Feb 10, 2023 3 min read

The suspect jailed for more than three months on unknown charges in connection with the Nov. 5 shooting death of a man in Rostraver Township is facing multiple counts of homicide, according to the criminal docket that was made public for the first time Thursday.

Keven Van Lam is facing felony charges of first-degree murder and two counts of homicide along with misdemeanor evidence tampering for the killing of Boyke Budiarachman in the Rostraver Square parking lot.

Lam, 55, of Philadelphia, was arrested in North Strabane two days after Budiarachman was shot to death while walking to his pickup truck parked in the strip mall. Lam is being held at the Westmoreland County jail without bond “due to the safety of any other person or to himself, the safety of the community” and because he is a flight risk, according to the public docket.

It’s the first time the public has known what charges Lam is facing after three newspapers, including the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard, successfully argued that the public docket should be released after the Westmoreland County district attorney’s office had the arrest warrant sealed. The state Superior Court ordered the public docket that includes the charges be unsealed Thursday, although details of the investigation will remain sealed until after Lam’s preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Monday morning.

While Lam is facing multiple homicide counts, Rostraver Township police Chief John Christner indicated that was likely due to differing subsections within the charges since there was only one victim in the case. Rostraver Township police were involved in the investigation, but it was Westmoreland County detectives who filed the charges against Lam.

Christner confirmed Thursday that federal authorities are also participating in the investigation, although he declined to elaborate on which agencies were involved or what aspect of the case they were reviewing.

“The investigation has expanded beyond the Mon Valley and Rostraver Township,” Christner said. “It does involve other agencies.”

Christner declined to say whether Lam is the suspected shooter, but he said the investigation is ongoing. No one else has been charged in the case.

Authorities have said little about the case except that Budiarachman, 49, of Rostraver Township, was targeted when he was shot to death in the parking lot. Budiarachman and Lam apparently had business ties in the Mon Valley before they soured, according to previous news interviews with people who knew of both the suspect and victim.

Budiarachman worked for Fourth Street Foods in the Charleroi area and also owned several real estate and transport companies at the time of his death.