Feb 9, 2023 3 min read

The state Superior Court ruled Wednesday that the public docket in the Rostraver Township homicide last year should be unsealed immediately, although details about the investigation will remain a secret until after next week’s preliminary hearing.

The court order means that the criminal charges and bail information for suspect Keven Van Lam in connection with the Nov. 5 shooting death of Boyke Budiarachman must be released and available for public review through the state’s online criminal justice database.

The appellate court decided in favor of the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard newspapers, along with the Mon Valley Independent, that have been attempting to uncover more information about Lam’s arrest following Budiarachman’s killing in the Rostraver Square strip mall parking lot.

Stacey Witalec, spokesperson for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, said the information is expected to be posted online this morning by District Judge Wayne Vlasic’s office, where the charges against Lam were filed Nov. 6.

Details surrounding Budiarachman’s shooting death have been a closely guarded secret after Lam was charged by Rostraver Township police and arrested in North Strabane Township two days after the homicide. Westmoreland County Assistant District Attorney James Lazar requested to seal the case, citing Criminal Rule 513.1 that allows for arrest warrant information to be temporarily withheld, and it was granted by Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani. The newspapers challenged the decision during a Dec. 14 hearing and argued that the sealing went beyond the scope of the rule, although Feliciani upheld his earlier ruling to keep the case sealed.

The newspapers, which were represented by lawyers from the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C., appealed that ruling to the state Superior Court and argued that the public had the basic right to know why someone was in police custody. The three-judge panel decided that the Rule 513.1 that allows sealing of arrest warrant does not include public-facing docket information, although the criminal complaint that include details about the case will remain secret until the preliminary hearing.

“The (sealing order and criminal) dockets shall immediately be unsealed in their public view formats, it is this Court’s conclusion that these dockets, in their public view do not contain any ‘arrest warrant information,’ as that term is used in Rule 513.1(A).”

It’s not known what Lam, 55, of Rostraver Township, has been charged with or what his bond is while he’s being held at the Westmoreland County jail. His preliminary hearing before Vlasic is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday in the Westmoreland County Courthouse.

Budiarachman, who worked for Fourth Street Foods in the Charleroi area and also owned several real estate and transport companies, was shot to death while walking to his pickup truck in the parking lot of Rostraver Square strip mall. It’s not known who pulled the trigger or whether investigators are searching for more people connected with his killing.