Washington County Coroner's Office

04/11/2026

After nearly a year, DNA extraction and analysis is completed, and the family is fully notified.

We can now both confirm, and release, the identity of the person whose skeletonized remains were found off of Interstate 70, behind Terrace Avenue, in Washington on May 24, 2025.

Robertson Wuyoch was last seen by his family on June 11, 2020 when he left their rental on Main Street to walk to the store. When he didn't return home, his family filed a missing persons report.

The drawstring of his hooded sweatshirt was found around his neck, the end of it entangled in a tree branch. The tree, in fact, grew around and enveloped the string.

He died as a consequence of hanging; there's not enough information to determine whether his sweatshirt drawstring got hung up on a tree, or whether his death was intentional; the act of su***de. We can say it was not a homicide.

Among his personal effects were his cellular phone and a facemask -- a relic of the COVID restrictions at the time.

This resolution was only possible thorough the cooperation of all of the agencies involved. The City of Washington Police Department, with which we investigated the death scene. The South Strabane Township Police Department, which took the inital missing persons report. Pennsylvania State Police Troop B, who provided forensic support, and the instructors and students of Mercyhurst University, whom assisted with the tedious process of gridding, documenting, scanning, and finally excavating the remains.

Ms. Beth Gandelman of Washington was our only link to Mr. Wuyoch's family. When our investigators reached out to her--totally out of the blue--to determine if she had any contact information about a family who moved out several years prior, she had no reason to trust or no obligation to help.

However, she did. And were finally able to reach Mr. Wuyoch's family both out of state and overseas.

We don't often post our news releases or case histories here, but we have Mr. Wuyoch's families permission.

Even though it's tragic that Mr. Wuyoch lost his life, his family now knows what happened. And more importantly, they now know where he is: back home with them in Micronesia.

As good of an outcome as could be expected, thanks to the amazing cooperation between all the agencies above and a concerned citizen.

04/10/2026

Many equate the coroner to a funeral director. They assume our job is to come out and pick someone up when they die.

No disrespect to our funeral director friends, who do their jobs compassionately, but our role is actually death investigation. Our job is to view the body, the scene, and to conduct interviews to determine how someone came to their death. Sometimes that includes an autopsy, and sometimes not.

We put the pieces of the puzzle together; we're detectives who work with the deceased.

But often, our jobs are more than that. They go beyond the 9-5 office hours, and the 24-hour on call shifts 7 out of every 21 days.

We meet people who on their worst days, and our job is to find fact while having compassion for the living and respect for the dead.

Meet Diamond: her human mom died, and the family took as many animals as they could, but Diamond is homeless. Diamond need her haircut, some veterinary care, and one heck of a manicure.

And so we share our compassion with animals, too. "Animals make us human," after all.

Right now, Diamond has no where to go. Our friends at the Washington Area Humane Society have no room at the inn, so for now, our investigators will "foster" her.

If you can find room in your heart and home, adopt a dog. Sometimes, their stories are just as sad as ours.

And to our friends in law enforcement, EMS, fire, healthcare, emergency dispatchers, humane officers, death care and all of the other unsung heros: thank you for doing what you do, everyday, even when it's hard.

To my team, thank you for caring for (and about) the animals just as much as you care about the people we work with--living and dead.

--Chief Deputy Yancosek

12/28/2025

This season reminds us of the importance of compassion. We are thinking of the families who have lost someone; today and always.

This Christmas, we wish you peace, and the comfort of warm memories.

09/17/2025

Our thoughts and prayers to our colleague Pam in York County, her team, and other York County first responders; and the families of those killed and injured.

PRAYERS FOR PA | Five officers were shot in York County, Pennsylvania, Wednesday afternoon. Three of the officers died and two are in critical condition. Authorities believe there is not an active threat to the public and they have not released what led up to the shooting. Gov. Josh Shapiro described it as an "absolutely tragic and devastating day for York County and the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania." https://www.wnep.com/article/news/nation-world/pennsylvania-shooting-involving-police/507-3f19df6b-299f-4a28-8d54-33eabac0f437?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WNEP-TV

07/17/2025

https://www.observer-reporter.com/news/local-news/2025/jul/11/coroner-seeks-information-20/

Hi, everyone:

There are a few reasons behind the Public Notices the Observer-Reporter publishes for us. Sometimes, it's because we've exhausted leads in researching family.

Often, it's an opportunity for ✨other✨ family/friends to claim the deceased.

For varied reasons, some families are unable--or unwilling--to claim them.

It's sad, but not everyone's family dynamic is ideal.

With that said, we currently have three individuals who remain unclaimed.

Bernard O’Neill, 57, DOB 5/4/1968, who died July 9. His most recent address was on East Hallam Avenue, in Washington.

Ruth Roscoe, 86, was born 5/23/1939, who died July 6. She last resided at Kadima Rehabilitation (formerly known as The Grove at Washington and prior to that, Kade).

Shane Fuller, DOB 9/11/1976 , who died July 5 as a resident of Premier Washington Health Center.

https://www.observer-reporter.com/news/local-news/2025/jul/11/coroner-seeks-information-20/

The Washington County coroner’s office is seeking information for three individuals. Bernard O’Neill, 57, was born May 4, 1968, and died July 9. He last resided at East Hallam Avenue, in Washington. Ruth Roscoe, 86, was born May 23, 1939, and died July 6. She last resided at Kadima Rehabilitatio...

