Five years after a Maine man was run off the road and shot to death on a Pennsylvania interstate, the man accused of murdering him went on trial Monday.
John Wayne Strawser Jr., 42, of Terra Alta, West Virginia, is charged with killing 28-year-old Timothy “Asti” Davison of Poland, Maine, after chasing him down on Interstate 81 in January 2014, ramming his vehicle and forcing him onto a snow-covered median.
Strawser, driving a dark-colored Ford Ranger pickup truck, allegedly circled back while Davison was talking on the phone to a state police dispatcher, and shot Davison several times in the head, leg and foot before fleeing.
A couple who described themselves as former friends of Strawser came forward after Strawser was charged in a separate West Virginia murder.
John Wayne Strawser Jr.
Jamie Breese and his wife, Courtney, told police Strawser had threatened them in cellphone calls and text messages while they were at a bar in West Virginia. They left the bar and began driving on I-81 in the same area and direction as Davison.
The couple believed Strawser was hunting them on the night he shot Davison. Strawser used to have a relationship with Jamie Breese’s wife and had been stalking her, according to a police affidavit.
Police said they believe Strawser was looking for the couple and mistook Davison’s vehicle, a silver Mitsubishi Montero, for the Breese vehicle, a silver Honda Pilot.
There had been speculation after Davison was killed that it was a case of road rage, but investigators have ruled that out.
Strawser was sentenced to life in prison in October 2016 for the April 2015 shooting death of Amy Lou Buckingham in Preston, West Virginia.
According to the Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) Public Opinion newspaper, two state troopers as well as Davison’s mother, Theresa Allocca, and his stepsister, Adele Allocca, traveled from their homes in Maine to testify Monday.
The 12-person jury and three alternates viewed photographic evidence of the crime scene and was shown a .44-caliber bullet casing police found at the crime scene. Prosecutors also played multiple 911 calls that Davison made to state police just before he was killed, the Public Opinion reported.
“He hit me, he pushed me into the median,” Davison told the dispatcher. “Please hurry up. He’s f***ing here.”
District Attorney Matthew D. Fogal addressed the jury for more than an hour. The trial is expected to last two weeks and will involve statements from dozens of witnesses, the Public Opinion reported.
In his obituary, Davison’s family wrote that he had spent two weeks vacationing in Florida where he spent the holidays visiting his sister, grandfather, mother and several other family members and was returning to Maine when Strawser allegedly ran him off the road and shot him.
Davison attended Poland Regional High School and worked as a pipefitter and commercial welder, according to his obituary.
“Asti was a good natured, fun-loving guy, who knew how to work hard and play even harder,” his family wrote in the obituary.
The trial was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Franklin County Courthouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
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