On Monday morning, Lancaster Police found the body of Brownstown Elementary teacher Nicole Mathewson. She had been beaten and was dead when they got there. "It was grisly, I mean it was a very brutal homicide and it was a horrible way for the young woman to die," said Lancaster Police Chief Keith Sadler.
On Tuesday night police arrested Thomas Moore and charged him with homicide. His alleged accomplice Marcus Rutter, who's 16 years old, had been arrested the day before and is also being charged with homicide. Police said the two men had gone to her house to rob and kill her. "She suffered traumatic injuries, which would involve literally beating," said Sadler.
After allegedly killing Mathewson, police say the two men stole her car and debit card, which Moore used to withdraw $500 dollars from a nearby gas station.
Rita Burgess is a retired teacher who lives just a few houses down from where it happened. She said it makes her feel vulnerable and was shocked to hear that Rutter is just 16 years old.
"It's a brainless type of thing to happen, because I'm sure they didn't even know her at this point. They were robbing her house," said Burgess.
Another neighbor, Jim Keen, said "why would a sixteen year old be doing stuff like that there. I don't understand it, it's a shame."
Both Rutter and Moore are being held without bail in the Lancaster County Prison. Chief Sadler said it doesn't matter how old the alleged killers are or what their intentions were. He said, "I don't really care. I care about the fact that they're jailed now and that they're going to be prosecuted and that they should, if convicted, they should never ever see the light of day to do this to somebody else."