September: Did Mirinda Boob Conspire to Kill Her Husband?

Mirinda Boob, 27, of Potter Township, Pennsylvania, located in the center of the state, was charged on Friday, September 4, 2009, of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the August 23rd shooting death of her husband, Samuel Boob, 29, the father of four small children that range in age from six months to 10 years. The charge was increased on Friday, September 11th to first-degree murder. She is also charged with solicitation to commit murder. The alleged conspiracy also involved at least one other person, Ronald Lee Heichel, 29, of nearby Bellefonte, who has also been charged with murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault and theft. Here is how the story unfolded.

According to a police probable cause affidavit, Samuel and Mirinda Boob awoke at approximately 8 a.m. on Sunday, August 23rd at their home, located in the 300 block of Tusseyville Road in Potter Township, to prepare themselves and their children for church in Penns Valley. While Mirinda was getting the children ready, Samuel went outside their house and walked into the garage where he encountered Heichel, who was armed with Samuel's shotgun. Heichel allegedly shot Samuel once in the left side of his chest as he stood near the garage door. After having been shot, Samuel took a step or two out of the garage and fell to the ground, at which time Heichel allegedly shot him again—in the left midsection of his back. Samuel died quickly, and Heichel purportedly fled the scene with the victim's shotgun.

Prior to the shooting, Heichel had been hiding inside Samuel Boob's garage where, according to the police, he had been text messaging with Boob's wife, Mirinda, purportedly to arrange with Mirinda how things would play out that morning. Heichel, said the police, wanted Mrs. Boob to go to church that morning because it would provide witnesses who could presumably give her an alibi. Heichel's text messages apparently included information that informed Mirinda that he was hiding inside the garage, and he told her to keep the children inside the house. The police offered no explanation regarding the type of relationship that may have existed between Mrs. Boob and Heichel prior to the morning of the shooting.

The investigation turned up two partial bloody footprints left near Samuel Boob's body. According to a search warrant, police seized clothing and footwear from Mirinda, including sandals with the word "American" manufactured into the soles. Interestingly, a police forensics unit discovered bloody shoeprints bearing the word "American" from the floor near the entrance to the garage.

"Our investigation to date has indicated that the actor or an accomplice stepped in blood after Samuel Boob was shot," the search warrant stated. The search warrant also noted that Boob's truck was parked in a grassy area about five feet in front of his body. It seemed out of place, and prompted investigators to wonder if it had been parked in that manner "to shield the location of his body from the roadway." The search warrant indicated that the interior of the truck would be examined for the presence of any blood evidence that may have been transferred to its interior given the fact that the bloody footprints were found near the body at the garage entrance. If such blood evidence turned out to be present inside the truck, it could indicate that the truck had been moved after Boob's death.

Police also said that Mirinda had been wearing American Eagle sandals bearing the word "American" on the soles when she was interviewed after her husband's death. Mirinda claimed that she had gone to her husband's aid when she saw him lying on the ground, bleeding.

According to Mirinda's account, she had gone outside that morning to ask Samuel if he had fed the dog. When he replied that he had not, she went back inside the house and fed the animal. She said that she showered at about 8:45 a.m., and at about 9:15 a.m. her husband cooked breakfast for the family. He then showered at about 9:45 a.m. Mirinda said that afterward, while she was getting the kids ready for church, she looked outside a window and saw her husband lying on the ground with a "big red blotch" on his side.

"Mirinda said she ran to his aid and called 911," read a portion of the warrant. "She stated Samuel was still breathing when she knelt by him and turned him onto his back. She described Samuel as bleeding from his mouth and that she held his head as he gasped for air."


In the meantime, police have said that Heichel had been involved in an automobile accident in 2001, in which he had suffered injuries to his brain and to his back. According to court documents, Heichel sued the person who allegedly caused the accident claiming that the injuries had caused him permanent "bilateral frontal contusions." In a protection order applied for by Heichel's ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, Heichel was alleged to be "very unpredictable and unstable due to a brain injury a couple of years ago…due to Ron's brain injury, he has had violent mood swings. Also, he has short term memory loss and can't remember what he did that day or any day. Ron sometimes spaces out and seems to not be in the present, like he is far away."


Although Mirinda has allegedly since told the police that Heichel had come to their home on August 23rd to confront her husband, the circumstances behind their relationship remain a mystery. However, investigators have said that another man was also being sent text messages from Mirinda's phone near the time of Boob's death.

The second man told police that he had received text messages from Mirinda Boob on the evening prior to her husband's death, and then met with her the morning after her husband had been shot. According to the police, the second man denied having "any contact with Mirinda Boob on Sunday, August 23, 2009…." However, a forensic analysis of the second man's cellular telephone—including an examination of his telephone records—will determine if the man had any telecommunication "with Mirinda Boob on the day of the murder."

"This continues to develop as we continue to investigate," District Attorney Michael Madeira said.

Madeira also said that it was too early to make any comment about whether the second man was being looked at as a potential witness, a victim, or as a suspect.

"Obviously he has some involvement with her," Madeira said. "But that doesn't necessarily mean he's involved in the murder."

As far as Mirinda Boob's phone is concerned, Madeira said that investigators had found text messages saying that she wanted to see her husband dead, and "six feet under." Investigators also alleged that she had provided "specific information" about her husband's whereabouts via her text messages.

"We'll probably miss his cooking the most," said Boob's boss at the Centre County Solid Waste Authority where Boob had worked for nine years as a mechanic. "He loved to cook, and frequently, when we'd have staff meetings, he'd cook something up rather than have us order out for pizza or subs…he was a happy-go-lucky guy who all the employees enjoyed working with. It's certainly a tragic situation, and we're all hoping it gets resolved quickly."