not retain President Judge Elizabeth Doyle for another 10-year term and the death of former Congressman Bud Shuster were voted the top local stories of 2023 by the Mirror newsroom.

The news staff voted in December on the top stories from a ballot that included the most prominent news items from throughout the year. Stories dealing with murders and prominent court cases, school board issues and fires also made the Top 10 list.

Doyle not retained

Blair County President Judge Elizabeth Doyle lost her bid for a third term in the Nov. 7 general election after a political action committee, Blair County Public Accountability, campaigned against her.

Rhonda Holland, group president, said she formed the committee after becoming dismayed with Doyle over a shelter-in-place order interfering with child custody agreements during the COVID-19 pandemic, then learned of others, including law enforcement officers, who were upset with Doyle's decisions in bail reduction cases.

The group ran newspaper ads with people holding "Vote No" signs and placed "Vote No" signs along roadways.

Official vote totals showed 12,377 voters answering "no" to retain Doyle -- 479 more than the 11,898 who voted "yes."

Doyle, who in 2013 was retained to serve a second 10-year term, remained in office through the end of December.

While Doyle, 66, said in a recent interview that she is retiring, she likes to keep busy and is weighing her options at some type of community service in the future. Prior to becoming a judge, Doyle served as an assistant district attorney, a first assistant district attorney and a magisterial district judge.

An appointment to fill Doyle's vacant judicial seat will rest with Gov. Josh Shapiro's office, which will offer a nominee to the state Senate for two-thirds confirmation.

Shuster dies

Former U.S. Rep. Bud Shuster, who was a boon for economic development and tourism, not only for Altoona and Blair County, but also for Bedford County, died April 19 at his farm in Everett. He was 91.

Shuster's death brought an end to an era remembered for earmark spending and transportation projects across the nation, including I-99 through Bedford, Blair and Centre counties.

Shuster spent nearly three decades in Congress, surprising his colleagues by resigning in January 2001, a day after being sworn in for his 15th term.

Shuster's legacy was the highway system we have today, not only in Blair County but nationwide, as he was the chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and made a deal for Pennsylvania to complete the final leg of I-99 between Altoona and I-80. I-99 has been named the Bud Shuster Highway, and the Bud Shuster Byway skirts around his hometown of Everett.

Shuster and then-state Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer, R-30th District, became good friends and worked together on several projects. Peoples Natural Gas Field, where the Altoona Curve play baseball, was an example of a project Jubelirer and Shuster worked on.

Shuster was also instrumental in the revitalization of the Bedford Springs Hotel.

After he retired, the former congressman spent 11 years as a visiting professor at Saint Francis University, served on a variety of boards and was a trustee of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Shuster was a "powerhouse I don't think we'll see again," said his good friend, D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Oechsle charged in fatal stabbing

Raymond Thomas Oechsle Jr., 51, of Altoona, was charged with murder in connection with the April 26 stabbing death of Christopher Helsel, 38.

Oechsle had been living with the dead man's body in his living room for several days before police, responding to a report of a burglary, discovered the grisly scene, according to a criminal complaint. Officers came across the body of Helsel, covered by a white and green shirt and a welcome mat. When police lifted the shirt from over his head, they found that he had numerous stab wounds to the face, including his eyes.

Helsel had been stabbed more than 60 times, according to an autopsy.

Oechsle admitted to stabbing and killing Helsel, dragging his body into his apartment and covering Helsel's face to avoid looking at him, according to court documents. Police said Oechsle continued to live in the apartment for days, even having friends over to the residence, but kept the lights off and kept them away from the living room area.

Oechsle claimed he killed Helsel in self-defense, court records show, stating that he was sitting outside his apartment because he was locked out. While in the hallway, Oechsle claimed Helsel confronted him and a physical altercation ensued. Oechsle told police he pulled out a folding knife and began to stab Helsel.

