A Beaver County man will serve the rest of his life in prison after a jury on Monday convicted him of first-degree murder in the 2023 shooting death of Murrysville businessman George Dayieb.
William Fortuna, 61, of Conway, showed little reaction Monday afternoon as the foreman read each count — criminal homicide, first-degree murder — guilty; criminal use of a communication facility — guilty; tampering with evidence — guilty; abuse of corpse — guilty; criminal conspiracy — guilty.
Two rows behind him, in the gallery, Dayieb’s longtime girlfriend cried quietly and lifted her head toward the heavens.
Fortuna, who had no previous criminal record but was accused of providing the gun used to kill Dayieb, will be sentenced on Aug. 24.
Pennsylvania law calls for a mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder, which requires premeditation. In the Dayieb case, investigators said that Fortuna and two other men plotted to kill the victim the day before he was killed.
The Allegheny County jury deliberated for a few hours Friday afternoon before returning Monday morning.
The verdict was delivered just before 2 p.m.
Defense attorney Stephen Colafella said his client plans to appeal.
“We are disappointed but respect the jury’s verdict.”
The crime
Dayieb, 57, was killed along Route 422 in Butler County the morning of Dec. 27, 2023, but the crime, police said, began earlier that day in Allegheny County when Dayieb met Jeremy Fisher and Fisher’s nephew, Braden Elliott, at a Sunoco gas station on Broadhead Road in Coraopolis.
Dayieb, who had loaned Fisher $400,000 to buy an excavator, thought Fisher was going to pay him back.
Instead, investigators alleged that Fisher plotted with Fortuna and Elliott, to kill Dayieb.
Prior to meeting, Fisher removed the head rest from the front, passenger seat and put a blanket over the seat, police said.
Elliott rode in back behind Dayieb.
Fortuna, who police alleged provided the weapon used to kill Dayieb, traveled behind them in his own truck.
Elliott, who agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for a plea to third-degree murder, told the jury last week that he and Fisher, Fisher and Fortuna, and Elliott and Fortuna, all exchanged text messages that morning as they drove referring to the planned shooting.
His uncle told Elliott to talk in coded language — to refer to Dayieb’s body as a “pipe” and the murder weapon as a “nail gun.”
Elliott testified that when he first tried to shoot Dayieb, the gun didn’t work. Fisher stopped at a gas station, police said, where Fortuna fixed the problem.
A short time later when they were back on the highway, Fisher texted Elliott “Now,” and he shot Dayieb in the back of the head.
Then Elliott texted Fortuna and wrote, “Got it done.”
Elliott testified that his uncle then pulled the truck over and told Elliott to drive to a camp in Clarion County, where he left the body.
Fortuna drove Fisher back to Allegheny County.
Fortuna, on Friday, testified in his own defense and said he was not aware there was any plot to kill Dayieb, but that afterward, he was fearful of Fisher.
Fisher is scheduled for trial on July 27.
Although the crime spanned three counties, the case is being prosecuted by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office because it is part of a single criminal episode that began in its jurisdiction.