Missing Woman Case: Multiple New Charges Filed

LOCK HAVEN – Authorities have filed a raft of new charges against a Lock Haven man in relation to the “suspicious” death of a Lock Haven woman.

A preliminary hearing for Rodney Lee Heaton, 53, had been scheduled for Clinton County Court Tuesday but was called off as District Attorney Dave Strouse withdrew earlier charges and filed close to 800 new ones.

Heaton is accused of using bank and Access cards of Teresa Hannah Hill, 59, the woman whose decomposed body was found wrapped in carpeting at her Corning St. residence on Dec. 22 of last year. City police alleged Heaton had been using her identity since she died in July 2015.

The bevy of new charges again includes access device fraud, theft and receiving stolen property, plus new charges of forgery. Heaton has not been charged in connection with the Hill woman’s death. The investigation into her passing continues; the manner and cause of her death still to be determined according to Strouse.

Heaton told police he had been staying with Hill in July 2015 and after being away for three or four days he returned to find her deceased. Court records say that after finding Hill dead, Heaton wrapped her body inside an air mattress before duct-taping it shut, tying it in cord, rolling it in carpet and placing it on the back porch of the second-floor apartment.

Heaton noted in court documents that he had been working for Garbrick’s Amusement for about one year, ending in October 2016, as a laborer and carnival worker earning roughly $210 per week. He told police he concealed Hill’s body so he could continue to use her money and apartment.