Investigators are trying to determine if Deanna Marie Nulls murder might be related to a drive-by shooting that occurred in the city nearly six years ago in which her boyfriend at the time was one of the victims.
No one was injured in the April 3, 2002, shooting that occurred outside Nulls home, which then was in the 700 block of West Edwin Street, city police said.
Several shots were fired from a car at a group of black men, one of them being Richard Lowrie of Harrisburg, who police said was then Nulls boyfriend.
State police investigators came to city police headquarters Tuesday to pick up the police report on the shooting, which police said was racially motivated. Three white men were convicted of various crimes.
Two men pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and were sentenced to state prison terms ranging from two to eight years. A third man pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and was sentenced to a year in the County Prison, according to court records.
Null was not a victim. She wasnt even a witness in this case, but her boyfriend was a victim, city Patrolman Roy Snyder, the lead investigator in the shooting case, said Tuesday.
While there was no trial, Lowrie did testify in a preliminary hearing involving the three defendants, Snyder said.
Parts of Nulls dismembered body were found Jan. 29 in several trash bags that were strewn along Interstates 80 and 380 at eight locations in Lackawanna and Monroe County. She was 36.
Her identity was obtained through a forensic dentist in Allentown, according to the Pocono Record.
She played no role whatsoever in the conviction of the three men, Snyder said of Null. Lowrie, however, was a key witness and victim.
The state Board of Probation and Parole in Harrisburg was unable to provide any information Tuesday on the status of the three men convicted in the shooting case.
Both Null and Lowrie, believed now to be in his late 30s, were arrested in early February 2003 as part of a major cocaine-distribution ring that extended from Lycoming to Northumberland County.
Court records, filed by the state Attorney Generals Office, alleged that Null sold cocaine in Williamsport while Lowrie trafficked cocaine in Shamokin. Both were convicted of various drug crimes.
City police Capt. Raymond Kontz III said Tuesday there was nothing at this point that tied the 2002 shooting with Nulls murder, but then he added the ultimate decision on that will be the state police.
The Scranton Times-Tribue reported that Null had petitioned Lowrie into court for child support for the three children he fathered.
When a reporter went to the city home of Nulls relatives Tuesday night, a woman who answered the door said the family had no comment.
Kontz and state police officials at the Montoursville barracks said they are providing background information on Null to state investigators at Swiftwater who are leading the case.
There is no evidence at this point to indicate that she was killed here, Kontz said.
A retired veteran FBI criminal profiler told the Pocono Record last week that the killer was someone with a need to shock and offend people.
Gregg McCrary, with 35 years of experience at analyzing crimes and crime scenes, told the newspaper that by dumping the body along a well-traveled road like an interstate, somebody wanted it discovered.
During his years with the FBI, McCrary of Fredericksburg, Va., worked on a number of crimes that were dismemberment cases, the newspaper reported.
The killer might enjoy the infamy while at the same time trying to avoid taking responsibility. Maybe he wanted to display the body where it would get public attention, he told the Pocono Record.