07/05/2025

The WCCO team wishes everyone a safe and happy Independence Day!

06/26/2025

THANK YOU! Thanks to your help, we were able to locate Shelly Kelly's family.

The original post has been updated. Special thanks to all of those who shared the results of their own research, and to those who shared the post.

The Washington County coroner’s office is seeking information on Shelly Kelly, 65, who was born Aug. 2, 1959, and died June 24. She last resided at Blaine Avenue, Canonsburg. If you have information, please call the office at 724-228-6785.

06/25/2025

UPDATE: June 26, 2025: The community helped Shelly's family get in touch with our office, and now they can help her to rest in peace.

You know, a lot of the time, when research fails, involving the community (you!) succeeds. It's usually the "word of mouth."

Thank you for all of the suggestions, shares, and tips!

And thanks the Liz Rogers and the Observer-Reporter for their commitment to public service in running these announcements for us.

______________________________________________________
We need your insight to help locate family for Shelly Ann Kelly, DOB 8/2/1959; whose most recent address was Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Shelly was likely born in Maryland, and has lived in Maryland; North Carolina; Goochland County, Virginia; and Cambria, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton and Washington Counties in Pennsylvania.

She most recently resided with a boyfriend on Blaine Avenue in Canonsburg. He believes Ms. Kelly has a living sister, but he refused to provide our investigators, and those from Canonsburg Police, with details which might help identify/locate her.

If you knew Shelly and you might have information about any children or siblings, please contact us: [email protected] or 724-228-6785.

Special thanks to our genealogical researcher Diane Moore-Hoyt for her many contributions to this and many other investigations.

The Washington County coroner’s office is seeking information on Shelly Kelly, 65, who was born Aug. 2, 1959, and died June 24. She last resided at Blaine Avenue, Canonsburg. If you have information, please call the office at 724-228-6785.

05/21/2025

Hey Washington County! We've moved to a new location.

We hope you don't need to visit us; but if you do, we're here for you.

You'll find us at 371 West Chestnut Street in the City of Washington.

07/14/2024

Life is unpredictable, tragic, heartbreaking--it's downright hard. Mental health matters. We, along with our friends at the Pennsylvania State Coroners' Association want to remind you that help is available anytime -- text or dial 988. https://988lifeline.org/

07/09/2024

The staff members of the Washington County Coroners Office want to send our sincere thanks to the community and those beyond Washington County that went out of their way to try to help us locate family for Christina Danno.

There were as many questions as there were helpers. We thought we'd try to explain how we get to a situation like this.

First, some numbers: in 2023, we responded to 42 instances where someone had passed away and there was no known family at the time of their death.

This can be for a number of reasons: perhaps all of their relatives pre-deceased them, or perhaps they are estranged from their core family. Some are nursing and hospice patients whom did not have emergency contacts on file. Some had emergency contacts who were guardians or powers-of-attorney, which cease at death. Even still, some had family who were unable (and increasingly, unwilling) to take care of laying the deceased to rest.

A lot of times, those emergency contacts are well out of date. [When was the last time you updated yours?]

These 42 deaths are, in general, natural deaths that would not otherwise fit the criteria for a coroner's case. But when there's no family or no responsive family, we are able to take jurisdiction and take custody of the body for safe-keeping.

At this point, we'll begin our search for family. There's no one database to go to with all of this information--so we hit the streets!

We knock on doors and talk to neighbors. We call workplaces, doctors, and landlords. We subpoena records from hospitals. We search obituaries; we search law enforcement, consumer, and genealogical websites.

We put together a list of "known associates" and we start making calls and sometimes, visits.

It's when those leads don't pan out that we reach out to the community; the Observer-Reporter will run a public notice on our behalf, and if the situation warrants, we'll post the same to Facebook.

One question asked, "why do they want us to do the work for them?"

Now, don't get me wrong--we appreciate all of the effort our social media informants have gone to--but we've already conducted a skip-trace.

So, really, when we reach out to the public, we've hit one of these roadblocks:

1.) The deceased has truly outlived all of their known or apparent family.
2.) We've identified a legal next of kin, but can't make meaningful contact. (Phone calls don't get returned, doors don't get answered.)
3.) There is a legal next of kin, but the LNOK denies responsibility for the deceased.
4.) There is a legal next of kin, but the LNOK cannot afford to see to the deceased's final disposition.

Our hope with these public notices is that--among friends and family, church family, work family--someone may see a familiar name and facilitate contact with a family member who knows and loves the deceased.

There have been instances were friends, churches and co-workers have held a funeral of someone who was once unclaimed. We love to see that.

Sometimes, a someone who was never on our radar will get in contact with us--a close cousin, a former spouse, a god-daughter or a neighbor who was "like family."

I guess the Reader's Digest version of this post is, "it's more complicated than you might think."

Thank you for everything you've done. We are overjoyed to see so many wonderful people reaching out, trying to get Ms. Danno reunited with her family.

Oh, and back to the 2023 statistics... of those 42 people who were reported as unclaimed? For 23 of them, we were able to work with their families to get them to funeral homes.

16 were cremated and placed in our mausoleum. The majority of those were not because we couldn't find or contact family--but due to financial constraints or due to what's we'll call "complicated family dynamics."