Oechsle admitted to stabbing Helsel in both eyes and in the torso and when Helsel tried to back away, Oechsle pursued him down the hallway toward the entrance to the apartment building while continuing to stab him.

Oechsle was arraigned on first- and third-degree murder, felony aggravated assault, felony burglary and felony criminal trespass charges, along with misdemeanor charges of possessing an instrument of crime, theft, tampering with evidence and abuse of corpse.

In August, the Blair County District Attorney's Office announced it plans to seek the death penalty in prosecuting Oechsle for the alleged murder of Helsel.

Meanwhile on Oct. 19, Oechsle was charged with stabbing two fellow inmates in the Blair County Prison.

In this case, Oechsle was charged with one felony count attempted criminal homicide, two felony counts each of aggravated assault - attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference, aggravated assault - attempts to cause or causes bodily injury with deadly weapon, assault by prisoner on another, two misdemeanor counts each of inmate procures weapon, possession of weapon, recklessly endangering another person and one misdemeanor count of tampering with/fabricating physical evidence.

Court documents state that Oechsle allegedly wrote letters that stabbing people to death is "more exciting then (sic) sex."

In November, 12 of the 14 charges against him for the inmate stabbings were bound over to court.

Aikens sentenced

In November, Christopher J. Aikens, 56, was sentenced to life in prison.

The Altoona man's escape attempt led to the Nov. 17, 2021, fatal shooting of Blair County Corrections Officer Rhonda Russell.

Aikens rendered guilty pleas in October to second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and related charges in connection with Russell's death rather than face a trial by jury.

State police at Hollidaysburg charged Aikens based on an investigation indicating Aikens, in an attempt to escape from the Central Court building, overpowered Russell and pushed her into a room.

When Altoona Police Sgt. George Bistline confronted Aikens, the district attorney's office maintained that Aikens pointed Russell's gun at Bistline, prompting Bistline to fire at Aikens, who moved Russell into the line of fire.

Court documents indicate that Aikens told investigators that he didn't aim at Bistline and didn't know why Bistline fired.

President Judge Elizabeth Doyle, after sentencing Aikens to life without parole for second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, imposed concurrent incarceration periods totaling 60 to 120 years for offenses that include disarming a law enforcement officer, robbery, kidnapping, possession of a firearm in a court facility, assault and escape.

Aikens' sentencing order includes restitution of $25,000 to cover Russell's funeral and related expenses. In light of the anticipated sentence, District Attorney Pete Weeks said he advised Russell's family that payments toward that restitution will likely be nominal amounts from any earnings Aikens has inside prison.

Meanwhile, the Russell estate has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit with U.S. District Court in Johnstown, naming several defendants, including county and city personnel, as contributing to Russell's death.

Hollidaysburg Area School Board

Following a heated end to 2022 and beginning of 2023 concerning political activity in the classroom, the Hollidaysburg Area School Board finished the year with five new faces on the board as five conservative candidates earned seats in the Nov. 7 election.

Leading the way was Missy Sullivan with 4,183 votes, followed by John Wells with 4,105. Michele Luther was third with 4,065; Ying Li garnered 4,025 votes; and incumbent Kenneth Snyder rounded out the victors with 3,975.

The four newcomers replaced Lonna Frye, Manny Nichols, Doug Stephens and Nicole Hartman when their terms expired in December.

It was a clean sweep for the Republicans in Hollidaysburg, as the three Democratic candidates could not catch up during the tally. Heather DeStefano finished with 2,852 votes; Cory Hartman had 2,798; and Jesse Blank accrued 2,412 votes.

In February, board members approved a hotly contested policy covering political activity and controversial displays in the classroom.

However, Superintendent Robert Gildea admitted the policy hadn't been put into effect because the teachers union filed a request to bargain.

Policy 321 was approved by the school board by an 8-1 margin after months of back-and-forth debate and parent input and was expected to be implemented immediately. The code limited the images and symbols teachers could display in their classrooms, if such displays could be interpreted as "political" in nature.

