On the afternoon of May 13, accused killer Tyrone Good was moved from solitary confinement to a cell in general population at the Allegheny County Jail.
Twenty minutes later, he was dead, brutally beaten in his cell by a group of inmates, detectives said, who were meting out street justice.
Police Tuesday charged eight men in the attack, accusing them of assaulting Good in a revenge attack that left his cell bathed in blood.
Investigators believe the suspects were seeking vengeance because one had a close relationship with a woman Good was charged with killing in December. Police said Good beat and burned Michelle Sturdivant before driving her naked corpse to a North Side home and abandoning it.
Charged with homicide, conspiracy and tampering with evidence in the jail attack are: Kendall McKoy, Justin Allen, Delvonte Woodson, Jerrell Rockymore, Mark Beavers, Tavarius Lee, Shawn Davis and Anthony Schmitt. Several of the men were already being held in the jail in connection with violent crimes, charged with homicide or attempted homicide.
The criminal complaints against the suspects lay out in graphic detail the 6½-minute attack on Good, the video surveillance evidence investigators used to identify them, and their unsophisticated efforts to get rid of the bloodstained clothing they were wearing as they fled Good’s cell that afternoon.
What happened in Pod 4D
According to the criminal complaints, Good, 44, was attacked in cell 116 on Pod 4D at 12:44 p.m.
Just 20 minutes earlier, police said, Good had arrived on the pod from the Restrictive Housing Unit. He had been at the jail since April 14, when he was extradited to Pittsburgh from Georgia, following his arrest for allegedly killing Sturdivant, his girlfriend.
Those allegations, police said Tuesday, drove the fatal attack on Good a month later.
According to the criminal complaints, McKoy, 24, spoke with a woman he called “grandma,” in a recorded call from the jail the same day Sturdivant was killed.
In the call, “grandma” told McKoy that Sturdivant had been beaten and burned, and McKoy referred to the close relationship he had with Sturdivant and her son, whom he referred to as “his other half.”
Then, in another recorded call, on April 17, McKoy told an unknown male that Good was being held at the jail, police said.
On the day of the attack, the complaints continue, Good’s new cellmate left for lunch at 12:43 p.m., leaving the cell door partially open.
Although no video footage exists from inside the cell, cameras trained in the areas of the cell door captured the moments leading up to and after the attack.
At 12:44 p.m., police said, six inmates entered the cell: McKoy; Allen, 25; Woodson, 20; Rockymore, 18; Beavers, 27; and Lee, 20.
At the same time, Davis, 23, and Schmitt, 24, were seen standing at or near the cell as the initial assault occured, the complaint said.
Just under two minutes into the assault, the complaint said, Davis and Schmitt walked inside the cell and closed the door behind them.
At 12:50 p.m., all eight inmates left the cell and dispersed into different areas of the pod, leaving the door open, police said.
Eight minutes after that, Good emerged covered in blood.
“Good staggers across the pod to the correction officer’s desk where he collapses to the ground,” the complaint said.
Freedom of movement
After a medical emergency was called, Good was taken to UPMC Mercy, where he was pronounced dead at 1:55 p.m.
According to the complaint, Good’s cell had blood all over the floor, walls, toilet area and sink.
He died from blunt force trauma to the head, the complaint said.
Although the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office initially reported Good’s death as a stabbing, the criminal complaint said the forensic pathologist found evidence of “recent, fresh, superficial stab type wounds,” consistent with a shank that were not the cause of death.
Police said Good’s attackers also used a mesh bag to make wrist restraints, and that they covered the window in his cell.
The complaints identify McKoy as the driver of the attack.
As a podworker, the complaint said, he had the ability to visit other cells, police said, and talked to the majority of his co-conspirators moments prior to the assault. He was also the first to enter the cell, the complaint said.
“McKoy used this opportunity to coordinate an attack on Tyrone Good as a means of retribution for Good’s alleged involvement in the death of Michelle Sturdivant,” police wrote.
Seeking accountability
After the suspects fled the cell, investigators said, they made attempts to get rid of their own blood-soaked clothing.
Officers recovered two pairs of bloodstained men’s shoes from behind a pillar, two white shirts with bloodstains, a sock and six articles of jail-issued clothing.
Officers also found bloody clothing, including an article with McKoy’s inmate wristband in a pocket, in a garbage bag on the first floor.
Several of the suspects, the complaints said, had fresh injuries to their hands when confronted by investigators. Several of them also made phone calls immediately after the attack telling their loved ones they were “going to the hole” and had just assaulted someone, the complaints said.
Less than a week after the attack, a correctional officer at the jail was placed on unpaid leave, although officials declined to say why.
Warden Trevor Wingard declined to comment Tuesday evening.
Casey White, the attorney representing Good in his homicide case, said he appreciates the work law enforcement and prosecutors put into the investigation.
“His family will continue to grieve this tragic and preventable loss but look forward to seeing these individuals held accountable in our justice system,” White said.