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Black teen identified as victim in barrel

PITTSBURGH — Human remains found in a barrel last month belong to a black teen beaten with a baseball bat by a white man whose friends said hated blacks, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

The complaint was filed Sept. 10 and charged Jon Anthony Black, 32, of Yukon with criminal homicide, for allegedly killing Rodnell Donte Burton, 17. The attack allegedly occurred at a mobile home in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, in late March, when Burton's family had reported him missing.

Burton's body was dumped into the Conemaugh River, near Blairsville.

Black surrendered to police Saturday in Danville, W.Va., and is being held pending extradition. The district judge who will arraign Black in Pennsylvania has no record of a defense attorney.

Several witnesses identified Black as the killer, though their versions of precisely how and why he killed Burton varied in the 11-page police affidavit filed with the complaint.

State police in Indiana, Pa., say some suspects in a string of cigarette store robberies earlier this year provided information about the killing.

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