The Hollidaysburg Area Education Association, however, stepped in following its approval and submitted a request to bargain. According to Gildea, the district was then obligated to sit down with the union and hear its concerns before moving forward with the enforcement of the policy.

Union President Mike Rawlins had been vocal about the inefficacy and danger of the policy at board meetings since the code was first discussed, repeatedly asking the board to not pass such a ruling to avoid putting teachers in confusing situations that could potentially lead to litigation.

The final change to Policy 321, which was approved in July, lays out consequences for any teachers or staff who violate the political displays rule. They will first be notified of the violation and will then have a chance to correct the issue. If nothing is done, the district will enforce disciplinary action, "up to and including termination."

In August, board members learned that long-time Superintendent Gildea was leaving for a new job -- superintendent of the Lower Dauphin School District.

Gildea started his career in the HASD in 1990 as an elementary school teacher, before he was promoted to principal of Foot of Ten Elementary. He was then the principal of the Hollidaysburg Area Cyber Academy and the athletic director for one year before he was named superintendent in 2013.

In October, board members named Daren McLaurin as acting superintendent. McLaurin served as Claysburg-Kimmel superintendent from December 2017 to July 2022. He had announced his retirement there in December 2021.

Fires destroy businesses, homes

Several significant fires hit the area in 2023 -- with two longtime businesses destroyed and two fires involving fatalities.

A longtime community staple -- Inlow's Drive-In in Duncansville -- was destroyed by an early morning fire on Aug. 2.

Allegheny Township Fire Department Deputy Chief Todd Glunt said when firefighters arrived, the corner of the restaurant was completely involved.

Fire marshal Stephen Griffith ruled the cause of the fire to be accidental.

In December, owner Greg Werstil said he's in the process of rebuilding the business if an interested party can be found. Werstil said he doesn't know how much it will cost or how long the reconstruction process could take.

Werstil said he'd be willing to give someone all of the recipes and information it takes to get Inlow's up and running again.

On Oct. 18, a contractor working on installing a gas boiler died suddenly, sparking a fire that destroyed Bobcat of Martinsburg, 3650 Cove Mountain Road.

Rodney Walters of Altoona suffered a sudden cardiac event while working to install a natural gas boiler at the business. Walters died instantly while holding a torch, which is believed to have led to the fire.

The fire caused the roof of the building to collapse.

One person was killed in a house fire March 16 at 221 Bald Eagle Sportsmens Club Road in Snyder Township.

A group of men at the nearby club reported hearing an explosion and went to find that the home was on fire, according to Bald Eagle Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Bradley Oswald.

Firefighters were unable to get into the home due to heavy flames and the structure was a total loss, he said.

A man in his 80s was killed in a structure fire June 4 along Gildea Drive in Allegheny Township, Blair County Coroner Patty Ross said.

The call for the fire at 548 Gildea Drive came in about 9 p.m., according to Allegheny Township Deputy Fire Chief Todd Glunt.

The fire was then under control in about 20 or 25 minutes, Glunt said, but the home was a complete loss.

A Jan. 31 fire destroyed a mobile home in Shamrock Court, killing two pets and leaving a family homeless.

Emergency crews arrived on scene to see flames coming from underneath the structure, said Fire Chief Mike Gonsman of the Duncansville Volunteer Fire Department.

The homeowners, Beth and Matt Corey, and their children, were all at work or school when the fire started. The family lost one dog and a bearded dragon in the fire.

A fire Feb. 15 at 1209 Fifth Ave. in Duncansville left a couple without a home.

Firefighters were called about 11 p.m, where a fire on the back porch spread to the rest of the structure, said Brynn Gable, assistant fire chief of the Duncansville Volunteer Fire Department.

More than a half dozen fire departments turned out to assist, she said.

Because of the extent of the heavy flames, the next-door neighbors on the left and right of the home were evacuated.

