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Derek Louk, left, and Courtney Boden (Boden’s mugshot from Bedford County Correctional Facility via NBC affiliate WJAC in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Louk’s mugshot from Altoona, Pennsylvania, CBS affiliate WTAJ-TV)
A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced for helping a man burn the body of her estranged boyfriend and father of her children, clean blood stains from a vehicle, and try to sell the murder weapon — an AR-15 rifle — in a botched cover-up of the crime last year, prosecutors said.
Courtney S. Boden, 25, was sentenced to 2 to 12 years in the cover-up of Tyler Matthai’s murder, officials said. She pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse, two counts of conspiracy to that abuse, and four counts of tampering with evidence, prosecutors said.
“Mr. Matthai was brutally murdered and, to make a horrific situation even worse, his body was burned and moved to prevent investigators from finding the killer,” said Attorney General Michelle Henry in a statement. “While Ms. Boden did not pull the trigger, she received this significant prison sentence because she played a key role in the attempted cover-up.”
It all went down on April 26, 2022, when authorities say Matthai’s cousin Derek Edward Ashley Louk allegedly shot Matthai twice with an AR-15 rifle after Matthai burst into his home and dragged Boden into a car outside.
Louk then allegedly dragged his corpse to a hole in his yard, buried it under tires, doused it in kerosene and burned it for six hours while he slept, authorities said in a criminal complaint and affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
Louk, 29, faces charges of first and third-degree murder and criminal homicide, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse, tampering with/fabricating physical evidence, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. His case is pending.
The May 14, 2022, criminal complaint and affidavit document the case and includes statements Louk allegedly made to police after his arrest at his home.
Louk allegedly said he and Boden had been friends since he moved to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, seven years earlier. Matthai and Boden had an abusive relationship, he allegedly said, according to the document.
Louk allegedly said Matthai busted into his front door, dragged Boden from his living room, and threw her in her Pontiac’s back seat.
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Louk allegedly told investigators he retrieved an AR-15 rifle from inside his house, went back outside and fired a single shot that struck Matthai in the right arm while standing next to the Pontiac sedan’s driver’s side door. He allegedly said Matthai then leaned into the car and he fired a second shot striking him in the back, the documents said.
After allegedly shooting Matthai, Louk knew he was dead because he checked for a pulse on Matthai’s neck multiple times, according to the affidavit.
Louk allegedly dragged his cousin’s body across his yard and placed it in a hole in the ground. He put tires on top of the body and poured kerosene on the pile before lighting it on fire, the document said.
Louk said the fire burned for what he believes to be six hours while he went to sleep. When he woke up the following morning, he shoveled dirt on where he had burned Matthai’s corpse, he allegedly said, according to the document.
Authorities said a relative told police Boden stated that Matthai had been doing drugs and was high that night. She said he was physical with Boden, and Louk told him to stop, or he would shoot him, court documents said.
The woman said Boden told her he did not stop, and Louk allegedly shot him in the upper left arm, according to the affidavit said.
Boden told the witness that she stopped the bleeding, and Matthai began doing more drugs, overdosed and died.
“She related they then disposed of the body and belongings in an unknown manner, but there was nothing left of the body,” the affidavit said.
Boden tried to clean bloodstains from a vehicle, destroy other evidence, and tried to sell the murder weapon, prosecutors said.
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