A man admitted killing a missing autistic Pennsylvania woman with a hammer and a knife — and told cops where to find her body while being questioned by investigators at a hospital, court records show.
Harold David Haulman III, a 42-year-old transient who moved between Michigan and Pennsylvania, was charged Sunday with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and kidnapping after leading police via Google Maps to the battered body of 26-year-old Erica Shultz, the Times Leader reported.
Shultz’s body — which police said had defensive wounds and severe head trauma — was located in a wooded area in Butler Township, some three weeks after her sister reported her missing to Bloomsburg police, the newspaper reported.
Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis told reporters during a press conference Monday that investigators were led to Haulman using cellphone records and online dating websites.
Police said the pair had met each other on MeetMe.com, where Haulman, who is married, used the name “Dave,” WNEP reported.
Shultz was reluctant to meet up with Haulman, a male friend of hers told police.
“He asked her not to go if she was so concerned, but she responded, ‘I’ll just see how it goes,” Salavantis told reporters.
Police said Haulman then surprised Shultz on the night she went missing, showing up at her apartment before asking her to go for a drive, WNEP reported.
A search of phone records revealed that the last text message received by Shultz was from a cellphone belonging to Haulman that read “surprise” and “knock-knock,” Salavantis said Monday.
FBI investigators then interviewed Haulman in Battle Creek, Michigan, on Dec. 23 and placed a tracking device on his gray 1995 Ford Windstar, the Times Leader reported.
Haulman didn’t show for up a scheduled second interview with FBI investigators a day later and traveled from Michigan through Ohio to Pennsylvania, ending up in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, where his wife lives, early on Christmas Day, the newspaper reported.
Court records show Haulman sent his wife a text message expressing regret for failing her in their marriage while writing he had “good news” since she no longer had to “fear” him for any reason.
“I have made a decision that is just best for everyone,” Haulman wrote, court records show.
Haulman was then confronted by a Norfolk Southern Railway police officer on Saturday while walking on railroad tracks, where he used a box cutter to cut himself while saying he needed to “die” for his sins, a criminal complaint shows.
Haulman later admitted using a mallet-type hammer and three-inch knife to kill Shultz and used Google maps to indicate to investigators where he allegedly killed the woman, court records show.
Haulman, who was arraigned Sunday, has a last known address in Perry County, Pennsylvania. He’s being held without bond in Luzerne County ahead of his preliminary hearing on Jan. 6, the Times Leader reported.