Carmela King felt uneasy as she drove away from the cabin, but she shook it off, telling herself to let her fiancé enjoy his evening.
Peter Bernardo Spencer, 29, had promised to text when he was ready to come home and so King told him she loved him and left, never dreaming that this would be the last time she saw him alive.
The next morning King returned to find the remote cabin an hour and a half north of Pittsburgh, sealed off with crime scene tape and surrounded by cop cars.
Spencer lay dead on the grass out front; nine bullets pumped into his body. That was December 12, 2021.
Now, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, King, 28, has told of her growing frustration as, eight weeks after the grizzly death, she and Spencer’s Family have more questions than answers.
They say they’ve been stonewalled by investigators who have yet to bring charges or make any arrests in the killing that has been dubbed a ‘modern day lynching.’
The family of Jamaican immigrant Peter Bernardo Spencer is still seeking answers two months after he was shot dead at a remote cabin party in Rockland Township, Pennsylvania
Spencer was expecting his first child with fiancée Carmela King (pictured) when he was killed on December 12, 2012
Spencer was found outside this hunting cabin with two of the bullet wounds to his buttocks, six in the chest and abdomen, and one in the mouth, the morning after he arrived
‘No-one has reached out to me, nor his mother, about anything concerning him or this investigation,’ she said. ‘I do believe the way it’s been handled it comes off as a racial situation.
‘I think the expectation was that it would be just another black man murdered and it would be swept under the rug. But that’s not the case here.’
The Jamaican immigrant’s killing is not being investigated as a hate crime.
But to King and Spencer’s family it is impossible to rule out that race may have played a part, not only in the killing, but in the way it has been handled ever since.
Spencer was the only black man in the party of five who went to the remote hunting cabin in Rockland Township in rural Venango County that evening.
Carmela King, 28, told DailyMail.com she and Spencer’s family have been stonewalled by investigators who have yet to bring charges or make any arrests in the killing
Cops found illegal guns – including altered assault rifles – and drugs at the scene. Three men and one woman were questioned but all were released without charge despite one, a 25-year-old man, admitting that he shot Spencer.
The man – a former co-worker of Spencer whom he had known for four years – claimed he was acting in self-defense.
For King that claim just makes no sense.
Regardless of what the man claims, she said: ‘I don’t understand why no-one’s been arrested given the situation and the scenario.’
The family’s attorney, Pittsburgh-based Paul Jubas, echoed her confusion telling DailyMail.com: ‘It’s a situation just dripping in criminality. There are felony charges all over that.
‘So, no matter what the alleged justification is, [regardless] of if there is a defense being asserted, it should not stop charges being pressed immediately.’
Instead, Jubas told DailyMail.com: ‘You essentially have this shadow investigation being conducted.
‘Not only does the family not know who may have been involved in this murder but the entire community of Venango County has no answers and they’re very suspicious of it and very concerned.
‘Absolutely nobody is being held accountable and there’s no reason whatsoever for nobody to be charged.’
King had dropped off Spencer – who was the only black man invited to the party of five – at the cabin that evening, never imagining it’d be the last time she would see him alive
The 25-year-old white man who is suspected of killing Spencer has confessed to the shooting but claimed self-defense, according to the Spencer family
So far, the Pennsylvania State Police who are investigating the crime have released only an initial report. They have stated that the investigation is ongoing pending autopsy results, toxicology reports, ballistics and lab results.
Venango County District Attorney’s office has called for patience and said it will consider charges once the investigation is complete.
But King’s patience has run dry.
Nothing had felt quite right about that December trip to the cabin, King recalled. But nothing felt wrong enough for her to caution her fiancé against going.
‘I dropped him off and tried to ping my location, so I knew exactly where to come back [to get him] because it was very rural,’ she said.
‘Shortly after [I left] I got a message saying, “Hey I’m just gonna stay, come pick me up the next day.” Which was weird.
‘I tried to call him. He didn’t answer. I just texted back, “Alright. Be safe. I love you and if you need me to come back tonight I will.”
‘I never heard from him again.’
King tried to call Spencer during the night, but he never picked up which, she said, was ‘unusual for him.’
It was particularly unusual as she had been feeling unwell earlier in the day and was three months pregnant.
DailyMail.com visited the remote rural property where Spencer was found dead in the front year with nine gunshot wounds
Spencer had been invited to the home by a coworker who has admitted to shooting him in self-defense. Pictured: A side door at the hunting cabin with a sign reading ‘We Don’t Call 911’
King said she tried to ‘ping’ her location after dropping Spencer off so she’d know where to return but later received a text from him asking her to pick him up the following day instead. Pictured: General views around the hunting cabin
Pictured is the driveway up to the hunting cabin where Spencer was killed. By the time King reached the long road to the home to pick her fiancé up, he had already been dead
She said: ‘He definitely would have said, “I love you”, back so that was unsettling. But at the same time, you try to think positive.’
But when he didn’t answer the following morning, King said: ‘I just had a hunch to get up and go. So, I got in the truck and drove over there probably around nine.’
King was about to turn down the long approach road to the cabin when Spencer’s mother, Icilda, called.
‘She was saying, “I need you to pull over.” She really didn’t want to tell me when I was driving. But I was already at the location [when] she ended up telling me he had passed.’
King pulled up where state troopers’ vehicles blocked the scene. She saw crime scene tape, flashing lights and Spencer’s body, laid out in the front yard.
