Police: Wrong man shot in mistaken I.D.; original target waits year to report
01/22/2016 4:08 pm PST
On a cold January 4, 2014, in the middle of the night on Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania, Timothy "Asti" Davison's SUV was rammed off the road by another truck. Davison dialed 911.
Davison identified the truck as a Ford Ranger. The driver of the truck allegedly turned around at the next exit and returned to the scene. Police say he pulled a gun and fired into 28-year-old Davison's silver Mitsubishi Montero. Davison was killed.
Police considered road rage and robbery as possible motives.
There was a $22,000 reward, later increased to $62,000, offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Cops found surveillance video captured during the shooting. It confirmed the suspect was driving a dark Ford Ranger, just as Davison had described.
Police received more than a thousand tips in the case before the one that really made a difference came in.
They now believe the killer is John Wayne Strawser Jr. of nearby West Virginia. Police say the murder was apparently a case of mistaken identity.
The significant tip came from a man who saw Davison's murder on the news and believed he was the intended target -- Jamie Breese drives a silver SUV, similar to Davison's.
"The tipster, Mr. Jamie Breese, advised that he and his wife had argued with the subject at times and to include the night of the homicide. And he'd been looking for them that particular night," said Pennsylvania State Police Capt. Adam Kosheba.
But Breese didn't call cops the next day. In fact, he waited for more than a year, and called only after he learned Strawser was arrested for an unrelated murder -- another person had been murdered in the interim.
Cops then found the murder weapon in a field near Strawser's home and were able to connect his DNA to a shell casing at the scene.
As for the reward, Davison's mother doesn't feel it should go to Breese, as waiting so long to call police allowed for another life to be taken.
Strawser has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. He's still in custody in West Virginia on the other murder charge.
