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Rostraver Township Police and county detectives responded to the 900 block of Route 136 just before 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, after the child’s emergency call reported a shooting.
Officers arrived to find Chaplin, 34, standing in the driveway. Inside, they discovered Estela Rivera Vasquez, 35, lying on the basement floor near a door with a gunshot wound to the right side of her chest, officials said.
She was rushed to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.
Investigators recovered spent shell casings and a black firearm near Vasquez’s body. Chaplin, identified as her live-in boyfriend, was arrested at the scene.
Vasquez, originally from Guatemala, was the mother of three children, authorities said. The children were inside the home at the time of the shooting but were not physically harmed. They are now in the care of relatives.
Chaplin was charged with criminal homicide and denied bail, according to Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli.
On Tuesday, March 11, Chaplin appeared for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Judge John Christner, where the court heard 45 minutes of testimony from the Commonwealth. Following the hearing, the judge ruled that the homicide case against Chaplin will proceed to trial.
Chaplin remains in the Westmoreland County Prison without bail.
The district attorney thanked Rostraver Township Police Chief Scott Sokol and first responders from multiple agencies, including Pennsylvania State Police Belle Vernon, Monessen Police, West Newton Police, and Rostraver West Newton Emergency Services, for their assistance in the case.
All charges are accusations, and Chaplin is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
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