Metro

JOHNSTOWN — A Carrolltown juvenile was charged with criminal homicide after his mother and a family friend were found dead in their home Monday.

Judah Quinn Courtney, 14, was arraigned Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge David L. Beyer on two felony counts of criminal homicide, four felony counts of aggravated assault, three misdemeanor counts of possession of an instrument of crime with intent and a single misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence.

Bail was denied due to the nature of the offenses.

Authorities discovered the victims, identified as Olivia Courtney, 32, and Ashley Cook, 38, in the home along the 100 block of Flick Avenue in Carrolltown Borough about 5:26 p.m. Monday after a neighbor requested a welfare check for the two adult women, Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said during a press conference Tuesday.

The neighbor told officers they asked for the check because Courtney approached them and said someone had “killed his dad and aunt,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The victims were later confirmed to be his mother, Olivia Courtney, and a family friend, Cook.

Carrolltown Borough police found both victims dead on the floor in the house’s living room area, Lees said. He noted the scene was “suspicious from the early onset” and that the victims suffered massive blood loss from multiple stab wounds to the head and torso. There were also signs of a struggle.

Courtney had blood on his clothing, made several “questionable” statements to police the night of the killings and had visible signs of recent injury to his hands, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Investigators on scene believe the victims were injured within physical and temporal proximity of each other, Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer said.

Autopsies will be conducted today at ForensicDx in Windber to document their injuries, Lees said.

He said they had moved into the home about two and a half years ago after leaving the Texas area.

According to Neugebauer, the house was not “a problem house.” He said first responders had not received a lot of calls to the house prior to Monday’s incident.

Carrolltown police were joined on scene by Northern Cambria and Hastings Borough police, as well as state police at Ebensburg.

Courtney did not attempt to hide from police and was taken into custody without incident Monday night at the neighbor’s house, Neugebauer said.

Three knives were recovered at the scene and were believed to have been used in the incident.

“They were located around the greater part of the scene. They weren’t all in one specific location,” Neugebauer said, noting the tampering charge was brought about “based on where some of the weapons were located.”

Courtney told police he had taken a shower before finding the bodies. He also allegedly admitted to the deaths in online social media messages and in later interviews with investigators, court records state.

Courtney was identified as a student in the Cambria Heights School District.

“We’ll reach out to the school and I’m sure we’ll have cooperation,” Neugebauer said, adding that this is the first case in which Cambria County has had a criminal homicide defendant this young since he has been a prosecutor.

“I’m not at a loss for words very often, but at the end of the day we have a young teenager,” he said.

Neugebauer declined to comment on the condition of the knives and any evidence of premeditation that officials found at the scene.

“I think some of the details from the scene and other things that will come out will shine some light on that,” he said.

Officials don’t have a motive yet, Neugebauer said.

“Motive is something the commonwealth isn’t required to prove at trial,” he said. “Obviously, we like to put that piece of the puzzle together. I think it helps juries and certainly it helps law enforcement understand what happened.”

Courtney’s next of kin is his maternal grandfather who lives in Texas, Neugebauer said, noting there “isn’t much of a family structure” for Courtney in Cambria County.

Neugebauer stressed there is not an ongoing risk of danger to the Carrolltown community.

“There is a desire from law enforcement and first responders in general to make sure that the community understands that it’s safe,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.