Funeral service held for Betty Dehart; suspect charged

Betty Jane Dehart was laid to rest Sunday in Cedar Hill Cemetery. She was the mother of three, the grandmother of nine, the great-grandmother of thirteen and the great-greatgrandmother of four.

She was also the victim of a homicide Aug. 26.

Dehart was allegedly the last victim of Paul G. Devoe, 43, a man with a criminal history dating back to 1980. Police believe her murder was random, and that Devoe needed her car to continue his 1,800-mile flight from Texas, where he had just allegedly killed five people, to his home state of New York.

Dehart, 81, was a Greencastle native. She is remembered for her love of family. She was also known for her homemade coconut cake and her hobbies of gardening, reading, doing crossword puzzles and word searches, and taking trips.

She graduated with the Class of 1944 at Greencastle High School and worked at the Waynesboro Knitting Mill for 35 years. Her husband, Charles William Dehart, died in 1973.

The mother of Saundra Helm, Fayetteville; Cindy Lou Chilcoat, Greencastle; and Dennis Dehart, Mesa, Arizona, she lived alone at 15349 N. Young Road.

That is where she was found by a fugitive.

According to various law enforcement reports, police allege Devoe first drove in a stolen Dodge Dakota pickup to a bar in Marble, Texas, Aug. 24, where he shot Michael Allred, 41. He then went to a home in Jonestown and shot Paula Griffith, 46, her daughter Haylie Faulkner, 15, Danielle Hensley, 17, and Jay Feltner, 48.

Devoe allegedly stole Griffith's Saturn station wagon, which was later discovered in Dehart's driveway. He told authorities he had car trouble and saw Dehart on her porch. He told authorities he shot her in her home when she screamed, stole her Hyundai and drove to Shirley, N.Y., on Long Island. That is where he was arrested Aug. 27 by the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Devoe with criminal homicide, burglary, robbery and theft last Wednesday in District Magistrate Gary Carter's office. He is currently in Suffolk County (N.Y.) Jail, fighting extradition to Texas.

He is being held without bail and could face capital murder charges and the death penalty. He will be tried in Texas before any trial in Pennsylvania, according to authorities.