Elderly Man Charged With Murder Dies in Prison

An elderly man charged with killing his cousin and her husband over a land dispute in northeastern Pennsylvania has died in prison.
 
The Somerset County coroner says 76-year-old John DeSisti died early Monday at the state prison in Laurel Highlands, where he was incarcerated.
 
DeSisti was charged in the November 2006 shotgun slayings of his cousin, 60-year-old Carol Keeffe, and her 56-year-old husband, prominent Sayre attorney David Keeffe, in Athens Township, Bradford County.
 
Prosecutors said DeSisti killed the couple over a long-running dispute in which Carol Keeffe alleged DeSisti erected buildings on her property.
 
DeSisti's trial was pushed back several times. Experts, prison staff and family members testified at competency hearings that DeSisti had dementia, was incontinent and did not verbally respond to his caregivers, his attorneys or family members.