By Ted Lutz

Republican Staff

SMETHPORT – Two men charged with the Sept. 13 grisly murder of a 21-year-old woman and her unborn son in Bradford are headed to McKean County Court.

District Judge Dominic Cercone Jr. of Bradford "bound over" charges against defendants Thomas Haggie, 29, and Greggory Theobald, 20, following a lengthy preliminary hearing Thursday at the McKean County Courthouse.

Haggie, who was taken into custody in Elmira, N.Y. a day after fleeing the scene, was returned to the McKean County Jail after the hearing.

Theobald, who was apprehended in Bradford within hours of the alleged murder, has been returned to the Warren County Jail.

The defendants are jailed without bail. They are tentatively due back in McKean County Court on Jan. 21 for formal arraignment.

Wearing orange prison garb and shackled, the defendants were led into the courtroom by deputies from the McKean County Sheriff's Department. The defendants traveled to the courthouse in separate sheriff's department vehicles.

Not counting law enforcement and court officials, fewer than a dozen spectators were in the courtroom.

District Attorney-elect Ray Learn served as the prosecutor at the hearing that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours. After the hearing, he said a decision has yet to be made on whether the prosecution will seek the death penalty in the case.

Kane attorney Dennis Luttenauer, who is a public defender, and John Ingros of Brookville, a court-appointed attorney, represent Theobald. Gary Knaresboro and Mike Marshall of DuBois are court-appointed attorneys for Haggie.

The defendants face two charges of homicide and two charges of conspiracy to commit homicide in the death of Megan Konopka and her unborn son. According to testimony at the hearing Tuesday, Konopka's white male fetus was an estimated 38 1/2 weeks old at the time of the murder.

The murder gained national attention because Haggie allegedly sent two graphic photos of the crime scene to a girl in California. Haggie is a former resident of San Bernadino County, Calif. and has a long criminal record in California. The girl who received the photos reportedly shared them with police.

Learn, elected as the county's new district attorney just three weeks ago, called two witnesses – Bradford City Police Officer Michael Ward and Elmira, N.Y. Police Detective Matt Sweet – to testify at the hearing.

Ward read a hair-raising statement that Theobald allegedly gave police along with a detailed autopsy report prepared by Dr. Eric Vey, a pathologist with the Erie County Coroner's Office.

Marshall objected to the presentation of the autopsy report because it was read by Ward rather than by the author. But Learn assured Judge Cercone that Vey would be available to testify on the report if the case goes to trial.

According to testimony at the hearing:

The murder took place in Haggie's fourth-floor hotel room at the Riddell House in Bradford. Haggie and Theobald reportedly were drinking and shooting pool in the hotel bar area when they met the victim.

The three eventually went to Haggie's room where Haggie allegedly had consensual sex with the victim. Theobald left the room. When he returned, he told police he saw Haggie "choking the girl."

Haggie allegedly told Theobald to "take over" and choke the victim and bite her left wrist. Theobald told police he then "noticed she was bleeding." At one point, Theobald and Haggie strangled the victim at the same time.

Theobald told police that Haggie said he was "sorry" for what he had done to the victim and later "broke down crying." Haggie allegedly threatened to harm Theobald, his mother and his girlfriend if Theobald talked to police.

After he was taken into custody at his residence on Congress Street in Bradford, Theobald cooperated and led police to a site on Chestnut Street Extension near Route 219 where Haggie allegedly disposed of the knife used in the murder. Volunteers with metal detectors helped police recover the knife two days later from a weeded area. The knife and other evidence recovered by police has been sent to the Erie Crime Lab for analysis. Ward said 32 items of evidence were recovered from Haggie's hotel room. The items include clothing and cigarette butts.

Haggie, who reportedly took a backpack and hitchhiked after the crime, was apprehended near the bus station in Elmira, N.Y.

According to police, Haggie admitted sending the photo of the crime scene to a girl in California. He reportedly told police: "I don't why I killed her. Most had to do with alcohol. It all happened way too fast."

Haggie told police that he has had "feelings that I wanted to kill somebody." He claimed he sought help with his mental disorder at two medical facilities in Bradford.

According to his statement to police, Haggie admitted sticking the knife into the victim's neck. He purchased the knife just two weeks before and kept it under his pillow while he slept.

According to Sweet, Haggie "knew why he was placed in custody" when he was apprehended in Elmira. "He just started talking about it," Sweet testified. Haggie, who appeared unshaven in court, reportedly has talked about the murder while in custody in McKean County Jail, according to a reliable source.

Konopka is a native of the Greensburg area near Pittsburgh. While in high school, she had been active with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).