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WILKES-BARRE — A witness to a fatal stabbing in the basement of a vacant house said the killer, Sean “Juice” Talmadge, refused to leave until he was certain his victim was dead, according to arrest papers.
Based on the information of the unidentified witness and others, police Thursday named Talmadge, 32, as the suspect in the April death of Ramon Torres and issued a warrant for Talmadge’s arrest on charges of criminal homicide and abuse of corpse.
Talmadge, who police said is homeless and frequents the Wilkes-Barre area, was still at large Friday.
The body of Torres lay in the basement of 442 S. Franklin St. until Tuesday and decomposed to the point that “nearly no soft tissue existed” and a forensic dentist had to be brought in to positively identify the remains, according to arrest papers.
Talmadge faces a misdemeanor charge of abuse of corpse for the condition of the body. The felony homicide charge was filed after an autopsy revealed Torres died from multiple stab wounds to the neck and stomach.
Torres had been missing since April 24 when Bianca Maldonado, the mother of his child, reported that she had not seen him for several days. A Wilkes-Barre police officer responded to the Sherman Hills apartment complex to speak with Maldonado, 32, who said Torres, 23, of Kingston, has a history of drug abuse and had been acting irrationally. She told police she last saw him April 22 in the area of Coal Street Park where she found his backpack and thought it was suspicious.
Kingston police received a tip earlier this week that led to the discovery of the body, the arrest papers said.
According to an affidavit:
An unidentified witness told a Kingston officer at 3:48 a.m. Monday about a body in an abandoned house on South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre. The officer contacted Wilkes-Barre police and drove the witness to the a double-block house at 440-442 S. Franklin. Police checked the rear of the house but did not find a body.
Wilkes-Barre detectives went to the property at approximately 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and found the remains in the basement of 442 S. Franklin St.
On Wednesday, the witness provided police with the name of two people, David Dumas and Nicole O’Donnell, who provided him with the information about the body.
On Thursday, police spoke to another unidentified witness who said he knew Talmadge and Dumas. The second unidentified witness provided an account of what led to the fatal attack.
That witness was hanging out with Talmadge in late April and they came across Torres. The witness heard Talmadge and Torres arguing. Talmadge told Torres they were going to buy a bottle of liquor and talk. Talmadge bought a bottle at the state store in the South Main Plaza and three of them sat on a futon and drank. Halfway through the bottle, Talmadge again argued with Torres. Talmadge started to take off his shirt and pull up his hair to get ready for a fight. The three men then walked to the rear of the South Franklin house. When Torres tried to leave to go back to Coal Street Park to get his backpack, Talmadge gave him cigarettes and drinks.
The three men next went into the basement and continued drinking. As they were leaving, Talmadge was at the bottom of the steps, Torres was in the middle and the witness was at the top acting as a lookout because he didn’t want to get in trouble for trespassing. Talmadge moved up a few steps, put the bottle down, and kicked Torres in the head, knocking him to the bottom. Talmadge then punched and kicked Torres, who did not fight back.
The witness watched Talmadge stab Torres in the stomach and neck multiple times. The witness heard Torres gurgling and urged Talmadge to leave.
Talmadge replied that “he’s not leaving until he (Torres) is dead.”
City police and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office continue to investigate.