Pennsylvania Store Employee Stabs Manager to Death Over Work Hours Dispute

A 63-year-old auto parts store worker followed his boss into her Harrisburg, PA office and stabbed her to death, police say. Clifton Emerson was arrested in Maryland the same day.

Harrisburg Auto Parts Worker Killed in Office; Colleague Charged with Murder

Employees arriving for their shift at Factory Motor Parts on Bobali Drive in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, discovered a spilled coffee cup, a hole punched into the drywall, and a large pool of blood leading into their manager's office — and her body on the floor, according to Law & Crime.

Clifton Emerson, 63, has been charged with first-degree murder, Dauphin County court records show. He was taken into custody by Maryland State Police on Tuesday, hours after the killing.

The victim was identified by regional CBS affiliate WHP as Mary Kelly.

A morning arrival caught on camera

Kelly reached the store at approximately 7:15 a.m. and disabled the building's alarm using an entry code. Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators showed a red SUV arriving shortly afterward and parking two spaces from Kelly's vehicle. A man in a hat was then seen stepping out of the SUV and walking toward the front entrance.

Workers arrived around 7:30 a.m. to find the scene. One employee spotted Kelly lying motionless on the office floor through the window and called for help. The Swatara Township Police Department received a report of "suspicious activity called in by an employee who had just arrived for work" at around 8 a.m. Responding officers confirmed Kelly was dead and that she had been stabbed multiple times in the neck and head.

Bloody footprints and discarded knives

Investigators followed a trail of bloody footprints from Kelly's office into an adjacent warehouse. Inside a garbage bin, officers recovered two blood-covered kitchen-style knives and what appeared to be hair, WHP reported.

Police then asked employees whether anyone at the shop drove a red SUV. The name Clifton Emerson came up. Officers matched his registered vehicle to the one captured on the entrance footage. Co-workers told police that Emerson had been employed at the shop for approximately four years, but in the week before the killing had repeatedly complained about not receiving enough scheduled hours and said he was struggling to cover his rent.

Arrest made in Maryland

Emerson was detained by Maryland State Police later that same Tuesday. Court records list his case as currently inactive, and he is awaiting a preliminary hearing. He has reportedly been registered as a sex offender since November 2015.

No further details about the circumstances of the confrontation inside the office have been released by authorities.

Source: Law & Crime