Update: On Aug. 15, 2024, law enforcement officials dropped murder charges against Ethan Nicholas Bastien. In a statement, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said, following an investigation officials are "now convinced that the death of Sian Cartagena is more likely than not a suicide." The original story continues below.
Law enforcement officials have charged a 21-year-old Allentown man with homicide after he, allegedly, called police and claimed an 18-year-old woman killed herself in a home along the 2000 block of Green Street in Allentown.
Officials said that Ethan Nicholas Bastien, of Allentown, has been charged with criminal homicide, a first-degree felony, after a shooting incident that left Sian Cartagena, 18, dead on Oct. 2.
According to police, at about 5:38 a.m. on Oct. 2, police recieved a call from Bastien, claiming Cartagena had taken a gun and shot herself in the head.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
First responders arrived to find Cartagena unconscious on a mattress in a bedroom on the second floor of the home, and officials said, Bastien was the only other person in the house at the time. Cartagena was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced on Oct. 4.
An autopsy conducted earlier this week found that Cartagena had died from a gunshot wound and Lehigh County coroner Daniel Buglio ruled the manner of death a homicide.
According to police, an investigation revealed that Cartagena suffered one gunshot wound to the head and one shell casing was found at the scene.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
Bastien has been incarcerated since Oct. 2, when, law enforcement officials said, he was initially charged with attempted homicide in this incident.
That charge has been upgraded to criminal homicide and Bastien is currently being held without bail in Lehigh County Jail.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
