LANCASTER, Pa. — Note: The video is from August 11.
A Lancaster man accused of beheading and dismembering the corpse of his father in their home in the city last summer will be face trial for murder in Lancaster County Court.
Donald Meshey Jr., 33, was ordered to stand trial on charges of homicide, abuse of a corpse, and evidence tampering by District Judge Adam WItkonis at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, according to court records.
A formal arraignment has been scheduled for January 14, 2022, court records show.
Meshey is accused of killing his father, Donald Meshey Sr., 67, inside their West Strawberry Street apartment.
Police officers were dispatched to the home on the morning of August 11 after a family member contacted them to report that Meshey Jr. had told her there was a body in one of the beds and a head in the freezer.
Responding officers spoke to the caller, who told them she'd found what she believed to be the head of one of her family members in the freezer.
Police then spoke to Meshey Jr., who took them to the kitchen and removed a human head from the freezer.
After being taken into custody, Meshey was interviewed by detectives. He told them that he had found what he described as a "cadaver doll" in his father's bedroom which he claimed "looked and sounded like his father," according to the criminal complaint affidavit filed by police at the time.
Meshey told detectives that he proceeded to stab the "cadaver doll" for two to three minutes with a knife and then dismembered the body.
An autopsy later determined Meshey Sr. had been stabbed 24 times in the upper chest, and 10 times in the right forearm and hand.
Meshey told police he then got a saw and dismembered his father's body, removing the arms, legs, and head, the complaint affidavit said.
He put the limbs in a contractor bag and stored them in the basement, put the head in a freezer, and put the torso in a footlocker and put in in the trunk of his father's car, police said.
Meshey is being held without bail in Lancaster County Prison, according to court records.