Four people have been charged after a Hudson Valley father was found lying unresponsive in a driveway.
The father, Edgar Stone, 38, was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries. Police were initially told the man had tried to commit suicide by jumping or falling from the roof of the home where he was found, but investigators quickly determined that was not true.
“When they told me that the girlfriend said, or whoever she was to him, that he jumped off a roof – I knew that was a lie,” Jessica Thorpe, Stone’s sister, told News 12 Brooklyn. “My brother is afraid of heights. He would never climb a ladder.”
Stone, who is from Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, was found in the driveway of a home in Newburgh, New York, after police were called about a “man down” on August 10, WPDH reported. Witnesses told police that the man tried to commit suicide, and officers saw a ladder reaching to the roof of the home. Stone was taken to a hospital in Newburgh and then flown to Westchester Medical Center, where he remained in crucial condition until he died from his injuries on August 14.
“Over the course of the next few days through several interviews, physical evidence gathered and numerous other lead’s, Detectives charged four subjects in connection with the homicide,” the Town of Newburgh Police Department told WPDH. “Assisting in the ongoing investigation are the NYS Police, Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force FBI, City of Newburgh Police Drone Unit, Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center and the Orange County District Attorneys Office.”
Police arrested 27-year-old David Quaglietta and 36-year-old Samantha Mitzner from Plattekill, New York, along with 23-year-old Danaya Matychak and 41-year-old Marica Strang from Newburgh. They were each charged with first-degree manslaughter, though police have not elaborated on how they determined Stone had not committed suicide or how the four were involved in his death.
Thorpe, Stone’s sister, said her family misses him.
“They took him away from a lot of people. I hope they pay for what they did. My brother did not deserve this at all,” she said.
The family has since started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Stone’s funeral expenses. At the time of this writing, they had raised just $135 of the requested $5,000.
“My brother was someone that would do anything for anyone. He loved to travel, enjoyed working for carnivals seeing the country. He was a very caring person,” Thorpe wrote of her brother.