Thirty-three-year-old Joshua Moser, of Slatington, is charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering/fabricating evidence.
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Pennsylvania state police say they received a missing persons report Monday afternoon saying that 37-year-old David Hittinger hadn't been heard from since Saturday evening.
The report was made on Hittinger's birthday after he failed to show up for plans to celebrate, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said during a Friday afternoon news conference.
Troopers soon learned that Hittinger lived in a home on the 600 block of W. Franklin St. in Slatington, and Moser had recently allowed him to move in.
While executing a search warrant at the home, troopers say they saw what appeared to be blood in the basement. Troopers say it looked as if the basement had been "hastily staged" to conceal the blood.
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Holihan said a saw, box cutter, bloody clothing and additional evidence were also found.
Moser was interviewed by state police on Wednesday, where he allegedly told investigators he killed Hittinger in the basement by strangling him and hitting him in the head with a hammer.
Then, police say, Moser told them he dismembered Hittinger and discarded the body parts in three different locations in Slatington and Washington Township.
Holihan said some of the body parts were found in garbage bags at the Fairview Cemetery in Slatington on Wednesday.
Additional body parts were found along the D&L Trail in Slatington and at a small quarry off of Welshtown Road in Washington Township on Thursday.
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A motive for the crime has not been disclosed.
News conference on arrest in Slatington, Pa. homicide
A neighbor, Caydence Waterhouse, told Action News she heard yelling coming from the home.
"It was Josh. He was saying, 'Get the f out of here, you don't belong here," Waterhouse said. "But I didn't hear anyone talking back to him."
Waterhouse said she saw Hittinger just last week when she returned his dog to him.
"He was very shy," she said. "He said, 'Yeah, that's my dog, sorry. He was wondering.'"
The Lehigh County coroner said while the manner of death is homicide, a cause of death has not been officially determined.
Moser was arrested Wednesday in Monroe County for a parole violation, Holihan said, and will be brought to Lehigh County soon to face charges for the homicide.
He is being held without bail.
Moser was previously convicted of a February 2016 fatal DUI crash that killed 24-year-old Nicole Gruber.