Heaton charged in theft of identity case as police probe of found body continues

LOCK HAVEN – A Lock Haven man has being arraigned on charges in relation to the woman’s body that was found last Thursday morning at an apartment in the city, city police report.

Rodney Heaton, 53, is charged with identity theft, access device fraud, theft, theft by deception and receiving stolen property. He was arraigned before district judge Joseph Sanders III on Thursday and remains in the Clinton County Correctional Facility where he had been committed on a DUI warrant on Tuesday of this week. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 8:30 a.m. before Sanders.

Meanwhile the Lock Haven Express is reporting the victim as Teresa Hill, attributing that information to city police.

City Det. Sgt. Kristin Sager earlier couldn’t publicly disclose details about Heaton’s relationship to the deceased woman.

An autopsy on the woman’s body was conducted Friday, Dec. 22, however the cause and manner of death are pending further anatomic evaluation and toxicology results, Clinton County Coroner Zach Hanna said.

“She had been there for an extended period of time before she was found,” the coroner said, calling the matter “suspicious.” One report said she may have been dead for as long as 17 months.
Hanna said earlier this week the identity of the woman has not yet been confirmed and is pending DNA testing.

The woman’s body was found around 9 a.m. last Thursday by a maintenance crew tasked with cleaning out an apartment at 5 Corning St.