A 19-year-old has been charged with murder for the deaths of two teenagers in Schuylkill County late last year, Pennsylvania State Police said Wednesday.
Lamour Branch, of Port Carbon, was charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder and related charges for the October 2023 killings of 18-year-old Hunter Mock and 16-year-old Angelito Caraballo, local TV station WNEP reported.
The bodies of the two teenagers were found on Oct. 10 in a wooded area of New Philadelphia known as “the Sanchez,” described by authorities as an “old mining area filled with water where the locals socialize and have bonfires.”
Officials said Mock was found with a gunshot wound to the head, while Caraballo suffered multiple stab wounds. Both teens were pronounced dead at the scene.
On Wednesday, after an eight-month-long investigation involving hours of interviews, hundreds of digital forensic analyses and searches conducted by multiple agencies, state police announced Branch had been charged with murder in the teens’ deaths.
“We believe that Branch lured the victims to the Sanchez, where he ultimately murdered them,” Capt. Robert L. Bailey, commanding officer for Troop L, told reporters in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Branch, who was arrested on unrelated charges shortly after the double homicide, remains locked up in the Schuylkill County Prison, Bailey said.
District Attorney Michael O’Pake declined to comment on a motive for the killings but told reporters the suspect knew the victims.
“We know that they were friends,” O’Pake said.
Branch faces two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of third-degree murder and three counts of first-degree felony aggravated assault, among other charges. He was denied bail and now awaits a preliminary hearing on June 11.
