Monroe man charged with homicide five years later

A Monroe County man has been charged with the murder of a person who was reported missing in 2005.

Members of the Troop N Major Case Team arrested Edwin J. Kelly, 45, of Rainbow Lake Drive, Scotrun, and charged him with the murder of David Walter McEntire, 47, of Kunkletown. McEntire was reported missing to state police at Lehighton on Oct. 8, 2005.

Kelly has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. Kelly was remanded to the county prison in Snydersville without bail.

Troopers said recent developments in the case led investigators to Kelly and those developments have led to his arrest.

According to information filed, troopers allege that McEntire was beaten with a hammer in Kelly's Pocono Township residence and then his body was set on fire in the backyard.

The state police report indicates that Kelly did not act alone. Troopers believe that Kelly and two accomplices placed the burned body into a bag and drove to a junkyard in the Hazleton area and dumped the remains there. Police got the information from a confidential informant (CI), according to reports.

The affidavit of probable cause indicates two other men assisted Kelly in the murder. Also, the police report indicates that McEntire was a drug user and the suspects believed he had stolen money from them.

The affidavit states, in part, that McEntire, Kelly, the two other suspects and the CI were all in Kelly's living room when one of the other suspects struck the victim with a claw end of a hammer on the head. McEntire fell to the ground but the other man kept hitting him with the hammer while Kelly and the other man repeatedly kicked the victim in the head and body.

The suspects then dragged McEntire's body into the basement. The CI told officers that McEntire was either dead or dying at this point. The CI then told police he left the basement and was leaving the area when he heard several gunshots. He returned the next day and saw the suspects burning McEntire's body in the backyard.

The CI and Kelly then took McEntire's van to his workplace in Chestnuthill Township and left it there with the keys in the ignition. The CI and Kelly were then picked up by the other two men and returned to Kelly's home where they placed the remains of McEntire's body into a trash bag and then into the trunk of a vehicle.

The CI told investigators that Kelly and one of the other men drove McEntrie's body to the Hazleton area junkyard where they got rid of it.

Troopers said the county district attorney's office is assisting in the investigation, which is ongoing at this point.