Neighboring homes received some radiant heat damage -- the flames melted one home's siding -- but the structures were able to be saved, Gable said.

An early morning fire Feb. 23 brought the farming community together to help a sixth-generation farmer pick up the pieces.

Pleasant View Farms near Martinsburg was hit with tragedy at 4 a.m. as the dairy farm's offices and part of the milking parlor burned down.

The damage to the milking parlor caused the farm to move more than 1,300 cows to nearby farms, where they were to be milked until the parlor was back up and running.

Owner Gretchen Metzler said different farmers around the Martinsburg region came out almost immediately with transport vehicles to move the cows, an effort for which she was grateful.

The barn housing the cows was located next to the offices and milking parlor and Metzler said it was a miracle that no cows were killed or even injured.

While the office building was a total loss, firefighters were able to save about half of the milking parlor.

Blazier civil suit settled

In a unanimous vote, the Bellwood-Antis School Board on Nov. 7 approved a settlement with apparently one of two teenage sexual assault victims in relation to the actions of former middle school wrestling coach Ryan Blazier.

District solicitor Carl Beard Sr. declined to comment on the terms of the settlement following the meeting, saying the district would not make a statement on the agreement without a Right-to-Know request for the information.

The settlement seems to be with only one of the two victims.

The move came after jurors were dismissed in a Blair County Court civil case in October, pointing to the possibility of a settlement between the district and the victim out of court.

The civil case developed after Blazier was initially accused of sexual assault by two student wrestlers. Blazier was convicted on seven charges in October 2021 and was sentenced to 21 to 42 years in prison.

The students contend that the district didn't do enough to prevent the abuse from happening and sought to hold it accountable for its lack of action. The district denied those allegations, saying that Blazier was solely culpable for his crimes.

The Altoona Mirror filed a Right-to-Know request on Nov. 8 to get a copy of the settlement, and was advised in a recent response that the district believes the settlement is exempt from public disclosure under the Pennsylvania Judicial Code mediation privilege.

The Mirror will challenge the district's denial by filing an appeal with the state Office of Open Records.

The Mirror's request for the Bellwood-Antis document reflects its desire to report how much money the taxpayer-supported school district and/or its insurance provider is paying to settle a civil court dispute that would have otherwise been up to a jury to decide.

The Mirror is also interested in reviewing the document for any related settlement costs affecting district's taxpayers and/or insurance providers or their premiums.

Meanwhile, in November, a panel of Superior Court judges upheld the 21- to 42-year prison sentence imposed on Blazier.

Blair County Judge Daniel J. MiIliron, now retired, sentenced Blazier nearly two years ago after a jury found him guilty of aggravated indecent assault, institutional sexual assault, witness intimidation and corruption of minors with respect to each of his young male victims.

Blazier, 43, is incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Greene.

Green pleads guilty

Altoona teenager Damien Green was sentenced June 23 to 15 to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the 2020 shooting death of a classmate.

Green and two other minors planned a meeting with Devon Pfirsching, 15, in an effort to rob him of money and marijuana during the early morning of Feb. 27, 2020.

The group included Green and Logan Persing, both then 15, and Owen Southerland, then 16.

After an all-day planning session in court to prepare for his trial, defense attorney Dan Kiss said Green wanted to bring finality to his case.

The plea approved by President Judge Elizabeth Doyle included a reduction in the murder charge from second degree to third degree.

Green also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery and illegal use of a communication facility.

Southerland pulled a gun on Pfirsching during the robbery and then began hitting him on the head with it. The teen fought back, and the gun fired, killing Pfirsching.

Altoona police were able to make arrests in the case and over the past three years, Southerland, Persing and the youth who supplied the gun, Omedro T. Davis Jr., pleaded guilty for negotiated sentences by Doyle.

Southerland was sentenced to 35 years to life; Persing to 17 to 34 years; and Davis received 10 to 20 years.

