Police are releasing more information on the homicide that happened in the City of Butler this weekend.
It was Saturday around 4 p.m. when police were called to a home in the 400 block of Miller Avenue, which is near Butler Memorial Park. Neighbors called after not seeing 69-year-old James Hoover of Butler for the last two days.
When police got inside the home, they found Hoover dead at the bottom of the stairs. Police say Hoover was stabbed in the back multiple times, and also had injuries to his face and head.
Around 5:30 p.m. that night, the Butler County 911 Center received a call from 37-year-old Richard Swann II of Butler, who was at the Walmart in Cranberry.
Swann told dispatchers he “committed a crime in Butler.” He had also been wanted on probation violations, which led police to take him into custody.
While at the Cranberry Township Police Department, Swann told officers that he lives with Hoover at the Miller Avenue home and decided he was going to rob him.
Swann told officers Hoover did not cooperate, which led Swann to hit him with a baseball bat. Hoover tried to escape, but that’s when Swann stabbed him multiple times with a knife, killing Hoover.
He then took off to his mother’s home in Cranberry Township until he called police himself while at the Walmart.
Swann was charged with homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, and theft by unlawful taking. He was denied bail and is in the Butler County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for next Monday.
