Police Investigating After 2 Women Found Dead In East Hills Home
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Police continue to investigate after two woman, believed to be grandmother and granddaughter, were found dead in a home Thursday afternoon in the city's East Hills neighborhood
Late Thursday night, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the two women who were found murdered in the home on Karl Street.
The bodies of 72-year-old Valerie Crumpton and 19-year-old Tionna Banks were found on the first floor of Crumpton's single-family home. Banks lived in the Hill District.
Sources tell KDKA-TV News it appears the two women were beaten to death.
Police originally went to the house to check on a missing woman, believed to be Banks, who failed to report to a social service agency for her scheduled May 5 appointment.
Neighbors said Banks was Crumpton's granddaughter.
Officials say that's when they found the bodies of the two women and music coming from the house. Police say it sounded like the music had changed when they arrived and that there might still be someone in the house, so SWAT was called in.
Afterward, SWAT used a robotic camera and it was determined that no one else was in the home.
"When our Zone 5 officers arrived and did a knock, no one answered. They smelled an odd odor that caused a bit of concern, they heard music coming from inside of the house as well," said Pittsburgh Police Spokeswoman Sonya Toler. "With those two things going on, they decided that that was enough to force entry into the home. Once inside, our officers saw two bodies that appeared to be deceased."
As investigators eyed the crime scene, it became evident there was some sort of struggle.
"All I can tell you, there was blood found away from the bodies," Toler said.
A police SWAT team also went to a townhouse in the 300-block of Burrows Street in Oakland on Thursday afternoon, but they left quickly without a full deployment. A police spokeswoman refused to give details about that operation, only saying it was an "integral part" of the double homicide investigation.
Autopsies on the two women will be performed Friday.
Police also say there was a baby involved in the investigation, but the child is safe.
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