Lehigh Valley man kills roommate, scatters body parts, police say – NBC10 Philadelphia

Editor’s note: The details of this story are graphic and may be disturbing to some readers.

A Lehigh County man is accused of killing his roommate with a hammer, dismembering his body and then scattering his remains in three different locations.

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Joshua Moser, 33, was arrested and charged with the murder of David Hittinger, 37, of Slatington, Pennsylvania.

The investigation began on May 13 around 1:30 p.m. when Pennsylvania State Police received a missing persons report for Hittinger, who had not been seen or heard from since May 11 around 7 p.m.

Investigators later determined that Moser had recently allowed Hittinger to live with him at his home on the 600 block of West Franklin Street in Slatington.

State troopers executed a search warrant at the home. During the search, they found a large amount of blood in the basement, according to the report. Investigators said the basement was “hastily staged” to hide the blood.

Investigators then interviewed Moser on May 15. During the interview, Moser reportedly admitted to strangling Hittinger and hitting him in the head with a hammer in the basement of his home, killing him. Moser then dismembered Hittinger’s body inside the home and disposed of his body parts at three locations in Slatington Borough and Washington Township, according to the complaint.

Investigators searched the sites and found dismembered body parts in trash bags, officials said. Investigators identified Hittinger as the victim by a fingerprint on a dismembered hand, the complaint said.

Moser was subsequently arrested and charged with murder, abuse of corpse and tampering with/fabricating physical evidence.

Although the criminal complaint did not reveal the specific locations where the body parts were found, the Lehigh County Coroner and police were spotted Thursday along the D&L Trail in Slatington, as well as an old quarry about a mile away just behind Northern Lehigh High School.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan will reveal more details about Hittinger’s murder during a news conference at the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown on Friday at noon. You can watch that press conference in a video at the top of this article.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.