A Westmoreland County judge has cleared the way for a 16-year-old cold case murder trial to proceed, rejecting a Derry Township man’s argument that the charges were filed too late.
In a ruling issued this week, Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger denied a motion to dismiss homicide and burglary charges against 55-year-old Charles Earl Ream.
Ream was charged nearly three years ago for the alleged murder of Samantha Lang in her Derry Township home.
Lang, 22, was killed March 30, 2007, at her residence on Route 982 near the village of Peanut. Her throat had been slit and a finger was broken when she was found about 9 p.m. in a pool of blood between the kitchen and living room.
Police said the home was a hotbed of drug activity and that Ream broke in during a robbery. Ream was originally arrested shortly after Lang’s body was found and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, which was a crime he pleaded guilty to and for which he received a one-year probation sentence.
State police continued to investigate the killing and charged Ream in 2023 — 16 years later — with criminal homicide, second-degree murder, burglary and attempted robbery.
His defense contended it took too long for police to charge Ream with the burglary and robbery offenses, claiming his arrest on those counts fell beyond the five-year statute of limitations.
Krieger rejected that argument, stating that because prosecutors contend the alleged burglary and attempted robbery are elements that led to Lang’s murder, the charges remain valid.
There is no statute of limitations for criminal homicide charges in Pennsylvania.
Krieger also denied a defense effort to have the murder charges dismissed. Defense attorney Marc Daffner argued there was insufficient evidence against Ream to support the charges.
“The commonwealth presented testimony from two witnesses who described the defendant’s admissions that he broke into the Lang residence, that he was looking for drugs and money and that he broke Ms. Lang’s finger and that he killed her,” the judge wrote.
According to court records, police said Ream told one witness in 2009 or 2010 at a motel in Monroeville that he broke into Lang’s home in search of money and drugs, found her under an end table, broke her fingers, ripped off her fingernail and stabbed her to death.
Prosecutors contend another witness told police she heard Ream admit to Lang’s murder during a conversation he had with her former husband in 2010 or 2011. She claimed Ream said, “I did it,” and later that he “had to do it” while looking for drugs.
Ream is scheduled to appear May 1 before Krieger for a hearing to update the status of his case. He is being held without bond in Westmoreland County Prison as he awaits trial. No trial date has been set.