Ex-boyfriend to be tried in Gateway student's death
Defense says medication led suspect to fatally stab cheerleader
Saturday, September 15, 2007
By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
First came the "blood-curdling screams," followed by the mortally wounded cheerleader clutching her midsection as she staggered into a neighbor's arms.
"She must've seen me because she ran straight towards me," Gail Slomer, testifying at a preliminary hearing yesterday, said of 16-year-old Demi Cuccia, the Gateway High School cheerleader who was killed Aug. 15.
Her ex-boyfriend, John J. Mullarkey Jr., 18, has been charged with her slaying.
"She asked for her mother," Ms. Slomer testified. "I kept saying, 'Demi, stay with me.' I kept trying to talk to her."
Demi died of her multiple stab wounds about 45 minutes later. Mr. Mullarkey survived his self-inflicted throat slashing and was hospitalized.
Following Ms. Slomer's testimony and that of a medic and a police guard who reported incriminating statements Mr. Mullarkey made at the hospital, District Judge Carla Swearingen ordered the boyfriend held for trial on homicide charges.
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