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Roommate Killer Sentenced in Schuylkill County

POTTSVILLE — A man from Schuylkill County was sentenced Tuesday for killing a person who tried to help him. A judge gave the roommate killer Thomas Petrou...
Thomas Petrousky

POTTSVILLE -- A man from Schuylkill County was sentenced Tuesday for killing a person who tried to help him.

A judge gave the roommate killer Thomas Petrousky life without the possibility of parole.

As Petrousky walked out of court, he was stoic with nothing to say.

"He looks right at you like nothing. He never said he was sorry," said Carol Billus of Frackville.

Life in prison without the possibility of parole, that's the sentence Billus came to hear a judge give, to the man who killed her brother David Halaburda.

Back in 2014, her brother's bludgeoned body was found in his home near Frackville. He had taken Petrousky in as his roommate to help him when Petrousky had nowhere to go.

"That's how he repaid him," said Billus.

"Nothing is going to bring him back, but at least we know he has his closure. It's over," said Amy Bevan, the victim's niece.

While David Halaburda's family feels justice was served and that he can now rest in peace, they still struggle to accept the loss.  So much so, it's hard for Halaburda's sister to say how she wants people to remember him.

"I don't know," said Billus.

That's because the thing she remembers most about her brother David, his friendliness, is what ultimately may have led to his death.

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