Martel enters plea in 2018 murder

A Hallstead woman pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy – murder of the third degree for her part in the Sept. 3, 2018 death of John Amrein.

Andrea Martel, 22, entered the plea on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019 in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18,

Since her arrest, Martel has been held without bail in the Susquehanna County Correctional Facility.

In addition to Martel, a New Milford man was also charged with Amrein’s murder.

Quentin Millard, 23, is scheduled to stand trial later this month. Jury selection in the case is slated for Monday, Jan. 13, with the trial scheduled to begin on Monday, Jan. 20.

Details in Amrein’s death emerged during Millard’s preliminary hearing held in late 2018 in New Milford District Court. According to testimony given at that time, the 52-year-old Oakland Twp. man, was killed with a machete, and had been shot in the thigh on his Sept. 3 birthday that coincided with the Labor Day holiday.

During the preliminary hearing, Susquehanna County Coroner Anthony Conarton testified that a sharp instrument had been used to make multiple chopping cuts primarily to Amrein’s head. The wounds cut through the man’s face, skull and penetrated into his brain.

Amrein had also sustained a gunshot wound to his left thigh that would not have been fatal, according to the coroner’s testimony.

Testimony from Tpr. Girard Dempsey Jr., Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Investigator, was also offered at the 2018 preliminary hearing. He said a statement from Millard had been recorded at the time of the his arrest.

Tpr. Dempsey told the court, Amrein had been killed at the Martel residence on Madison Circle, Great Bend Twp.

According to the officer’s testimony, Millard told police that he and Amrein became engaged in a physical altercation at the door of Martel’s residence, and the struggled over a handgun. Millard told police he struggled on the floor with Amrein and got the gun from him, then fired four or five shots at the man.

According to the testimony, Millard told Tpr. Dempsey he retrieved a machete that was in the wall and struck Amrein “until he stopped moving.”

Millard and Martel then cleaned the residence and disposed of Amrein’s body and vehicle later that day, the trooper said.

Amrein’s body was located Sept. 5, in a wooded area on a property located on the Highlands Road, and hidden by a camel-colored covering with wood piled on top of it.

The trooper noted in his testimony that Amrein’s girlfriend, Rachel Ayers, had reported him missing to police after he didn’t return home following a trip to the grocery store the morning of Sept. 3.

Martel and Amrein had worked together at a FedEx facility in New York.

In addition to a criminal homicide charge, Millard has also been charged with abuse of a corpse.