A Latrobe woman is charged with killing a Johnstown restaurant owner in 2023.
Police said Tami Shafer, 54, asked another person to call 911 on Feb. 20, 2023, to report that Lance Ross, owner of the now-closed Freight Station bar and restaurant, had fallen down a set of stairs, according to court records.
City police said Ross appeared to have been assaulted and his injuries — two bruised eyes that were swollen shut, with bruises on his hands and body — were not consistent with a fall on steps. Ross was pronounced dead later that day at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, according to court papers. An autopsy showed his cause of death to be multiple facial and skull fractures and brain hemorrhaging.
In her initial interview with police, Shafer said she was with Ross on Feb. 20 at another bar in nearby Southmont, and the two left to go back to Ross’ apartment at The Freight Station, where she slept by herself on the couch, according to court records. She told police that she found someone to call 911 as soon as she discovered Ross at the bottom of the steps. That 911 call was placed at 11:04 a.m., police said.
In their review of surveillance video, police said Shafer can be seen exiting The Freight Station at 9:56 a.m., re-entering the building, leaving again about an hour later and immediately going back inside, according to court papers. Police said at 10:09 a.m. as she was returning into the building, Shafer’s shadow can be seen at the location where Ross’ body was found.
Fifty-five minutes later, the 911 call is placed, according to police.
Additional surveillance video showed no other people going in and out of The Freight Station between the time Shafer and Ross entered the building around 1:30 a.m., and the time of the 911 call later that morning.
Police said Shafer told them several contradicting stories in interviews, including that Ross never made it upstairs despite his blood being found in a spattered downward pattern on the stairwell walls.
Police also found Ross’ blood on a 40-pound bag of ice melt salt and on the head of a nearby sledgehammer, according to court records.
Shafer was charged this week with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangering and tampering with evidence.
She was denied bail and taken to the Cambria County Prison. A Nov. 21 preliminary trial is set in Judge Brian Subich’s Upper Yoder court.
An attorney for Shafer was not listed in court records.
