Woman arrested in home invasion
The scene where an intruder was shot to death by a West Pike Run Township resident last month
Bobbi Sue West
The wife of the man shot and killed in last month’s attempted home invasion in West Pike Run Township was arrested Tuesday in Ohio after being accused by state police of helping to carry out the robbery.
Bobbi Sue West, 30, of 748 Crawford Road, East Bethlehem Township, was charged by state police Jan. 22 with four felony counts of robbery in the Dec. 28 attempted home invasion at 93 McGirts Road that left her husband, Robert J. West, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
She was arrested in Bellaire, Ohio, Tuesday while visiting an acquaintance and is awaiting extradition from Belmont County jail, Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said.
State police said West drove her husband and Andrew Graseck, 18, of Carmichaels, to the camper on McGirts Road where Nicholas Dziyak lived, with the intention of beating him and stealing money and valuables. West dropped off the two men near the property, and they walked to the camper wearing masks and wielding wooden ax handles, police said.
West drove away and planned to return with the car once the two men called her to be picked up after the robbery, police said. The men cut electrical power to the camper, prompting Dziyak to come outside, at which time he was attacked, police said. Dziyak fired several shots, striking Robert West, 42, in the head. Police said Graseck ran to a neighboring home to call for help.
Bobbi Sue West was listening to the police scanner on her cellphone and drove home when she was “alerted that a man was shot and killed,” according to court documents filed at District Judge Curtis Thompson’s office.
Bellaire police Chief Mike Kovalyk said they received information from Pennsylvania authorities West might be in their city with an acquaintance, and officers began searching for her. They found a blue pickup truck with a Pennsylvania license plate registered to West parked at a house just a block-and-a-half from the city’s police department, Kovalyk said. West surrendered to police without incident Tuesday, Kovalyk said, and they do not have plans to charge the people housing her.
It was not known when she would be returned to Washington County to face charges in connection with the West Pike Run home invasion.
Graseck is being held in Washington County jail on $50,000 bond while awaiting trial on charges of robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment. Investigators said a dispute between Dziyak and Robert West, who was performing work on the man’s property, led to the robbery attempt.
Dziyak, 74, was hospitalized with a severe head laceration that required 15 staples to close, along with contusions to his chest and left wrist.