NEW PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — State police have charged a man with first degree murder for the deaths of two teens last year in Schuylkill County.
Lamour Branch, 19, of Port Carbon, was charged Wednesday with two counts of murder in the first degree and related charges for the deaths of Hunter Mock, 18, and Angelito Caraballo, 16, in a wooded area near New Philadelphia last October.
Investigators said Mock sustained a single gunshot wound to the head, and Caraballo sustained multiple stab wounds. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Search warrants obtained by Newswatch 16 indicate that troopers identified and interviewed two men who were with Caraballo and Mock the night they were killed.
The area which witnesses refer to as "the Sanchez," an old striping site, is where one of the people questioned by state police say they, along with Mock, Caraballo, and the other unidentified person, went to hang out and, according to witness statements, "shoot a gun."
The main witness says they "were talking like friends" before the accused shooter pulled a gun and began firing in the direction of Mock and Caraballo.
Each of the two implicates the other in the deaths of the victims.
Following more witness statements, police searched phone records, a white Dodge Journey, and a home in Port Carbon and requested DNA samples from both people, who they say were at the scene of the crime.
During these searches, police found an extended magazine for a firearm and a large silver kitchen knife.
Troopers said they do not plan to charge anyone else in this case.
For months, memorial angel wings have been on the bumper of Tanya Evans' car. Her son Angelito Caraballo and his friend Hunter Mock were found murdered in the woods of New Philadelphia in October.
Now, another message can be found on Evans' vehicle—"Justice has been served."
"This has been very, very hard but also I am very happy and relieved to know that he has finally been charged," Evans said.
For months, the mothers of the victims have wondered why it took until now to arrest their sons' alleged killer. State police addressed that during a news conference at the barracks near Frackville.
"I am fully aware that the community was very eager for this investigation to be solved; however, as investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police, we had to get it right," said Capt. Robert Bailey, Pennsylvania State Police.
"When I sat there in the magistrate's office today and listened to the charges that were coming against this person, the lack of expression or feeling made me sick. The fact that he wouldn't even face the people that he destroyed their lives, no answers from him," said Kate Mock, Hunter Mock's mother.
Court papers give some answers. They allege that the initial target of the violence was another woman, but she didn't show up to hang out that night in the woods while Caraballo and Mock did.
While the details of the case are not easy for the families of the victims to hear, they say the charges bring them peace.
"A weight lifted off my chest, yes," Evans said.
"As long as I can stand there and make sure that he never gets to come out and hurt anybody again, I will," Mock said.
Bail for Branch was denied, and he is locked up in the Schuylkill County Prison. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing later this month.