OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Officials say the investigation into the death of Oil City resident Danny Kulling, which began after his body was found in 2018, is still ongoing.
According to Oil City Chief of Police Dave Ragon, the investigation into Kulling’s death has continued, with the police department and the District Attorney’s Office working in conjunction.
Calls to District Attorney Shawn White’s office for comment were not immediately returned.
Kulling was initially reported missing by his family in late December 2017.
Then, on the morning of May 28, 2018, a kayaker found a body in the Allegheny River. An autopsy was conducted at the Erie County Coroner’s Office on May 29, 2018, and the body was identified as that of Danny Kulling.
A few months later, one first-degree felony count of Criminal Homicide was filed against then 22-year-old Eric Francis Beichner, of Franklin, in connection with Kulling’s death.
The case moved to the Court of Common Pleas in May 2019, and Beichner entered a plea of not guilty in June 2019.
The case against Beichner was then dismissed on April 14, 2020.
In a 12-page-opinion, Judge Robert L. Boyer, of the Venango County Court of Common Pleas, ruled that the prosecution did not offer sufficient evidence independent of Beichner’s confession.
In a 12-page-opinion, Judge Robert L. Boyer noted that the prosecution failed to satisfy the “Corpus Delicti Rule.”
The rule requires that the Commonwealth establish the occurrence of a crime before the accused’s statements may be admitted as evidence to prove that the accused committed the crime. The occurrence of the crime must be established by evidence independent of the accused’s statements.
“The independent evidence does not establish that it is more likely than not that Kulling died as a result of criminal activity rather than as a result of an accident,” said Boyer in the ruling. “The closely-related crime exception to the Corpus Delicti rule does not apply under the circumstances of this case.”
Judge Boyer went on to conclude that the Commonwealth failed to establish enough evidence to support the criminal homicide charge against Beichner and was entitled to dismissal of the criminal homicide charge.
