A Pennsylvania man faces up to 100 years behind bars for brutally beating a police informant, pumping him full of fentanyl, and then hurling his body off a bridge.
Steven Gaddis, 28, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and intimidation of a witness in connection with the 2024 death of 25-year-old Matthew Whisman, WHTM reported.
Gaddis, along with the victim’s own cousins, Alexander Whisman and Jeremy Absher, were arrested in October and accused of killing Whisman over his plan to cooperate with cops investigating a shooting in Maryland in January.
Whisman arrived at a home in East Drumore Township — 65 miles west of Philadelphia — on April 3, 2024, when Gaddis went through his phone and discovered a message indicating he was working with police, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
Gaddis and the two other men, aged 25 and 17 at the time, then dragged Whisman into a bathroom and beat him senseless before allegedly forcing him to shower to wash away any evidence.
The trio then took him to the basement and fed him when Gaddis allegedly approached Whisman and asked, “How would you feel if it’s your last supper?” causing the victim to drop his head and weep, court documents said.
Gaddis then loaded up two syringes with fentanyl and the three men “forced Whisman into a vehicle and injected him with a lethal dose of fentanyl,” the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said.
The men then allegedly tossed Whisman’s body off a bridge.
Before the killing, police say everyone except Gaddis left their phones at the home, WHTM reported.
State police received a missing person report for Whisman in July.
As police looked into his disappearance, a “witness told investigators he knew something ‘horrible’ had happened to Matthew Whisman and that Alexander Whisman, Gaddis, and Absher were responsible,” officials said.
A camp counselor discovered Whisman’s remains in August on the bank of a creek near a hiking trail in Cecil County, Maryland.
All three suspects were charged with 11 offenses in October — including murder, kidnapping to facilitate a felony, and intimidation of a witness.
Absher had fled to Mayesville, South Carolina, after Whisman’s disappearance, but had already been extradited to Lancaster County on unrelated charges when charged with the 25-year-old’s death.
Alexander Whisman was already locked up at Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center, and Gaddis at Chester County Prison, both on unrelated charges.
All three men were allegedly known heavy drug users, with Gaddis reportedly high on meth the night of the killing, WHTM reported.
In addition to his guilty plea in Whisman’s death, Gaddis also pleaded guilty Friday to charges related to a shooting at a house party in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, the same month he killed Whisman.
He will spend the next 43-100 years in jail.
Both Absher and Alexander Whisman are pending trial. Absher is due back in court on April 23.
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