Nightmare on North Pennsylvania Ave The Murder of Jennifer Daugherty

Content Warning!: Details of the crime may be disturbing.

This is a very graphic story, about the horrific murder of a beautiful person with invisible disabilities. It’s another one of the stories that drives me to do what I do. Because of the family and the nature of the crime, I’ve been hesitant about telling it. In a recent documentary, the victim’s sister said the family wanted the story told, and for her sister to be remembered. The moment I learned of this sweet, kind woman’s fate, it was impossible for me to ever forget the name, Jennifer Daugherty.

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Nightmare on North Pennsylvania Ave The Murder of Jennifer Daugherty

by OutOfExile_IDR

By all accounts, 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty, of Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania, was a delightful, kind, outgoing individual who had no trouble making friends. Her family members said Jennifer just wanted acceptance and to be a part of something. Growing up, she was often bullied and mocked because her undiagnosed invisible disabilities made her different. She was also naïve and trusting, developmentally having the capacity of a young teenager. Just as many others with invisible and developmental disabilities, she was not adapt at picking up on nuance and social cues.

Jennifer was studying auto mechanics, and planning to move into her own apartment, wanting to live independently. She was close with her very supportive family, who encouraged her to do so. Happy and excited about the prospect, and progress in her life, Jennifer posted this message on her MySpace and Twitter. “This is my time to make a new start for myself, making new friends and not being afraid of anything!“. It would be her last post to social media.

She often took the bus to nearby Greensburg 10 miles away for appointments, and social interactions. Frequenting the “West Side Clubhouse”, a community center with mental health counseling and programs for people with developmental, and other disabilities. Jennifer became involved with a group of people. She met 17 -year-old Angela Marinucci there, and would often talk with her on the telephone. Two years earlier, Angela suffered significant head injury, which according to her family, caused a downward spiral and behavioral changes,

Twenty-three-year-old Ricky Smyrnes also hung out at the “Clubhouse”, and was Angela’s boyfriend. Growing up, Ricky spent much time in the foster system and was the victim of abuse and neglect. He’d had mental health therapy by age 4, experimented with drugs like cocaine and heroin by age 6, diagnosed with PTSD by 8, and was later diagnosed as having seven personalities. He was incarcerated for burglary and sexual assault, where one report states, Ricky met Melvin Knight.

Melvin Knight also had cognitive and social impairment issues throughout his life, after falling from a moving vehicle at the age of five. Melvin’s girlfriend Amber Meidinger, who was pregnant, said she met Ricky and Jennifer at the Greensburg bus station. The 20-year-old couple moved in to Ricky’s apartment on February 8, a day before Jennifer would be invited to a sleepover by Angela Marinucci.

At the community center, they also became friends with Robert Masters, and Peggy Miller. The five also used Ricky’s apartment as a gathering place. Jennifer, who desperately wanted to be part of any group, thought they were all her friends. She also became infatuated with Ricky Smyrnes.

The day of the sleepover, Jennifer left her mother a note that read, “Mom, I hope you have a good day at work and I love you very much . I will talk to you sometime later. Love, Jennifer”. Peggy Miller’s telephone number was also on the note. Her stepfather dropped her off at the bus station, and she went to Greensburg for the “sleepover”, and an appointment the following morning. At least one report claims Jennifer thought she was going to Peggy Miller’s house, but had actually been invited to the apartment of Ricky Smyrnes, where Angela Marinucci had other plans in mind.

All six people from the West Side Clubhouse that Jennifer thought were friends, were in the apartment when she arrived. Angela had previously overheard Ricky on the phone with Jennifer, telling her he loved her and wanted to marry her. She wanted to humiliate Jennifer, and enlisted the other five to help. Angela accused Jennifer of sleeping with Ricky, and had delusions that Jennifer was pregnant with his child. Angela Marinucci encouraged the others to take turns kicking Jennifer in the stomach.

The group rifled through Jennifer’s purse, stealing her money, gift cards and her cell phone, then poured liquid in the purse. They held her down, cut her hair, poured nail polish on her head and face, and stripped her clothes off. They poured a variety of liquids on her body, then oatmeal, and rubbed spices in her eyes. As she complained about the pain and begged them to stop, Ricky Smyrnes told Jennifer that she smelled and should take a shower.

