Holly Vadella insisted on going to her Rostraver home after ringing in 2022 with her mother.
The pair spent New Year’s Eve together, along with their dogs, at Dolores Coulson’s Fayette County home. Coulson testified in Westmoreland County court Tuesday she repeatedly asked her daughter to spend the night instead of heading home.
“She had a cat who was older and sickly, and she didn’t want to leave the cat alone all night,” Coulson testified. “I asked her one more time to spend the night, and she said no.”
It was the last time Coulson saw Vadella alive.
Testimony began Tuesday in the homicide trial for Anthony Hairston, 29, of Belle Vernon, who is accused of pulling the trigger of a 9 mm pistol as he passed Vadella’s SUV on Rostraver Road in Rostraver about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 1, 2022. Vadella, 59, was found in the driver’s seat of her Toyota RAV 4 with a fatal gunshot wound.
Prosecutors contend Hairston was driving a white Chevrolet Traverse to a bar when he opened fire.
“She was targeted and killed because she was driving too slow for the person behind her,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said during opening statements to jurors.
Hairston is charged with homicide, possession with intent to deliver, possession of a firearm, conspiracy and tampering with evidence. Ciaramitaro indicated prosecutors are seeking a conviction of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Ciaramitaro said prosecutors intend to present to the jury surveillance video from nearby homes that shows Hairston’s white SUV traveling behind Vadella’s Toyota. That video evidence will include the sound of an engine revving and two gunshots, Ciaramitaro said.
Witnesses who were in the SUV with Hairston are expected to testify Wednesday, including his co-defendant Shaquala L. Poole, 32, of Uniontown. She is charged with hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence and possession with intent to deliver. A status conference in her case is set for Dec. 9.
Defense attorney Brian Aston asked jurors during opening statements to keep an open mind as they’re listening to evidence in what he acknowledged was a senseless killing.
“The only thing we’re asking is that you be fair,” he said.
Rostraver Officer Brian Dove testified Tuesday that he came upon Vadella’s SUV at 1:42 a.m. and called for help when he realized she had been shot. Vadella’s dog in the passenger seat was not hurt.
Vadella had been shot near the left collarbone, and the bullet exited near her right underarm, forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers testified. That bullet was found in her clothing, Westmoreland County Detective John Swartz said.
He also found a bullet in the door of Vadella’s SUV, as well as shattered glass inside it and on the road. A plastic piece from the car’s driver’s side mirror was found about 273 yards from where the SUV stopped.
Hairston and the three women in his SUV arrived at Sweeney’s Steakhouse in Rostraver at 1:36 a.m., according to surveillance video from the establishment that has since closed. Brandon Jericho, who worked in the bar then, testified that he served the group before shutting down for the night.
Hairston was arrested during a traffic stop Jan. 2, 2022. Swartz said he and other investigators searched Hairston’s SUV, 3 miles of Rostraver Road on foot and the parking lot and trash at Sweeney’s but did not find any shell casings.
The pistol suspected to have been used in the shooting was found in a bag that was in Poole’s possession at the Belle Vernon home where they lived, Swartz testified. Authorities also found cocaine during a search of the home Jan. 3, 2022.
Hairston previously rejected a plea deal with prosecutors that called for him to plead guilty to charges of third-degree murder and a weapons offense in exchange for a prison term of 25 to 50 years. In a new case filed this month, he is accused of having his girlfriend make a post on his Facebook page Aug. 17 that Poole said she felt threatened by, according to court papers.
Authorities did not detail in court papers what the post said but an Aug. 17 post on Hairston’s page includes two pictures of Poole’s statement to police in Vadella’s death and a reference to his upcoming trial.
He is awaiting a Nov. 12 preliminary hearing on charges of intimidation of a witness, retaliation and conspiracy. Aimee Joy Miller, 28, of Avalon, is facing the same charges.