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WILKES-BARRE — The case of four people charged in connection with an Edwardsville man’s brutal stabbing death earlier this year took several dramatic turns in court on Friday, with the most serious charges against the youngest suspect dropped and later re-filed.
Joseph Monka, 71, was stabbed 43 times and severely beaten inside his Arch Street residence in early April, according to testimony from investigators and a forensic pathologist during a preliminary hearing held before District Judge James Haggerty at the Luzerne County Courthouse.
Four defendants appeared at the hearing:
• Monka’s granddaughter, Gabriella Elizabeth Long, 17, who had been living with him.
• Mercedes Lin Hall, 16, of East Grove Street, Kingston.
• Christopher Brian Cortez, 19, of McHale Street, Wilkes-Barre.
• Devin Malik Cunningham, 20, of Wilkes-Barre.
Assistant district attorneys Jarrett Ferentino and Brittany Quinn allege Cortez and Cunningham killed Monka on April 15 and then the four made off with $30,000 from a safe in his basement.
A state police criminal investigator testified that the four spent lavishly with that cash, buying clothes, sneakers, manicures and more.
Long, Hall and Cortez were arraigned April 18 by District Judge James Haggerty in Kingston on charges of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide, unauthorized use of a vehicle, tampering with evidence and two counts each of theft and criminal conspiracy to commit theft.
Cunningham was arraigned in May on charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, two counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of conspiracy of theft by unlawful taking, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and a tampering with evidence charge.
All were being held without bail at the county correctional facility prior to Friday’s hearing.
All charges against Long and Cortez were forwarded for trial by Haggerty, while all charges against Cunningham were forwarded for trial except for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, court officials confirmed.
Haggerty dismissed the homicide charges against Hall, however, questioning whether there was adequate evidence to support them, and set bail at $100,000 on the remaining charges, court officials confirmed.
Court records show that prosecutors re-filed the charges later Friday, with Hall arraigned by District Judge Rick Cronauer, with bail denied.
Graphic testimony
Monka, 71, was viciously beaten — rendering him nearly unrecognizable in the autopsy photograph shown during the preliminary hearings before Haggerty.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross testified Monka sustained 43 stab wounds, 15 cuts and two lacerations in addition to numerous blunt injuries on his head, face, torso and legs. Ross said Monka’s jugular vein was severed that would have caused instant death, but he noted Monka also could have died from two direct stab wounds to the heart or three stab wounds to his lungs and liver.
Ross also said Monka had defensive wounds on his hands and arms.
Long, who previously lived with her biological father in Maine, had resided with Monka since March 7.
Monka’s body was found in a bedroom of his 30 Arch St. residence on April 17 by Edwardsville police Detective Michael Lehman, who responded to the house for a report of an unresponsive man.
Lehman said there was blood “everywhere” in the bedroom and a television cabinet was on Monka’s lower half of the body.
Prosecutors suspect Monka was killed two days earlier.
Arrests made
Trooper Edward Urban testified Long, Hall and Cortez were arrested when they emerged from a motel room at the Red Roof Inn in Plains Township on April 17, minutes after Monka’s 2016 Kia Soul was found unattended in a parking lot. Cunningham was captured April 25 at his mother’s home in Fairfax, Va.
Urban testified that after Monka was killed, the four slept in the Kia at a park because no one had identification to rent a motel room. Urban said Cortez on April 16 gave a friend $3,000 to get a room at the Red Roof Inn.
Shortly after Long, Hall and Cortez were arrested, Urban said store receipts and shopping bags were found in their motel room, which prompted investigators to retrieve surveillance video from the Wyoming Valley Mall.
During interviews with Long and Hall, investigators learned the duo allegedly purchased clothes and sneakers at the mall and Hall got a manicure. They discarded their old clothes in garbage cans at the mall.
Urban said they tracked the mall’s garbage container and searched at a landfill, finding old sneakers that were placed in a box for new sneakers and clothing.
“A significant amount of money was spent, they spent thousands,” Urban said, noting investigators were continuing to account for all the spending.
