Police make 2nd arrest in Hanover homicide
A second arrest was made in connection with the shooting death of an Allegheny County man whose body was found in a wooded area of Hanover Township in August.
Lauren O’Connor, 22, of McKees Rocks, was charged Monday with conspiracy to commit homicide by Allegheny County police.
Kristopher Michael Lott, 22, of Pittsburgh, was charged shortly after 21-year-old Ryan Ramirez’s body was found on state game lands along Steubenville Pike. Ramirez, 21, of Kennedy Township died of a gunshot wound to the head, Washington County Coroner Tim Warco determined.
Lott, who has a criminal record dating to 2013 for robbery, theft and drugs, already was in Allegheny County jail on drug and theft charges stemming from an incident two days before the body was discovered.
Ramirez allegedly met Lott to sell him prescription pain pills Aug. 22, Allegheny County police said, but he instead forced Ramirez to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash and drove to the isolated, wooded area. Video from that day shows the pair at the PNC Bank in Burgettstown. O’Connor also is visible in the background, standing by her vehicle, police said. The two men allegedly get into her vehicle after leaving the bank, according to an affidavit of probable cause supporting the conspiracy charge against O’Connor.
O’Connor, whom Ramirez’s mother described as his girlfriend, was apprehended with Lott on a firearms violation and other charges the next day when a Robinson Township police office encountered them as he investigated a suspicious person report.
Police allegedly found a loaded .32-caliber handgun in a backpack the pair had with them. O’Connor told police the gun belonged to her father, who said they must have taken it “when they were asked to leave his residence,” according to the affidavit against O’Connor.
Following his arrest, Lott allegedly told his attorney O’Connor had purchased ammunition for the weapon used in the homicide, according to the affidavit. The attorney passed along that information to the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.
A ballistics lab later determined a bullet recovered from Ramirez’s body and a shell casing found at the crime scene matched the rounds and shell casings that were test-fired from the handgun, according to the affidavit.
O’Connor is being held in Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 bond.