Jury can’t reach verdict in trial of Harrisburg man accused of strangling Hershey-area woman and setting her on fire
Updated 10:27 PM;
Today 10:27 PM
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After deliberating for seven hours, a Dauphin County jury on Thursday night was unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a Harrisburg man accused of strangling a Hershey-area woman and setting her on fire in May 2019.
He then scheduled Purdie’s retrial for July.
Purdie, 35, is accused of strangling 49-year-old Charlotte Chaplin in the bedroom of her home at 517 W. Chocolate Ave., then setting her body on fire. He was the boyfriend of Chaplin’s daughter and is the father of her grandson.
Harrisburg man’s DNA was found under fingernails of Hershey-area woman who was strangled, set on fire, expert says
Updated Apr 14, 2021;
Posted Apr 14, 2021
Charlotte Chaplin s body was found after a fire was extinguished at her home on Chocolate Avenue in Derry Township on May 23, 2019.
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Skin cells bearing the DNA of a Harrisburg man accused of strangling a Hershey-area woman and setting her on fire in her bedroom were found under the victim’s fingernails, a state police forensics expert testified Wednesday afternoon.
Moments later during the Dauphin County homicide trial of Calvin Purdie Jr., the daughter of slaying victim Charlotte Chaplin said she saw scratches on Purdie’s face and arms as they stood outside Chaplin’s home waiting for fire trucks to arrive early on the morning of May 23, 2019.
Murder case of Hershey-area woman who was strangled and set on fire heads to the jury
Updated 3:24 PM;
Today 3:24 PM
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There is no dispute that Charlotte Chaplin was strangled and that her body was set on fire in her Hershey-area home early on May 23, 2019.
The question a Dauphin County jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon is whether 35-year-old Calvin Purdie Jr. of Harrisburg is the man who killed her.
The stakes for Purdie are phenomenally high.
District Attorney Fran Chardo and fellow prosecutor Kelly Callahan are seeking convictions on first-degree murder and arson charges that would send Purdie to prison for life. First Assistant Public Defender Paul Muller and colleague Elizabeth Ruby are contending that another man, most likely one of the 49-year-old Chaplin’s boyfriends, committed the murder.