In a chilling development from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, a California truck driver stands accused of murdering his colleague and leaving the body by a roadside during Memorial Day weekend, according to court records unveiled on Tuesday.
Authorities arrested 25-year-old Ilia Romanchenko in Florida early on Sunday morning. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff deputies apprehended him at 4:19 a.m. after he had traveled from Philadelphia, as detailed in the probable cause affidavit submitted by the Pennsylvania State Police.
The gruesome discovery occurred when troopers responded to a report of a body found along the 1800 block of River Road in Londonderry Township on Saturday. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds and significant head injuries, according to the affidavit.
The Dauphin County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as 53-year-old Oleksandr Hurianov, also from California, and officially ruled the death a homicide.
The State Police coordinated with other law enforcement agencies to cross-reference missing persons reports in hopes of identifying the victim. Later that day, an officer from Middlesex Township Police informed them of a woman who reported her husband, Hurianov, missing for 10 hours. Photographs provided to the State Police confirmed the victim’s identity as Hurianov.
After Troopers spoke with the owner of the trucking company, they learned Romanchenko and Hurianov were driving partners, the affidavit said. Furthermore, Troopers said the owner told them they saw from a GPS system that the truck Romanchenko and Hurianov were driving was not where it was supposed to be.
Court documents show the owner called Romanchenko, who said he and Hurianov got into a fight.
The GPS logs further showed the truck was stopped near where Hurianov’s body was found for about five minutes before it continued to a Royal Farms in Ridley Park, Delaware County. Two members of the trucking company who were sent to recover the truck saw blood in the vehicle and alerted police, according to the affidavit.
State Police said the Royal Farms’ surveillance camera recorded Romanchenko throwing a plastic bag in a trash can, and there were visible injuries to his hands.
According to court records, Romanchenko faces criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, possession of an instrument of crime with an intent to use it, and tampering with evidence charges.