- Buck Evans, 46, charged with abuse of corpse and obstruction of justice
- Evans is accused of helping dispose of Keith Palumbo’s body after the 36-year-old was shot dead inside Philadelphia building owned by Warlocks MC
- Alleged Warlocks member Michael DeLuca faces charges of murder and conspiracy for allegedly killing Palumbo in February
- Palumbo’s body was found wrapped in bloodstained carpet inside crypt at disused cemetery in early April
- Another man’s body was found in the same crypt but his identification is still pending four months later
A Pennsylvania man has been charged in connection with the killing of a local musician, whose body was found rolled up in a bloodstained carpet inside an abandoned cemetery crypt.
Buck Evans, 46, was arrested last week on charges of abuse of corpse and obstruction of justice.
Evans, who has a lengthy criminal history, is suspected of helping cover up the murder of Keith Palumbo, a 36-year-old musician and tattoo artist from Drexel Hill.
According to police, Palumbo was fatally shot in the face inside a Philadelphia building owned by the notorious Warlocks Motorcycle Club back in February, as Philadelphia Inquirer first reported.
His body was discovered two months later inside a crypt at the shuttered Mount Moriah Cemetery, along with that of an unidentified man.
Evans has been jailed in Delaware County since February on unrelated charges.
Two other suspects associated with the Warlocks biker gang, Billy Gibson, 47, and Donna Morelli, 48, were previously charged with abuse of corpse for allegedly helping dispose of Palumbo’s body.
Michael DeLuca, 38, an alleged member of Warlocks MC, is suspected of summoning Palumbo to his apartment in the 7000 block of Woodland Avenue in Philadelphia on February 6 and shooting him in the head, then ordering Evans and Gibson to wrap his body in a carpet and hide it at the disused cemetery across the street from Morelli’s home.
Philadelphia police have issued an arrest warrant for DeLuca on charges of murder, conspiracy, abuse of corpse and other counts.
DeLuca is currently jailed in Wyoming on unrelated weapons. He is scheduled to stand trial there in September, after which he will be extradited to Pennsylvania.
Following his arrest, Evans was questioned by police and allegedly told them that DeLuca had shot Palumbo in the face in his presence.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Evans said he was standing so close to Palumbo that he was splattered with his blood.
The document makes no mention of a possible motive behind the killing.
DeLuca then allegedly went to Morelli’s home, told her he had killed Palumbo and asked for her help getting rid of his body.
Morelli allegedly told police she and the other suspects threw the victim’s body into the crypt, and then she burned Evans’ bloodstained clothes.
When Palumbo’s body was discovered on April 3, a second corpse was found in the same crypt.
Police Homicide Capt. Jason Smith has told the Inquirer that the other body is believed to be that of David Rossillo Jr, but he has not been positively identified pending DNA testing and no one has been charged in his death.
