Alyssa Rose Weist, a 25-year-old microbiologist, was shot dead while attempting to escape from her boyfriend, according to police
NEED TO KNOW
- Alyssa Rose Wiest, 25, was discovered facedown on the sidewalk near her home in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania with gunshot wounds to her torso
- Detectives determined after an initial investigation that she fled from her killer after they opened fire inside her home. She made it halfway down the block before being fatally struck
- A warrant was issued for Wiest’s boyfriend of two years, Michael Dutkiewicz, who turned himself into police less than 12 hours later
A Pennsylvania woman is dead and her boyfriend is in police custody following a fatal shooting early Sunday morning.
Alyssa Rose Wiest, 25, was found facedown on the sidewalk with obvious gunshot wounds at around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
That release said that an initial investigation into the incident by detectives, along with evidence found at the scene, suggested that Wiest was trying to escape her killer as “they began firing bullets at her inside her home.”
Wiest was then able to make it out of her front door and halfway down the block before being fatally shot, according to the release.
Less than 12 hours later, 26-year-old Michael Dutkiewicz turned himself into police after a warrant was issued for his arrest, said a spokesperson for the MCDAO.
He and Wiest had been dating for two years.
Wiest was immediately rushed to the hospital to receive treatment once authorities arrived on the scene, but the MCDAO said she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Lankenau Hospital, located less than 10 miles from the scene of the shooting.
Meanwhile, the West Conshohocken Borough Police and Montgomery County Detectives began a joint investigation into the shooting by examining the evidence and attempting to locate any eyewitnesses.
“The investigation found that the door to the victim’s residence, a few doors from where she was found, was ajar, and there was blood found both inside her residence and along the sidewalk leading to her body,” per the news release. “Montgomery County Detectives processed the scene and recovered five projectiles, located both inside the residence and outside by the body.”
At the same time, detectives began to speak with eyewitnesses from the neighborhood who had seen the aftermath of the shooting.
One neighbor allegedly told detectives that Dutkiewicz had been standing by his truck shortly after the shooting and then quickly fled the scene.
Detectives were then able to track Dutkiewicz’s movements by using license plate readers, which showed his truck traveling through the area almost immediately after Wiest’s death.
They also found a suitcase of men’s clothing outside the home and a cell phone at the bottom of the stairwell that they “believed to belong to Dutkiewicz,” according to a copy of the criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
Dutkiewicz is now charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime.
He was arraigned Sunday afternoon and is due back in court on May 27 for a preliminary hearing. Dutkiewicz is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility where he will likely remain until trial because first-degree murder suspects are not eligible for bail in the state of Pennsylvania.
Dutkiewicz has not yet entered a plea, and court records show he had previously been convicted of disorderly conduct for engaging in fighting last month.