All entered pleas to third-degree murder.

Green, who was charged with second-degree murder, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison, if convicted.

Green's trial was delayed by court filings about whether he should be tried in adult or juvenile court.

Altoona Curve sold

In the midst of its 25th anniversary season, the Altoona Curve was sold to Diamond Baseball Holdings.

Peter Freund is CEO of DBH, a minor league conglomerate that owns 21 teams and has become the third owner in the Curve's 25-year history, taking the reins from the Lozinak family.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

Freund currently owns the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Railroaders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, and the Williams­port Crosscutters, who compete in the MLB Draft League, along with the State College Spikes.

Freund and his DBH management team met with the Curve staff at Peoples Natural Gas Field to reassure all stakeholders -- employees, sponsors and fans -- that the transition would be smooth.

Team president David Lozinak called his family's decision to sell "extremely difficult."

His father and mother, Bob and Joan, were the team's original owners for the inaugural season in 1999, along with Tate DeWeese, before selling the team to Chuck Greenberg in 2001 and buying it back in 2008.

Acknowledging that change sometimes brings concerns about an uncertain future, Freund said, "It's going to be Pirates, and it's going to be Double-A."

The Curve are the Pirates' longest-running affiliate, with an agreement through 2030.

Freund said DBH remains in "acquisition mode" and expects to purchase another half-dozen teams in the future.

In addition to Altoona and Scranton, DBH owns 20 teams that are in Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A, and Ballpark Digest projected "the group could be on its way to owning 50 minor league teams."

Freund described DBH as a "lean" organization with about 20 employees but that each affiliate "has 20 to 40 employees."

Payne and Lewis take pleas, sentenced in murder case

A Philadelphia man who shot and killed two people on May 28, 2020, inside a Beale Avenue residence over a drug-selling dispute was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.

Blair County President Judge Elizabeth Doyle handed down the sentence to Isiah "Zay" Payne, 35, who said in court that he was sorry for what happened and has come to grips with serving a life sentence.

Payne's life without parole sentence was anticipated in light of the guilty pleas he entered in November to two counts of first-degree murder, just before jury selection was to begin for a trial that could have led to a death penalty sentence.

Co-defendant Onya Lewis, 34, rendered guilty pleas that same day to two counts of third-degree murder for a sentence to be imposed by a judge.

Doyle sentenced Lewis to 30 to 60 years' incarceration, after a court hearing where family and friends of Mikal Jackson-Stevenson, 28, of Philadelphia, and Natalie Washington, 52, of Altoona, displayed their anger.

District Attorney Pete Weeks and First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith asked Doyle to sentence Lewis to 50 to 100 years on the third-degree murder offenses and related charges.

They contend that in 2019 and 2020, Lewis was operating a crack cocaine trafficking business in Blair County, allegedly with Terrance Gaddy, until Gaddy went to jail in Cambria County in early 2020. Thereafter, they said Lewis and Philadelphia supplier Jackson-Stevenson recruited Payne, then Lewis' boyfriend, to help sell cocaine in the area. While drug sales were set up at Washington's Beale Avenue residence, Lewis and Payne were living in Gallitzin at the time of the fatal shooting.

On the day of the shooting, Lewis drove Payne to the 2600 block of Beale Avenue to Washington's residence where he was to meet with Jackson-Stevenson about money that Payne owed.

In court, Payne initially said that what happened wasn't intentional.

Smith said after the sentencing hearing that Payne's words ring hollow, based on the evidence showing that in 71 seconds, Payne entered Washington's residence, murdered two people, rifled through the pockets of one of them, robbed him of his money, drugs and cellphone and then left.

"It was an execution," Smith said. "Mikal Jackson-Stevenson was shot in the back of his head and Natalie Washington was shot as she was running away. There was no evidence that Jackson-Stevenson had a gun and posed any threat."

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.

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