She said: ‘The trooper stopped me from running up. I asked where everyone was, and they said they took people for questioning but that was it.’
Venango County Coroner Christina Rugh examined the body at the scene in the early hours of the morning and determined that Spencer had been shot once in the mouth, twice in his buttocks and six times in the chest and abdomen. She ruled the death a homicide.
But his family has disputed the details of her findings. They claim that they have reason to believe that most of the shots were to Spencer’s back – a fact that, if true, could undercut the shooter’s claims of self-defense.
Spencer’s family attorney Paul Jubas (pictured with King) has also questioned the lack of action by investigators saying ‘there’s no reason whatsoever for nobody to be charged’ in the case
Spencer’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help support their fight for justice
Spencer’s death has been described as a ‘modern-day lynching’ by his family and friends
The family has found support in the figure of illustrious forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.
Wecht, 90, is best known for his involvement in the investigation into the assassinations of President John F Kennedy and his brother Robert and has consulted on many high-profile cases including the deaths of JonBenet Ramsey, Sharon Tate, and Anna Nicole Smith.
Wecht has stated publicly that his ‘initial thought’ is that ‘it’s absurd to talk about self-defense with nine gunshot wounds.’
But according to Wecht it is vital that he see the coroner’s report and autopsy pictures as the funeral home put trocars in Spencer’s wounds, sealing them up and effectively destroying any forensic value.
Yet, King revealed, Wecht’s requests have fallen on deaf ears after the coroner’s early promise of cooperation was mysteriously withdrawn.
‘Everybody’s trying to be cooperative, calling, or reaching out but they’ve completely shut us out,’ she said.
‘As far as [that] information – the photos from the coroner – at first she was going to participate and then she just kind of stopped all communication.’
The wall of silence is, King said, impenetrable and inexplicable.
King and Spencer had been together two years – the romance happened quickly – but, she said, ‘it felt appropriate.’
King, a nurse, said: ‘Everything was planned through God, I guess. We had plans to do a lot of things. He’s always been a very innovative person; you know an entrepreneur and once we found out we were pregnant he kicked it into a higher gear.’
The family has made several demands including calling on the FBI to get involved in the case
Spencer was reportedly shot nine times with most of his gunshot wounds in his back and once in his neck
Spencer, who had worked in construction and ran a catering company, had recently obtained his CDL (Class A Driving License) and planned to become a trucker.
‘He even talked about me and the baby going on the road with him and after a while, you know, we had plans to buy a house and try to boost our careers, just to increase our generational wealth,’ King said.
But she admits there were issues that Spencer had to address before he could move forward with the life that they wanted to build.
And today the family wonders if his bid to leave some past deeds behind may have played a part in his untimely death.
Attorney Jubas explained: ‘Peter had a criminal case (involving illegal possession of a gun and drugs) that he was looking to clear at the time.’
Peter Spencer with his father Conrad Spencer
The week before Spencer’s death the man who confessed to shooting him came round to his house and was, King said, going over the details of that case with Spencer.
And on December 10, the night before his death, Spencer told friends he saw two undercover cops lurking near his home and wondered if he was being watched.
That same night the man who later shot him sent an invitation to his family’s remote rural property to Spencer via Snapchat.
DailyMail.com has learned that that man also has a criminal history and, family attorney Jubas revealed, he and some others at the cabin that night have been implicated in a massive and ongoing federal investigation into ghost-guns.
‘Was Peter in a position where he knew too much about something more serious?’ Jubas asked.
‘He was wanting to start a new career, he had a new baby on the way, he would be motivated to cooperate with the feds perhaps if he thought it might help with his criminal case.
Icilda Spencer Hunter, right, speaks during a service in support of justice for her son Peter at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Pittsburgh on February 2
Rev. Dorothy Stubbs, Pastor of New Evangelistic Ministries and Founder of Lost But Not Forgotten Outreach prays during a service in support of justice for Peter Bernardo Spencer
‘Was that fear the reason he ended up dead? He may not have been invited out with the intent of killing him, but did something go wrong?’
‘It’s possible but we just don’t know. And that’s the problem. We have all these questions and theories but where’s the investigation in all of this?’
Jubas continued: ‘What we do know is that there were at least two ghost guns on that scene, an ongoing federal investigation, controlled substances, a dead body and no other parties injured and still nobody has been charged or arrested.
‘You tell me how that makes any sense.’
In the absence of answers and explanation there is, for King, only the torment of ‘what if?’ and a determination to keep her fiancé’s name and murder in the forefront of people’s minds. Just this week a vigil was held for him in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park.
She said: ‘I have the feeling I should have stayed [that night], you know driving away – that woman’s intuition, but I was kind of like, “No, if he wants to hang out, let him enjoy himself.”
‘Now I wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed.’
She continued: ‘If Peter was alive, we would be preparing for our child. I would be preparing to be a stay-at-home mom and it would be what I had wanted as a young girl dreaming about their life.
‘We would be preparing to get married, we had plans, but his life was cut short.’
And so, instead, King is planning a gender reveal party alone and trying to find joy in her pregnancy while continuing to grieve the loss of her child’s father and seek answers and justice.
‘My hope is that the truth will come out and that justice will be served and all the people that were involved will be held accountable,’ she said.
‘My strategy is to continue to push Peter’s story and get it out there because I feel like [we need] pressure to say, “Hey, his life mattered. Do your job as far as trying to figure out what happened to him and give him justice.”
‘Because regardless of the situation he did not deserve to die in this manner at all.’
