LEWISBURG — The attorney for a truck driver accused of fatally shooting a New York City model is questioning whether she was killed in Union County, where her body was found along Interstate 80 near Loganton on February 7.
In a pretrial motion filed on behalf of defendant Tracy Ray Rollins Jr., attorney Brian W. Ulmer said the evidence does not establish that Rebecca Landrith, 47, was shot in Union County.
If so, Ulmer argues that Union County would not be the proper venue to try Rollins Jr., 29, of Dallas, Texas. Rollins is being held without bail on charges of homicide and abuse of corpse.
The motion does not state where the killing might have occurred but the attorney Tuesday said he will be filing a brief with additional information.
He also claims, without explanation, that the effort to obtain evidentiary material in Connecticut, where Rollins was arrested, did not comport with Pennsylvania or federal law.
Ulmer has set the stage for a change of venue argument by noting in his motion the amount of publicity the case has generated.
Landrith, whose body was found along the exit ramp at the Mile Run interchange, sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her face, neck and chest, plus two on a hand that state police called defensive.
Eighteen bullets were removed from her body during an autopsy, the arrest affidavit states.
Police said the evidence gathered, including the brain matter and bullet holes, indicates the shooting took place in the cab of Rollins’ truck.
Landrith did not have any identification on her but investigators found in a jacket pocket a note containing Rollins’ name, cell phone number and email address along with receipts from businesses.
Rollins told investigators, according to the affidavit, he had met a woman named Leslie at a truck stop near Milford, Conn., and she had been traveling with him.
Information was obtained from Milford police that Landrith had made hotel reservations in December under the name Leslie Myers, the document states.
According to Rollins, “Leslie” accompanied him to Maine, back to Connecticut, then Brooklyn, N.Y., and Wisconsin where he picked up a load to be delivered in Maine.
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Using the receipts found in Landrith’s pockets and Rollins’ cell phone records police said they traced his travel from Wisconsin to Maine with a stop at the Mile Run interchange from 12:11 until 12:26 a.m. on Feb. 7.
Rollins was arrested in Connecticut on Feb. 10 and waived his preliminary hearing. He will not face the death penalty if found guilty of first-degree murder, District Attorney D. Peter Johnson has said.
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