Colin Abbott

A New Jersey man jailed for the gruesome murders of his wealthy father and stepmother on their Brady Township estate in 2011 continues to be unsuccessful in attempts to get his father’s millions.

Three years after 37-year-old Colin Abbott pleaded no contest to murdering Kenneth and Celeste Abbott, the courts still are denying him the fortune his father willed to him.

Prosecutors believe Colin Abbott, a one-time landscaper, shot Kenneth Abbott, 65, and his wife Celeste Abbott, 55, as part of a plan to erase $2 million in debt to his father and to inherit the couple’s $4 million estate.

Colin Abbott then dismembered their bodies and tried to cover up his crime by saying they were killed in a fiery car crash in New Jersey. But the plan unraveled when investigators found the couple’s remains burned and scattered on their 25-acre homestead.

Prosecutors took the possibility of the death penalty off the table in 2013, after Colin Abbott pleaded no contest to two counts of third-degree murder. He is serving 35 to 80 years in a state prison.

Court records suggest that just a month before his death, Kenneth Abbott, a pharmaceutical company retiree, updated his will to give most of his multimillion dollar estate to his son.

“The bulk of it will go to my son, Colin W. Abbott who has proven to me in the past few years he has become a hard worker, and a responsible person serious about improving his lifestyle,” Kenneth Abbott reportedly wrote in his will.

But under the state’s Slayer Act, people are not entitled to benefits or property belonging to people they have killed. And lawyers representing Kenneth Abbott’s estate have all along argued that because of that law, Colin Abbott is not entitled to his father’s belongings.

But lawyers representing Colin Abbott have asserted that the defendant did not plead guilty. Under a no contest plea, a defendant does not have to acknowledge guilt. Rather, that type of plea implies the defendant simply does not want to fight the allegations at a trial.

Butler County Judge S. Michael Yeager ruled in the estate’s favor, and now the state’s Superior Court has affirmed that decision.

“The only issue here is whether (Colin Abbott) was convicted of a qualifying crime. The record is clear on this matter: (Colin Abbott) was convicted of third-degree murder for the killing of his father, thus disqualifying him from receiving property or benefits under his father’s will,” the Superior Court wrote in a decision released Sept. 16.

“He was convicted of a qualifying crime,” said attorney Tom King of Butler, who represents the estate. “They don’t send people to jail who haven’t been convicted.”

Colin Abbott has 30 days from the day the Superior Court ruled to ask the state’s Supreme Court to hear the case. His attorney in this matter, Josh Lyons of Pittsburgh, declined to comment.

The bulk of Kenneth Abbott’s assets — including numerous tractors, a pricey car collection and horse riding gear — already were sold during auctions in 2013. The proceeds are in escrow pending the outcome of this case, with Kenneth Abbott’s sister, Kathleen Neal of Virginia, serving as executor.

The jewel of the estate, the property at 571 West Liberty Road, didn’t sell at auction with an initial asking price of $1.3 million.

Court records say interested buyers Broc and Dawn Hepler have offered $700,000 for the property, but the courts have stayed any sale until the Slayer Act matter is concluded.

Meantime, court records say the couple is paying $2,000 a month to live in the house.

In criminal court, Colin Abbott already appealed his conviction to the state’s Superior Court, alleging his pleas were not entered voluntarily, knowingly or intelligently.

In November 2013, the Superior Court affirmed the sentence decision. And the state’s Supreme Court later refused a request to hear the case.

Presently, Colin Abbott has a pending Post Conviction Relief Act request asking a county judge to dismiss the charges against him or, alternatively, grant him a new trial.

Defense attorney Christopher M. Capozzi of Cranberry Township, who represents Colin Abbott in the criminal matter, declined to comment for this report.