South Middleton death

The body found Sunday morning in South Middleton Twp., Cumberland County was discovered on this farm lane off South Spring Garden Street.

(Charles Thompson)

A 36-year-old Carlisle woman and her 17-year-old son charged in the death of their landlord said they beat him 45 minutes before dumping him along a South Middleton Township driveway early Sunday.

Stephanie Vinice Scott, 36, of the first block of East Locust Avenue, Carlisle, and her son, Duane Jamell Fason Jr., 17, of the same address, were charged with homicide, unlawful restraint and tampering with evidence by Carlisle state police.

James Mahoney, 45, of the same address as those charged, was found dead Sunday along a driveway in the 1100 block of South Spring Garden Street in South Middleton Twp. Charges were filed with District Judge Susan Day, and the couple are in Cumberland County prison without bail. A preliminary hearing is set for 8 a.m. Sept. 24.

Court documents lay out this account of events leading up to Mahoney's death:

Scott told police she and Mahoney began arguing between 5 and 6 p.m. Saturday night about something she said to him, and he began choking her. She then got up and began choking Mahoney, and dragged him 15 feet across the floor by his hair. She said they continued arguing overnight, and that Mahoney left in his vehicle, and she didn't know where he was.

After being told Mahoney was dead in a second interview, Scott said, "I didn't mean for him to die."

She then gave a different account of the evening, saying that after the choking incident, she called her son to come home. She said she then began to plan events leading to an assault against Mahoney, and said he "deserved it for all of the physical and verbal abuse he put them through."

Around midnight, when Mahoney was drunk and barely awake on the couch, Scott said she, her son and one of his friends jumped him, beat him and tied him up with the clothesline from the backyard.

In what is described as a 45-minute assault, Scott said all three took turns punching and kicking Mahoney on the head and face, and her son whipped him with a USB cable.

Mahoney was alive after the beating, Scott told police. They loaded him in the back of his own Ford Explorer, dumped him along South Spring Garden Street, and left his vehicle in a grocery store parking lot.

In a separate interview, Fason said Mahoney was alive when they dumped him, which he knows because he looked at him before he took him out of the vehicle.

As for motive, Fason said he was tired of Mahoney assaulting his mother and others.

Police said Mahoney's neck, hands and legs were bound with twine and a black USB computer cable, and blood was on his face and body. Police said it appeared the initial crime occurred elsewhere and that the body was placed there. Also found at the scene were a gold makeup case, water bottle, lunch box and bottle of power steering fluid.

Mahoney was dressed only in underwear, and he was covered by bed sheets, a pillow, clothing, a towel, doormat and two reflective vests with the name "Chyna" on them, along with the logo for Chewy.com, a Carlisle area distribution center.

An employee at Chewy.com told police "Chyna" was the nickname of Stephanie Scott, and that she rented a room from Mahoney with her son.

In the home, police said they found bedding missing from several beds, and a comforter matching a pillow case found near Mahoney's body.