BUTLER TWP — State police Sunday arrested a Lyndora man on charges he fatally shot his 26-year-old girlfriend.

Ishemer D. Ramsey, 21, is being held without bail in the Butler County Prison on a charge of homicide.

But police still have not found the body of the victim, Melissa Barto of Butler, who they believe was killed Thursday.

Troopers, aided by a police helicopter, searched all day Sunday for the remains but to no avail.

Lt. Eric Hermick, who heads the police crime unit, acknowledged Sunday that police have been unable to narrow the search.

A witness told police that Ramsey claimed he shot Barto three times in the head with a .45-caliber pistol, according to court documents. The shooting happened during an argument in the defendant's car, the witness said.

Hermick said police have also spoken to two other people, who also claimed Ramsey made similar admissions about the killing to them.

The defendant was purportedly angry with Barto because he thought she was cheating on him, documents said.

When Butler Township police took Ramsey into custody following a traffic stop, his car reeked of bleach, and the passenger side seat was missing.

Police also are looking for the seat while trying to pin down a timeline of the events leading up to Barto's alleged homicide.

State police took over the case because investigators did not know where she was killed.

Hermick said while it is unusual, it is not unprecedented to charge someone with homicide, without a body. He said he believes the evidence collected so far warranted Ramsey's arrest.

“We believe there was conflict and an escalating argument that resulted in her death,” he said. “But we have not ruled out premeditation.”

He said he believed Ramsey had help in disposing the body. He declined to elaborate.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger admitted he had some qualms about charging Ramsey, with no body, but decided to move forward.

“We have independent evidence that he killed her, apart from the body,” Goldinger said. “We think we have enough evidence right now and can prove that he killed her.”

The investigation began about 10:40 a.m. Friday when Barto's mother showed up at the Butler police station to report her daughter missing from her North Main Street apartment.

Lisa Barto told police that she had last spoken to her daughter Thursday.

She became concerned when Barto failed to show up at her own daughter's kindergarten graduation.

Police said Lisa Barto tried unsuccessfully to contact her daughter later Thursday evening and on Friday.

City police spoke to other family members and subsequently entered Barto's name and personal information into the National Crime Information Center's missing persons' database.

Police on Saturday received several tips about the woman's disappearance.

One tipster mentioned seeing Ramsey on Thursday night “cleaning and cutting the carpet” of the passenger side floor of his vehicle at a Route 356 car wash in Butler Township, according to a police affidavit.

Another tipster, a woman, remembered seeing Ramsey and James Howard-George at the Walmart in Butler Township.

Investigators checked with store officials and discovered that at 12:27 a.m. Friday, the defendant had made a $23.03 purchase — 100 feet of rope and a tarp.

Howard-George had purchased a 12-pack of gloves for $2.09.

Trooper Brian Knirnschild along with two Butler police officers eventually interviewed Howard-George, 23, of Butler at the city police station later Saturday night.

He recounted that he had been at his home about 11 p.m. Thursday when Ramsey drove there. The two men later traveled in Ramsey's car during which he “began to vent” about Barto, documents said.

“Ramsey believed she was cheating,” the police affidavit said, “and stated that he wanted her gone.”

The defendant dropped off Howard-George at his home but later returned and picked him up again.

This time, documents said, Ramsey allegedly admitted to killing Barto, according to Howard-George's account to investigators.

Ramsey told Howard-George that he shot Melissa Barto in the head two times,” the affidavit said, “and she said 'you shot me,' so Ramsey shot her a third time.”

Howard-George recalled that he had seen blood on the front passenger seat of the defendant's Hyundai Tiburon.

Despite refusing Ramsey's request for help, Howard-George told police that the defendant forced him to go to Walmart.

He acknowledged that he purchased the gloves at the store and Ramsey bought the rope and tarp.

They drove to the car wash, documents said, where Ramsey cut out the carpet on the front passenger floor, and “cleaned the vehicle interior with bleach and detergent.”

Butler police about 7 p.m., while still conducting their missing person investigation, contacted Butler Township police to be on the lookout for Ramsey.

“They wanted to stop and talk to him,” said Butler Township Police Chief John Hays.

A short time later, township officers spotted Ramsey, and stopped him driving his car on Eagle Mill Road in Connoquenessing Township.

Officers were struck by the smell of bleach and saw a bottle of bleach in the car, court documents said. They noticed the missing front passenger seat. Also missing was the carpet on the passenger side floor.

“He was polite and cooperative with us,” Hays said.

Police said they found the defendant with a 1911-style .45-caliber pistol in a drop holster. A check of the gun, Hermick said, found that it was registered to a Butler woman.

He was detained and taken to the barracks in Butler Township.

But soon after investigators started talking to him, he asked for an attorney.

Police subsequently obtained a search warrant for Ramsey's car on Saturday night. A preliminary test determined there was blood on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Hermick said police recovered a .45-caliber slug, but no casing, in the car.

Investigators also took swabs of Ramsey's hands to test for gunshot residue.

In all, as of this morning, 13 search warrants have been issued to police. Most of those were for about six cell phones seized during the investigation.

The phones, belonging to the defendant and those who may have been in contact with him before and after the suspected homicide, could help nail down a timeline, Hermick said.

District Judge Wayne Seibel arraigned Ramsey on charges of homicide and tampering with physical evidence. He was booked into the county prison at 7:15 a.m. Sunday.