The defendant on trial may not have pulled the trigger, but he was still part of a conspiracy to kill a Murrysville businessman, an Allegheny County prosecutor told a jury Monday.
“William Fortuna was a full participant,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Robinowitz said. “He was knee-deep in the conspiracy to kill George Dayieb.”
Dayieb was shot in the back of the head as he sat in the passenger seat of a work truck traveling in Butler County on Dec. 27, 2023.
His body was found two days later buried under pillows in a trailer at a Clarion County camp.
Fortuna, who allegedly provided the murder weapon, is charged with criminal homicide, along with Jeremy Fisher and Braden Elliott.
Elliott, 22, of Chicora admitted to firing the shot that killed Dayieb, allegedly at the behest of Fisher, his uncle. Elliott is expected to testify this week against Fortuna. He told police Fisher promised to get him a new truck in exchange for killing Dayieb.
Fisher, 43, of Coraopolis will be tried separately before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos on July 27.
According to prosecutors, Elliott is expected to plead guilty to third-degree murder as part of a deal with the district attorney’s office.
Investigators said Fisher wanted Dayieb dead because Fisher owed him $400,000 that he had borrowed to buy construction equipment.
Coded language
During opening statements Monday afternoon, Robinowitz told the jury he would show them text messages and video that tracked the men’s movement that day.
Around 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2023, Dayieb met Fisher at a Sunoco gas station on Broadhead Road in Coraopolis. Dayieb expected to be paid that day through a wire transfer, police said.
Security footage from the gas station showed Dayieb get in Fisher’s truck. Fisher drove, while Elliott was in the back seat.
According to Robinowitz, Fisher, Elliott and Fortuna were all texting back and forth that morning, using coded language to discuss the shooting.
At one point, Fortuna, who worked for Fisher, wrote to Elliott, “It has to be done now,” the prosecutor said.
However, when Elliott attempted to fire the gun, it wouldn’t work, Robinowitz said.
Fisher pulled over at a gas station in Portersville, Butler County, and unknown to Dayieb, Fortuna met him there and fixed the problem with the gun, police said.
They resumed driving, Robinowitz said, when Fisher sent his nephew a text saying “Now.”
Elliott then fired a single shot, killing Dayieb, according to Robinowitz.
Afterward, Fisher and Fortuna both pulled over into a gravel lot and instructed Elliott to get rid of Dayieb’s body, the prosecutor said.
Elliott drove Fisher’s truck, with Dayieb’s body inside, to the Clarion County camp, Robinowitz said.
He dragged the body inside and covered it with pillows, Robinowitz said. But when Elliott went to leave, he got the truck stuck in mud. Fortuna drove to the camp later that day to help but couldn’t get him out, according to the prosecution.
Fortuna, 61, of Conway returned with heavy equipment the next day, the prosecutor said.
Robinowitz also told the jury they would see additional video evidence showing both Fortuna and Elliott at a truck wash later that day having their vehicles cleaned.
‘A good manipulator’
Defense attorney Stephen Colafella told the jury in his opening statement his client didn’t know what he was getting into that day.
Fortuna, Colafella said, had worked for Fisher for about a year and a half operating an excavator but had been planning to quit at the new year. Fisher gave the appearance of a running a robust construction business, Colafella said, but in reality, he was in large amounts of debt.
“Jeremy Fisher is a good talker, a good liar and a good manipulator,” the attorney said.
On the morning of the shooting, he continued, Fortuna believed he was simply following Fisher to Butler County so he could drop off his truck for service. Fortuna was to drive him back.
“That was all that was supposed to happen that day,” Colafella said.
His client, he continued, knew nothing about a planned murder. He just knew Fisher told him to follow him, Colafella said.
However, after Elliott took Fisher’s truck, and Fortuna drove Fisher back to the Pittsburgh area, Colafella said, Fisher barely spoke.
Then, Fortuna saw Fisher throw something off the Sewickley Bridge.
“Bill’s shook,” Colafella said. “This doesn’t look good.”
Colafella acknowledged the next day, Fortuna went up to help Elliott get his truck out of the mud at the camp. But, he said, “My client never saw that body.”
The trial is expected to last through the end of the week.