Oct 9, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Oliver George testified he suffered such a “catastrophic severe lethal injury” to the back of his head that he would have been unresponsive and nearing death within two hours after suffering the blow, raising questions about the prosecution’s timeline that accuses the father of assaulting him.

Dr. Todd Luckasevic, who was the pathologist handling the case in the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office, said minutes after suffering the blunt force trauma injury, Oliver would have begun presenting symptoms that soon became increasingly more severe.

“Oliver George would be symptomatic immediately or within minutes of that lethal head trauma,” Luckasevic testified Wednesday.

Oliver’s father, Joshua George, is on trial this week, accused of assaulting the 6-month-old child at his Smith Township house on Dec. 30, 2021, before dropping the boy and two other children off at their maternal grandparents’ house to be watched while he went to work. Investigators said the assault happened at George’s home on Francis Road and he then dropped Oliver off at the relatives’ Colony Road residence at 8:26 a.m. But Cheska Rotellini, who was the step-grandmother caring for Oliver, did not contact 911 for help until 11:52 a.m. that morning – nearly three-and-a-half hours later – when she noticed the child was not acting normally and his ears and extremities were turning colors. The child became unresponsive at 12:19 p.m. while in the ambulance heading to Weirton Medical Center in West Virginia.

If George had assaulted Oliver before dropping him off at 8:26 a.m., Luckasevic testified the boy would have been “near death” by 10:30 a.m., which is nearly 90 minutes before Rotenelli called 911. George’s defense attorneys have openly accused Rotenelli of assaulting Oliver, although no charges have been filed against her or anyone else in the case.

George’s attorneys took the unusual step of subpoenaing Luckasevic to testify – the first time he said he’s ever been called by the defense rather than the prosecution during a homicide trial – because his report raises doubts about how George could’ve assaulted Oliver so violently, but it took nearly four hours until he became unresponsive. Prosecutors instead solicited independently employed pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers as their expert witness at the trial, although she was precluded from testifying Tuesday about the timeline of the assault that she placed happening while Oliver was in George’s care.

Oliver died Jan. 3, 2022, at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, meaning the case was to be handled by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office, where Luckasevic was employed at the time.

“I’m not on anyone’s side,” Luckasevic said when asked if he had any bias in the case. “I’m on Oliver’s side.”

Washington County First District Attorney Leslie Mylan asked Luckasevic whether initial symptoms could include fussiness, sleepiness or lack of interest in eating since Rotenelli told investigators that’s what happened when Oliver first arrived at the house. While Luckasevic agreed that could happen and mimic “teething,” he said the symptoms would cascade and quickly become more severe.

Earlier in testimony Wednesday, the prosecution called Dr. Adelaide Eichman, who was the pediatrician treating Oliver at Children’s Hospital before he died. She compiled a medical report of the injuries that showed the boy suffered a skull fracture to the back of his head that caused brain hemorrhaging, among other injuries that indicated there was both shaking and his head struck a hard object.

“It takes a good bit of force to break that bone,” Eichman said of that part of the skull. “It would not happen in the normal care of a child.”

Eichman said symptoms could appear within minutes or hours, although she was hesitant to give an exact timeframe since she said people may react differently.

“The baby would not be acting normally,” she said.

During cross-examination, defense attorney John Bongivengo pressed Eichman on what she meant by hours, which she eventually said could be two to four hours. That theory could put Oliver’s injuries in the timespan in which George was caring for the boy.

After the prosecution rested Wednesday morning and the jury was excused for a quick break, Bongivengo asked President Judge Valarie Costanzo to dismiss all charges against George.

“There is no evidence these injuries were caused by Mr. George. There is substantial evidence these injuries occurred in the care of Ms. Rotenelli,” Bongivengo said as Rotenelli sat in the courtroom just a few feet away. “You have two competing theories of what happened.”

Mylan disagreed and suggested it was best for the jury to decide the case.

“You have the words of premeditation,” Mylan said, alluding to comments George allegedly made to a relative the night before the assault that he told Oliver he wanted to “shake” him. “This is a classic question for the jury.”

After a brief recess, Costanzo denied the motion and allowed the defense to proceed with their witnesses. Another expert witness is expected to testify this morning for the defense and closing statements could be made later in the day before the case is handed to the jury to decide George’s fate.

George, 34, is facing felony charges of homicide, child endangerment and three counts of aggravated assault. He faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.