SPRING GROVE, PA.--The violent attack of Samantha Stein appeared planned.

The killer reportedly waited for neighbors to go to sleep, then clipped a wire for a surveillance camera before slipping into Stein's front door with a knife and stabbing her to death while her boyfriend was at work.

The killing of Stein, 24, early Saturday in Spring Grove came after weeks of strange crimes on the previously quiet block on North Main Street. The new crimes-- an arson at a home Stein had planned to move into and vandalism of vehicles parked on the street in front of her home-- appear to be connected to the killing, police said.

On Sunday, police arrested an older neighbor, who lived just a few doors down, in connection with Stein's homicide while her children slept upstairs.

Stein, 24, had a four-year-old daughter and her live-in boyfriend had two young boys.

Police charged Raymond W. Heck, 59, a convicted felon, with criminal homicide, burglary, theft and receiving stolen property. He remained in jail Monday without bail.

Stein's boyfriend found her dead with traumatic injuries when he returned home from a double-shift at the paper mill shortly after 7 a.m. He phoned 911, then a neighbor for help getting the kids out of the house so they wouldn't have to see the gruesome crime scene.

But police arrived first and helped to get the kids out of the house as they launched a homicide investigation.

Neighbors said Stein had lived on the block for about a year, was a stay-at-home mom and didn't have many friends in the area yet.

So when Heck started hanging around and talking to her, she obliged and befriended him. He followed her to and from the bus stop when she walked the children there, according to neighbors.

She would give Heck rides to the grocery store and chat with him on her front porch, according to neighbors. Some neighbors thought he was her father.

But they were an odd pair to see together, according to Bob Cramer, who lived across the street from Heck.

Heck was much older, disheveled with poor hygiene, whereas Stein was young, pretty and neatly dressed.

While Stein didn't mind talking to Heck at first, the friendship started to feel weird and she made attempts to scale back, neighbors and police said.

But Heck persisted in trying to talk to her.

Four days before the homicide, neighbor Joseph Parker said he saw Stein's boyfriend confront Heck on the sidewalk and tell Heck in clear, but polite, terms to keep his distance from his family.

"I yelled out there, 'Don't get in a fight so close to the holidays," Parker said.

Neighbors typically saw Heck walking around the block every single day. He didn't have a car, or apparently a job, so he wandered around a lot. But they didn't see him outside at all after the killing.

Police raided his home Sunday and found evidence inside and nearby connecting him to the killing, according to court records. Police said he stole two cell phones, a lockbox and a Web camera from Stein's home.

Police found what they believe to be the murder weapon near Heck's home and a bag of bloody clothing and shoes that he allegedly wore during the homicide. They found the items where Heck said he discarded them according to court records.

The clothing in the bag, along with the white sneakers with a dark stripe, match the clothing of a man seen entering Stein's home the night she was killed, according to court records.

The killer was recorded on the neighbor's camera system. The neighbor John Bentz, said he and Stein's boyfriend installed the cameras in recent weeks after someone started "keying" vehicles and pouring sugar and bleach into gas tanks.

Little did he know that his camera later would be instrumental in helping to piece together the killing of his neighbor.

Bentz said he and his wife, children and dog slept through the night Saturday and did not hear anything next door even though they share a wall with the Stein's home.

Stein reportedly was asleep in a downstairs room when she was killed. Neighbors believe her front door was unlocked.

Neighbors described Stein as a "sweetheart," who loved children and took great care of her kids. She and her boyfriend were planning to get married. On her Facebook profile, she wrote: "I love my family," and her page was filled with warm family photos.

Her surviving family, however, is looking at a very grim Christmas with her untimely death.

The family's Christmas presents and many belongings of the children also were ruined by the crime scene, so friends have launched a toy drive to replace the children's belongings and provide presents.

An online fundraiser also was started to help pay for the unexpected funeral costs and other expenses as the family can't return to the home.

Stein and her boyfriend had originally planned to move to a house two doors down, which was being renovated. They had even moved some of their furniture into the vacant home last month. But they changed their plans after someone broke into the back of the home and poured gasoline on their furniture, torching it just before Thanksgiving.

The woman who owns the home where the arson occurred said while she was renovating it, she and Stein would spend hours inside fixing things up. Heck would show up uninvited and unannounced and try to start conversations.

The woman, who did not want her name published, said Heck made her uncomfortable so she would often try to excuse herself when Heck showed up on her front porch.

Heck "was always kidding" with Stein in a flirtatious manner, the woman said.

"I got a bad feeling," she said.

The night of the killing, the woman said she found footprints in the snow on her back porch. She believes the killer stood there and peered into her windows, waiting for her to go to sleep. She went to bed about 1:45 a.m. Saturday, she said.

Heck told police after the killing, according to court records, that he "liked Samantha and indicated that he hoped for something more than friendship between them."

Neighbors believe his feelings of rejection or unrequied romantic feelings played a role in the killing. But Heck told police he entered her home to steal property, then inadvertently woke her up and cut her when they scuffled.

Heck lived on the block with his son and teenage grandson. The son answered the door Monday and appeared to have been crying. A bare mattress sat in the front room. He was on the phone and declined to comment to PennLive.

Heck's criminal record includes a 2005 conviction for robbing a Turkey Hill convenience store and later convictions for drug possession, and resisting arrest.

Police were planning a news conference at 7 p.m. Monday where more information may be released about a possible motive in the killing and previous crimes.