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Lisa Marie Stavish, 41, a Passaic, NJ native, was discovered unresponsive in her cell on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, according to Wendy Nicholas, superintendent of SCI Muncy. Prison staff attempted life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived, but Stavish was pronounced dead at 6:07 a.m.
Stavish was serving a 7-to-20-year sentence for third-degree murder in the death of David McEntire, a husband and father of four whose remains were burned in a fire pit behind a home in Pocono Township. Stavish admitted to injecting McEntire with a lethal mix of cocaine and bleach, known as a “hot shot,” during the 2005 murder orchestrated by ringleader Anthony Caiby.
Stavish and her co-defendant, Edwin Kelly, testified in the 2016 trial against Caiby, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The killing, described by prosecutors as “brutal,” involved McEntire being beaten, shot, and ultimately poisoned in the basement of a house Kelly referred to as a “crack house.”
Stavish had been returned to SCI Muncy as a parole violator just three days before her death.
On her Facebook page, Stavish described herself with the quote: “Death isn’t the greatest tragedy in life. Tragedy is what dies inside of us while we are still alive…” Her last post was on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating, and the Lycoming County Coroner’s Office will determine her official cause of death. Her next-of-kin has been notified, officials said.
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