A person of interest in the killing of a New Jersey woman was found dead in Pennsylvania, authorities announced Saturday.
Peter Lestician, 53, was found Friday in a car by an abandoned barn near an ATV trail in Cooper Township in Clearfield County, Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Joel Bewley said. He had been in a relationship with Sheila Maguire, who was found dead Monday in a Burlington County home.
Two men riding ATVs came upon the car around 4 p.m. Friday and called the Pennsylvania State Police, whose trooper found Lestician in the front seat of the locked vehicle, Bewley said. The troopers reported no signs of foul play, meaning Lestician possibly died by suicide, Bewley added.
Maguire’s New Jersey driver’s license was found in the same vehicle as Lestician’s body, according to Bewley.
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Lestician and the 54-year-old Maguire were in a relationship and lived together at a home on the 200 block of Birch Hollow Drive in Florence Township, New Jersey, Bewley said. Maguire was found Monday in the home after family and friends asked police for a welfare check, having not heard from Maguire over the weekend.
"At that point they were knocking on the door, trying to see if anyone was in there. And then yesterday is when they went into the house and they found her," neighbor Charles Schweder told NBC10 Tuesday.
The medical examiner determined Maguire died of blunt force trauma to the head, Bewley said.
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Lestician, a teacher at South Brunswick High School, was a person of interest in Maguire’s death, but there was no evidence directly linking him to the killing, and he had not been criminally charged, according to Bewley.
An autopsy is to be performed on Lestician to determine his cause of death. The investigation into Maguire’s killing continues.
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.
