Police use surveillance footage, witnesses to identify suspect in fatal Rostraver road rage shooting
Jan. 3—Investigators used surveillance footage and witness statements to identify a Belle Vernon man who they said fatally shot a woman in Rostraver in an act of a road rage 90 minutes into 2022.
Court papers released Monday indicate that Anthony M. Hairston, 26, formerly of Monessen, fired at a red SUV on Rostraver Road Saturday then drove to a bar nearby to continue a New Year's celebration for another hour.
A township officer on patrol before 2 a.m. found Holly B. Vadella, 59, of Rostraver, dead from a single gunshot wound inside a Toyota RAV4 that was stopped on the side of Rostraver Road near its intersection with Virginia Drive. Investigators said the vehicle's headlights were on and windshield wipers were running.
Township police and Westmoreland County detectives over the next several hours pieced together surveillance camera footage and found Vadella's SUV was being followed closely by a white Chevrolet Traverse with dark trim, according to court papers.
Two gunshots were heard on surveillance footage after both SUVs passed by, police said.
Authorities learned the white SUV pulled into Sweeney's Steakhouse on Rostraver Road about two minutes after the shots were fired, according to court papers. Hairston and three others were inside the bar until about 2:30 a.m.
Two of the people who were with him told authorities that they were at a New Year's party at Hairston's home when they decided to move the celebration to Sweeney's. While on the way there, the two witnesses said they came up behind a red SUV that was driving slowly and braking. When Hairston tried to pass the SUV, it swerved into his lane, the witnesses told police.
Hairston pulled out a gun, reached over the passenger and fired two shots at the SUV as he passed in a residential area of the township, according to court papers. Vadella was driving home from visiting her mother Dolores Coulson in the Lynwood section of Washington Township, Fayette County, on New Year's Eve, according to police and deed records. She was about a mile from her Pawnee Drive home in Fellsburg.
Police found the white Chevrolet Traverse parked outside of Hairston's home and learned just after noon Sunday that he had left in it and was headed to Interstate 70. Investigators apprehended him at the intersection of Route 906 and Interstate 70.
Vadella worked as a clerk-typist in the Office of Academic Success at California University of Pennsylvania, according to a spokeswoman. Family and friends could not immediately be reached.
Hairston is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison without bail on charges of homicide, unlawful possession of a firearm and driving on a suspended license while intoxicated. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 24.
Police said Hairston's license previously was suspended because of a drunken-driving offense and that he was prohibited from having a firearm because of a previous felony conviction.
He was sentenced in 2019 to four days to six months in jail and two years of probation in a 2017 drunken-driving case in Jefferson Borough, Allegheny County, according to online court records. He was sentenced in 2015 to five to 23 months in jail in a 2014 felony possession with intent to deliver case in Monessen.
Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .
