Testimony begins in Geistown homicide case; jurors visit scene
Sep. 26—EBENSBURG — Testimony began Monday in the case of a man accused of killing a Johnstown woman who came to his Geistown apartment to purchase a miniature refrigerator.
Joshua Michael Gorgone, 27, faces charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, theft, tampering with evidence, possession of a controlled substance and abuse of a corpse connected with the April 5, 2021, killing of 54-year-old Denise Williams inside his Old Scalp Avenue apartment.
Police said Williams, of Hornerstown, was found dead of at least 68 stab wounds in Gorgone's apartment on the day after she was reported missing when her family was unable to contact her after she left Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center on April 5, 2021, where she worked.
According to Assistant District Attorney Joseph Green, 11 of the stab wounds were to Denise Williams' neck, eight to her chest, two of the 68 wounds were fatal and all contributed to her death.
The jurors started their day by visiting Gorgone's former apartment to see where the alleged murder occurred.
Once testimony began, the jury heard from Karlee Williams, who testified that she, along with her 4-year-old son, lived with her mother Denise for eight years prior to her death.
Karlee Williams said that on April 5, 2021, her mother worked from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., while she worked from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. She had spoken to her mother in the afternoon shortly after lunchtime to discuss an online order that they had split. When Karlee Williams arrived home at 4:30 p.m. and picked up her son from day care, her mother was not home, but her purse and work bag were in the kitchen.
Karlee Williams said that it was not uncommon for her mother to leave these items behind, especially if she was running quick errands and would soon be home.
Karlee Williams said that about an hour later, when she took her son to his father's home, she continued to be concerned as her mom did not return multiple phone calls and was still not home. She said other family members had not heard from her.
The daughter said this was when she tracked the location of her mother's phone using her own phone and saw that it was in the West End section of the city.
After going to look for her mother and not seeing her mother or her mother's vehicle, Karlee Williams returned home and called 911 to tell them her mother was missing and gave them the location of her phone.
She then attempted to call OnStar but was unable to access information from the company. In a continued search for answers, she asked her mother's boyfriend if he knew where she could be. He said that she had mentioned purchasing a refrigerator.
Karlee Williams said this was the first she heard of the transaction. She logged into her mother's Facebook account and was able to obtain the address of where she went.
She once again called 911 to report the information, but also went to the location. She testified that she did not see her mother or mother's vehicle, but saw a man walking around outside. She then pointed to Gorgone in the courtroom.
Kristy Ewing, a co-worker of Denise Williams, testified that on the day of April 5, 2021, that Denise Williams had told her and other co-workers about purchasing the mini fridge and that a group of coworkers showed some concern about the transaction after she shared the "Thraxx Mula" Facebook account that she had communicating with for the transaction, which was later identified as Gorgone's.
"We thought it was a place she should not be going," Ewing said, adding that Denise Williams agreed to call the nurse's station once she arrived and left the apartment and had done so around 2:45 p.m. as she was going to MERHO Credit Union to obtain funds for the purchase.
Malany Wilson, a teller from the credit union, waited on Denise Williams both times she stopped by that day. The first was to get money for her daughter and the other for the refrigerator transaction.
Wilson said that Denise Williams had asked her if she had ever made a purchase from Facebook Marketplace before and proceeded to tell her about the refrigerator she found.
"She said that she found a mini fridge for her boyfriend's 'man cave,' and she was excited about it," Wilson said.
Security footage showed Williams excitedly using her hands to describe the refrigerator to Wilson.
Cambria County Detective Amanda Fox said that she received a call in the early hours of April 6 to go to the scene of the homicide.
Photos of the scene shown during Fox's testimony show a bloodstain at the foot of a bed next to the miniature refrigerator and a small marker placed by police where a bent kitchen knife was found several feet away.
Fox read a series of texts from the days leading up to the murder in which, she testified, Gorgone was telling a number of people he was "sick," coming off of dope and did not have money.
On the day of the murder, Gorgone asked an individual named "Fuzzo" if he still had the white (stuff) because he now had a vehicle. The text was sent after the murder.
The final text message read into record was to an individual as "Dad" in Gorgone's phone that said: "If I can do what I did nor dope and hurt people the way that I did then I deserve to go through this in the worse way," Fox read.
Testimony will continue at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