The Greensburg six, as they would later come to be known, then forced Jennifer to drink an entire bottle of cooking oil. They wrapped her body in Christmas lights, demanded she pose as a Christmas tree, and subjected her to many other demeaning and terrifying atrocities. Andrea Marinucci and Amber Meidinger, repeatedly beat her with a metal vacuum cleaner wand. Jennifer was also battered with a metal crutch, and hit in the head with full bottles of soda. At times, they would lock her in a closet, while they had, what they called “family meetings”, deciding what to do to her next.

During the horrific 36 hour ordeal, Melvin Knight gagged and sexually assaulted Jennifer, throwing her clothing out the window. Neighbors later reported hearing slams and screams, but no one called police. A former tenant of the apartment brought police there on Tuesday, February 9 to recover some belongings. Jennifer was put in the attic and threatened that she would be killed if she made any noise. Police left without ever knowing Jennifer was there.

Meanwhile Jennifer’s mother and sister, Joy Burkholder, were starting to become concerned. It was not like Jennifer to not be in contact. When they tried to call her cell phone, the voice message had another person’s name and voice on it, raising concerns even more. The family tried to contact Peggy Miller, who told them Jennifer had left. Jennifer sister sensed there was something Peggy was not telling her. It was later discovered that Melvin and Amber had claimed Jennifer’s phone, as their own. The message on the voicemail was theirs.

Robert Masters and Peggy Miller claimed not to be part of the torture, but were part of the meetings. When the other four left at one point, Jennifer tried to escape but was stopped. She asked them why they were doing these things to her, and begged them to let her go. Masters would later say, he helped Jennifer collect her clothes that Melvin Knight had thrown out the window. When the others returned, they all decided to torture her more, for trying to escape.

The Greensburg six made Jennifer Daugherty drink bleach, detergent, and nail polish; eat cigarette ashes, chili powder and medications, as well as feces and urine. After 36 hours of torturing her, afraid of being turned into police, they decided to kill Jennifer. Ricky Smyrnes and Melvin were selected to end Jennifer’s life.

Jennifer was forced to write a suicide note reading: “I haven’t been very happy for a while and I also feel that everybody will be better off without me on the earth. I will always love my mom and stepdad no matter what and I will always love the rest of my family very much also. My nieces and nephews would be lucky to have a better aunt than me. I am done with life. Goodbye, Jennifer.“

Her tormentors put the note in Jennifer’s back pocket, tied her with Christmas lights again, and drugged her. Ricky and Melvin took her to the bathroom and passed a knife back and forth, taking turns stabbing Jennifer a total of 20 times. They left the bathroom, but returned later to discover, Jennifer was still fighting to live. Melvin and Ricky then slit her wrists, wrapped the Christmas lights around her neck, and both pulled on them, strangling her to death.

Jennifer’s body was stuffed into a trash can and dragged through the snow to the Greensburg Salem Middle School. They lodged the garbage can under a utility truck that was parked in the lot. A witness would later testify about seeing two men dragging the can through the snow, on the morning of February 11, 2010. When the truck’s driver arrived at the school that morning, he made the gruesome discovery and called police.

Lead investigator, Greensburg detective Jerry Vernail and Forensic detective for Westmoreland County, Adam Jack were among those called to the scene at the middle school. Detective Jack, who has a daughter, he described as having “special needs”, said this case was very important to him, for that reason. At the time, investigators had no idea who the victim was, or where to begin, so they turned to the public for help. A news report about the homicide, prompted a call to police, from Jennifer Daugherty’s sister.

Later that same day, February 11, the police quickly discovered where the trashcan had come from. A snowstorm, had covered all of the garbage cans in the neighborhood, but a round impression where one can had been, raised suspicions. Instead of a can in front of 248 North Pennsylvania Ave, there were garbage bags with no snow on them.

While police were still out front, trying to determine who the garbage belonged to, Angela Marinucci and Ricky Smyrnes approached the house, where he lived in apartment 2. Lead investigator, Jerry Vernail, recognized Ricky, and had numerous interactions with him in the past. Ricky Smyrnes, also recognized the detective and addressed him asking, “… what’s up?”. After the detective asked about Jennifer Daugherty, Ricky admitted she stayed over Monday night, then said, they “… haven’t seen her since”.

Police obtained and executed a search warrant of the apartment and forensic investigator, Adam Jack, immediately found evidence of the crime. An empty box of garbage bags with blood on it, the bloody vacuum wand, the scissors used to cut Jennifer’s hair, and several other objects used, were in plain sight. The crime scene photos appear to show blood stains on the carpet, and a box was discovered in the attic containing Jennifer’s belongings, and the murder weapon.

The two were brought to the police station and questioned. When Detective Vernail asked, “You knew full well what you were doing and what was in that garbage can, correct?”, Rick Smyrnes responded, “but it was also scary. I can’t believe I did it“. Another witness said that Angela Marinucci had been planning to kill Jennifer for several days. All six were arrested for the murder of Jennifer Daugherty. Ultimately, the autopsy documented countless injuries, and defensive wounds inflicted over the day and a half of terror.

Faced with a litany of charges, Amber Meidinger, Robert Masters Jr, and Peggy Miller pled guilty to the murder, testifying in great detail about the heinous plot and perpetrations.

• Peggy Miller was given a total of 35 to 74 years in prison for criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, and criminal conspiracy to kidnap.
• Robert Masters was sentenced to 20 to 40 years for third-degree murder, 7 to 20 for conspiracy to commit murder, and 3 to 10 for conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He will be incarcerated for 30 to 70 years total.
• Amber Miedinger received 20 to 40 years for third-degree murder, and 40 to 80 altogether with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to kidnap charges.

Melvin Knight pled to first-degree and second-degree murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy and was sentenced to death. A later appeal of his death sentence was denied by the courts, saying their decision: “…was fully supported by the evidence that (Knight) and his co-defendants held the intellectually disabled victim against her will for several days, during which time they continuously subjected her to myriad forms of physical and emotional torture, eventually stabbing her in the chest, slicing her throat (and) strangling her”.

On July 13, 2022, the following statement was posted to the government of Pennsylvania “Pressroom” website: “Harrisburg, PA – Department of Corrections Acting Secretary George Little signed a Notice of Execution setting August 23, 2022, for the execution of Melvin Knight, who was sentenced to death in Westmoreland County. The law provides that when the governor does not sign a warrant of execution within the specified time period, the secretary of corrections has 30 days within which to issue a notice of execution. “

Unlike the others, Ricky Smyrnes and Andrea Marinucci did not plead guilty to murdering Jennifer Daugherty. Smyrnes went to trial and was found guilty of the charges. He was also given the death penalty. After appeal of the sentence, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upheld the sentence and Smyrnes and Melvin are currently on death row. Pennsylvania has not employed the death penalty since 1999, so the execution of the men who kill Jennifer Daugherty, will likely never take place.

Angela Marinucci was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Being 17 at the time of the murder, she was resentenced in accordance with a federal law, prohibiting mandatory sentencing for juvenile offenders. At age 21, Angela was, again given life in prison without possibility of parole. In 2022, at age 30, she was resentenced for a third time after the previous decisions were overturned. The judge in that case said Marinucci “…has never taken responsibility for the crime“, then delivered a sentence of 60 years to life. She may now be eligible for parole at age 78. After another appeal, that decision was upheld again, in January 2024.

With the lives of all these people with invisible disabilities and mental health challenges intertwined, the story is an example of good and evil in all of humanity. It’s important not to stigmatize people with invisible disabilities and MI issues, for the actions of a few, but there should be no accommodation for any person who harms another in such a way. One can’t help but wonder, with a proper support system and family, if the lives of these murderers would’ve gone differently. After the despicable inhumane things they did to Jennifer Daugherty, one can’t help, but to not really care. Their lack of remorse, and putting the family through years of reliving the unspeakable events in court, seems only another example of their callous nature.

All of the court proceedings, and all of the death penalties in the world will never make up for such a great loss. A gentle Angel was stolen from a family, a community and a whole planet. In a world that talks of closure, her stepfather made it clear: “Closure is Jennifer coming back to us, and Jennifer won’t come back, so there is no closure…”.
I will always remember Jennifer Daugherty.

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