New Details Emerge in City Corpse Case 

LOCK HAVEN – A woman dead for 17 months, a companion accused of using the deceased woman’s bank account, the stunning developments in the Lock Haven police investigation into the death of a city woman.

City police documents identify the dead woman as Teresa Hannah Hill, 59; the Lock Haven man accused of identity theft and related charges as Rodney Heaton, 53.

Heaton had been taken into custody on Tuesday of this week on a DUI warrant and was subsequently charged with identity theft, access device fraud, theft, theft by deception and receiving stolen property. Those charges are in connection with the Hill woman whose body was found by a cleaning crew on Dec. 22 at Hill’s Corning St. apartment.

Court documents relate that Heaton said he had been residing with Hill at the apartment in July of last year and had gone away for several days and when he came back he found her deceased. Heaton told authorities he wrapped her body inside an air mattress, secured it with duct-tape and cord and rolled it into a carpet; he said he did this so he could use the deceased’s money and remain at the apartment.

Heaton subsequently left the apartment and recently had moved into the S. Fairview St. apartment of the woman’s son, Irvin John Hill. According to court documents, Irvin Hill told police he had not been in touch with his mother since July of 2015 and said Heaton told him his mother had moved away.

It was Thursday of last week that a cleaning crew went to the empty Corning St. apartment to remove debris. The three were identified as Wayne Bitner, Lyle Killinger and Ryan Meredith. They went to police after discovering the bagged body inside some rolled-up carpeting they had tossed to the alley below.

City police investigated and developments unfolded quickly this week, Heaton remaining in the Clinton County Correctional Facility in default of bail. Heaton was arraigned before district judge Joseph Sanders III on Thursday. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 3.

An autopsy on the woman’s body was conducted last Friday; 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 earlier this week, calling the matter “suspicious.”