Ishemer Ramsey

Autopsy photographs and DNA analysis are in, but defendant Ishemer Ramsey’s attorney is still waiting on the ballistics report and other evidence related to the 2017 shooting death of Melissa Barto.

Ramsey, 22, of Lyndora is charged with homicide in the June 8 in the death of his girlfriend. He also is accused of burning and hiding her body with the help of a friend.

Ramsey appeared in court Monday for a discovery hearing with his court-appointed attorney, Christopher Capozzi, though little new information was revealed.

The defendant, who is being held in the Butler County Prison without bail, was not asked to speak and said nothing at the hearing before President Judge Thomas Doerr.

Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz told Doerr that since Capozzi filed his discovery motion Dec. 22, prosecutors have turned over a five-page DNA analysis and a computer disc containing 61 photos taken at Barto’s autopsy.

Capozzi said he is still awaiting laboratory reports for certain evidence collected in the state police investigation, including firearms and tool marks and latent fingerprints.

Schultz told Doerr that those reports have not been completed by the police lab.

Police allege Ramsey shot and killed the 26-year-old Barto of Butler in his vehicle during an argument over his belief that she had been unfaithful.

He is accused of soliciting the help of two other men — James E. Howard-George, 24, of Butler, and Joshua W. Bowser, 22, of Lyndora — in disposing of her body.

To learn which one of the co-defendants may wind up testifying for the prosecution at Ramsey’s trial, read Tuesday’s Butler Eagle.